How To Create Organizations As Amazing As The People Inside Them

Five years ago, I posted about the book, Humanocracy. In it, the authors, Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini, present a fascinating look at how to breakdown the bureaucracy within an organization and unleash the power and true abilities of the human beings in that organization, making the 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 it provides you with research-based examples, practical guidance and, most important, action steps to take immediately. 

Since the book’s release, companies such as Bayer, Ferrari, Ingersoll Rand, GE Appliances, Roche Pharmaceuticals, and the US Army have embraced the book’s principles. 

Today brings the extensively updated and expanded edition of Humanocracy. It features new case studies and timely insights drawn from the last five years. 

“Since the first edition, the stakes have only grown higher. Whether it’s climate change, AI job displacement, income inequality, distrust of institutions, or stagnating productivity—among other critical issues—the world needs organizations that are more daring, resilient, creative, and inspiring,” explain the authors, “Sadly, most remain ossified and incapable of unleashing the latent capability of their members.” 

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

• Teaching frontline staff to think like businesspeople.
• Crosstrain 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 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 are a lot of downsides.

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

1. How many layers are there from frontline employees up to your CEO/top position?
2. What percentage of your time do you spend on “bureaucratic chores” (e.g., preparing reports, securing signoffs, participating in review meetings, etc.)?
3. How much does bureaucracy slow decision making and action in your organization?
4. To what extent are your interactions with your other leaders focused on internal issues (e.g., resolving disputes, securing resources, etc.)?
5. How much autonomy do frontline teams have to design their work, solve problems, and test new ideas?
6. How do people in your organization react to unconventional ideas?
7. 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?
8. How prevalent are political behaviors in your organization?
9. How often do political skills, as opposed to demonstrated competence, influence who gets ahead in your organization? 

Finally, the authors encourage you to 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. 

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Hamel is on the faculty of the London Business School and is a cofounder of the Management Lab, an organization that builds technology and tools to support breakthrough management innovation. His other books have been translated into more than twenty-five languages. They include The Future of Management and What Matters Now. 

Zanini is a cofounder of the Management Lab, where he helps forward-thinking companies become fundamentally more entrepreneurial and innovative. An alumnus of McKinsey & Company and the RAND Corporation, Zanini holds degrees from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the RAND School of Public Policy. 

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