Humanocracy

The book subtitle in the headline above convinced me to read, Humanocracy, by Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini. The authors present a fascinating look at how to breakdown the bureaucracy within your organization and unleash the power and true abilities of the human beings in your organization – making your organization more bold, entrepreneurial and as nimble as change itself.

Humanocracy expertly lays out a detailed blueprint for creating organizations that are inspiring and ingenious, and provides you research-based examples, practical guidance and, most important, action steps to take immediately.

The authors explain that:

Human beings are resilient. Our organizations aren’t.
Human beings are creative. Organizations are (mostly) not.
Human beings are passionate. Our organizations are (mostly) not.

Some of the broader themes for how to harness the power of humanocracy include:

Teaching frontline staff to think like businesspeople.
Cross-train associates and organize them into small, multifunctional teams.
Pair new employees with experienced mentors.
Encourage employees to identify and tackle improvement opportunities.
Set ambitious goals and tight timelines to challenge everyone to do more with less.
Create teams that are small and where roles are loosely defined, and policies are flexible.
Treat every individual and role as indispensable to collective success.
Prize initiative and encourage individuals to take prudent risks.

And, do your best to banish these common objections when solving for new problems and forging new paths:

We don’t have the budget.
We'll never get it past legal.
That doesn’t fit our strategy.
That’s not our culture.
It’s impractical.
There’s a lot of downside.

While you are breaking down bureaucracy within your organization, the authors also recommend you ask these 9 questions. Then, use your answers to identify areas for improvement.

How many layers are there from frontline employees up to your CEO/top position?
What percentage of your time do you spend on “bureaucratic chores” (e.g. preparing reports, securing signoffs, participating in review meetings, etc.)?
How much does bureaucracy slow decision making and action in your organization?
To what extent are your interactions with your other leaders focused on internal issues (e.g. resolving disputes, securing resources, etc.)?
How much autonomy do frontline teams have to design their work, solve problems, and test new ideas?
How do people in your organization react to unconventional ideas?
In general, how easy is it for an employee to launch a new project that requires a small team and a bit of seed funding?
How prevalent are political behaviors in your organization?
How often do political skills, as opposed to demonstrated competence, influence who gets ahead in your organization?

Finally, the authors encourage you help your employees think and behave more like entrepreneurs. Because, the greater the percentage of employees who agree with the following statements, the more entrepreneurial, nimble and creative your organization:

My work is my passion.
I get to make meaningful business decisions.
I feel directly accountable to customers.
I intuitively think lean.
My team is small and super-flexible.
The success of this business depends critically on me.
I measure progress in days and weeks, not months and quarters.
Every day I have the chance to solve new, interesting problems.

Thank you to the book’s publisher for sending me an advance copy of the book.

Comments

Five Essential Principles For Sustaining Growth Through Innovation

Even though many companies strive for innovation, most struggle to achieve meaningful change. The largest reason for this disconnect? Playing it safe. Leaders and organizations want to implement new ideas, but too often they are held back by the fear of failure, even though setbacks are intrinsic to the innovation process. In the new book, No Fear, No Failure , by Lorraine H. Marchand (with John Hanc), readers will learn how to overcome the status quo that stifles creative thinking and how to create a culture that encourages innovation. Marchand provides a framework for sustained growth built on the “ 5 Cs ”: Customer First Culture Collaboration Change Chance She draws on more than 120 interviews with leaders across industries, real-world case studies, and her firsthand experience and shares step-by-step, field-tested strategies, tactics, and tools that practitioners can use to embed creativity within organizational cultures. Marchand is a former Big Tech and Big Pharma ex...

10 Quotes From The 5 Levels Of Leadership -- John C. Maxwell

Soon I'll post my full review of John C. Maxwell's latest book, The 5 Levels of Leadership . In the meantime, here are some of my favorites quotes from the book that I believe should become a must-read book by any workplace/organizational leader: Good leadership isn't about advancing yourself. It's about advancing your team. Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others. Leadership is action, not position. When people feel liked, cared for, included, valued, and trusted, they begin to work together with their leader and each other. If you have integrity with people, you develop trust. The more trust you develop, the stronger the relationship becomes. In times of difficulty, relationships are a shelter. In times of opportunity, they are a launching pad. Good leaders must embrace both care and candor. People buy into the leader, then the vision. Bringing out the best in a person is often a catal...

How To Play Bigger And Be A Category King In Business

"The most exciting companies create. They give us new ways of living, thinking, or doing business, many times solving a problem we didn't know we had -- or a problem we didn't pay attention to because we never thought there was another way," explain the four authors of the dynamic new book, Play Bigger . They add that, "the most exciting companies sell us different. They introduce the world to a new category of product or service." And, they become category kings . Examples of category kings are Amazon, Salesforce, Uber and IKEA. Play Bigger is all about the strategy that builds category kings. And, to be a category king you need to be good at category design : Category design is the discipline of creating and developing a new market category, and conditioning the market so it will demand your solution and crown your company as its king. Category design is the opposite of "build it and they will come." Key traits of category design...

How To Harness Employee Experience Design To Attract And Retain The Best Talent

Employee Experience Design (EXD) is designing with people and not for them. It’s a proven method for engaging and collaborating with your employees to help solve your most difficult workplace challenges. You’ll learn all about EXD in the new book, Employee Experience Desing: How To Co-Create Work Where People And Organizations Thrive , by Dean E. Carter , Samantha Gadd, and Mark Levy . “Many organizations are drowning in policies and initiatives. EXD is a way to reduce that burden while delivering better results both for employees and for the bottom line,” explain the authors. The book includes inspiring stories from brands like Airbnb and Patagonia, among many others, including those in retail, healthcare, hospitality, apparel, and biotech. It describes the power that’s unleashed when organizations design with and not for their employees. The first part of the book covers The Why of why EXD is so important and addresses legitimate – and tough –...

6 Ways To Seek Feedback To Improve Your Performance In The Workplace

Getting feedback is an important way to improve performance at work. But sometimes, it can be hard to seek out, and even harder to hear. “Feedback is all around you. Your job is to find it, both through asking directly and observing it,” says David L. Van Rooy, author of the new book, Trajectory: 7 Career Strategies to Take You From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be . As today's guest post, Van Rooy offers these six tips for how to get the feedback you need to improve performance at work . Guest Post By David L. Van Rooy 1. Don’t forget to as k : One of the biggest mistakes people make is assuming things are going perfectly (until they make a catastrophic mistake). By not asking, you’re missing out on opportunities for deep feedback: the difficult, critical feedback that gives you constructive ways to improve. 2. Make sure you listen : Remember, getting fee...

Leadership Lessons From Kent Taylor, Founder Of Texas Roadhouse

From cover-to-cover of Made From Scratch you’ll learn the leadership lessons of the late Kent Taylor , founder of the restaurant chain Texas Roadhouse. In the new book, Taylor recounts how he built the restaurant chain from the ground up after being rejected more than 80 times as he pitched the idea for the business. His approach to business was often out-of-the-box, however, his business lessons and leadership lessons from the course of his life and career are invaluable. Here are some of my favorite leadership lessons from Kent and his book: The best leaders stay down-to-earth and approachable. In a bottom-up company, the leader learns from frontline people. As soon as you make a profit, find a way to give back. Be willing to laugh at yourself. Become a student of your craft. Positive reinforcement inspires much greater performance than fear ever can. Want to get the respect of your people? Then roll up y...

How to Be a Leader – 9 Principles from Dale Carnegie

Today, I welcome thought-leader Nathan Magnuson as guest blogger... Nathan writes : This is it, your first day in a formal leadership role. You’ve worked hard as an individual contributor at one or possibly several organizations. Now management has finally seen fit to promote you into a position as one of their own: a supervisor. You don’t care if your new team is only one person or ten, you’re just excited that now – finally – you will be in charge! Unfortunately the euphoria is short-lived. Almost immediately, you are not only overwhelmed with the responsibilities of a team, but you quickly find that your team members are not as experienced or adroit as you. Some aren’t even as committed. You find yourself having to repeat yourself, send their work back for corrections, and staying late to fill the gap. If something doesn’t change soon, you might just run yourself into the ground. How did something that looked so easy ...

Don't Delay Tough Conversations With Your Employees

If you have an employee who needs to improve his/her performance don't delay the tough conversation with them. If you don't address the issue right now, the employee has little chance to improve, and you'll only get more frustrated. Most employees want to do a good job. Sometimes they just don't know they aren't performing up to the required standards. Waiting until the employee's annual performance appraisal to have the tough conversation is unhealthy for you and the employee. So, address the issue now. Sit down with your employee in a private setting. Look them in the eye. First, tell them what they do well. Thank them for that good work. Then, tell them where they need to improve. Be clear. Be precise. Ask them if they understand and ask them if they need any help from you on how to do a better job. Explain to them that your taking the time to have the tough conversation means you care about them. You want them to do better. You believe they can do better. ...

Advisory Leadership

Flashback to three years ago...because this book is so, so good! After reading nearly 30 new books about leadership this year, my pick for 2015's best new leadership book is, Advisory Leadership , by Greg Friedman , Although the book is authored by an award-winning financial advisor and primarily written for professionals in the financial services industry, this book is a must read for any leader who wants to create a nurturing heart culture that hinges on the human-centric values the next generation of employees hold in high regard. And, what exactly is heart culture ? Friedman says, "At its core, heart culture symbolizes how a company values more than just an employee's output. It's not about the work, but rather, the people who do the work." He further explains that leaders can no longer afford to ignore the shift toward a people-first culture and its direct influence on a healthy, effective work envir...

Today's Leadership Lessons

As leaders, let's take a few minutes today to be sure we are doing all of the following: 1. Praise when compliments are earned. 2. Be decisive. 3. Say "Thank You" and sincerely mean it. 4. Show and demonstrate trust. 5. Communicate clearly. 6. Listen carefully. 7. Teach something new. 8. Work hard and lend a hand when deadlines are tight. 9. Show respect for everyone on your team. 10. Follow through when you say you will. 11. Allow learning to happen when mistakes are made. 12. Allow prudent autonomy. 13. Respond to questions quickly and fully. 14. Take an interest in your employees. 15. Give credit where credit is due. 16. Be humble.

Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Search This Blog