I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that life in most large organizations sucks. Why? Although it’s the year 2018, most large organizations still employee human resource and organizational governance practices that stem from the start of the industrial revolution, and that have barely been updated since the 1950’s. Most managers still exercise ‘control’, decisions are still ‘taken’, people are ‘pushed’ into action, and employees are still bought by the hour, managed to the minute, and viewed through the morale obliterating lens of efficiency.

Organizations as we’ve created them over the last 100 years leave much to be desired by the modern man and woman. The ‘carrot and stick’ model of management, even though it’s been given a sexy makeover, is still alive and well. Old methods of control such as performance incentives, responsibility devoid of authority, and a shocking lack of harmony between our private and work lives have created workplaces that leave many of us feeling disengaged and uninspired.

And it’s not just millennials who feel there’s something amiss with the way we run our organizations. The current generation of managers and leaders are looking at a rapidly changing world with an overwhelming feeling that things are far too complex to understand and control. Watch the news, read the feeds, and you can’t help but understand why computers and AI algorithms are the only ones that can process the information onslaught brought on by the information age. Being ‘in control’ and managing through traditional predict and control mechanisms are destined for the trash heap of corporate history. 

Leadership Through Purpose

As my hero Albert Einstein said: “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” For our purposes this means that we can’t use the same organizational and business management practices that we learned at business school to fix the slow death that is affecting most of the organizations that we work for. We need a new way of thinking that re-assesses the basic assumption that most organizations are based on: people need to be controlled. This single basic assumption is the principle on which we have designed the governance of our organizations and our societies, and this assumption is completely wrong.

To unlock organizational excellence and adapt to rapid change we need to turn our assumptions upside down. To harness something more powerful than our traditional predict and control model, we need to go beyond the surface and engage with the deepest and most effective way to connect with and inspire people: purpose. Purpose is the single most powerful way to engage with and organize groups of people. It is an organizational magnet that works without coercion, and it only works on people that identify themselves with whatever it takes to make your organization’s mission successful. 

The 3 P’s That Unlock Excellence

‘Purpose’ is the first of the three P’s needed to unlock organizational excellence and ensure a smooth transition from traditional organizational structures to self-organizing teams. Ensuring that your organization has a clear purpose activates the intrinsic motivation of each and every individual associated with your organization. It is something that attracts the people and energy that defines the soul of your organization. It is what binds people in times of organizational distress, gives clarity when you need to change organizational direction, and breathes life into even the most mundane of organizational tasks. Purpose is the answer to the question ‘why?’, and it is the spark that gives life to and unites self-organizing teams. A well defined organizational purpose is a journey you undertake and not a destination – it gives an organization room to continually grow, learn, and adapt. Ask yourself: How clear is your organization’s purpose, and is it alive and active in the minds and actions of each and every individual in your organization?

The second ‘P’ is ‘principles’. Many people think of principles as values: honesty, respect, equality, collaboration, customer focus, etc. However, as fine as these qualities are, they are too vague and broadly interpreted to have a concrete impact on human behaviour and the direction that an organization takes. Instead, ‘principles’ are better defined as ‘the underlying assumptions and motivations that are the source our choices’. A clear set of principles is a set of statements that can be used to validate whether organizational behaviour, decisions, and actions are in line with how you want your organization to express itself. It ensures that no one is ‘above the law’, and that there is a safe and stable environment in which people can work together. Principles are the first half of the ‘how’ in an organization, and they represent the social currency used in the relationships that make up your organizational ecosystem. Ask yourself: what are the underlying assumptions that you have about your colleagues, customers, and partners, and how do these assumptions affect the way you think about and treat them?

The third and final ‘P’ needed to transition to self-organization is ‘practices’. Practices are the formalized behaviours, activities, and rituals that bring rhythm, consistency, and learning to an organization – even in a world and organizational reality that is continually changing. Practices are the second half of the organizational ‘how’, and they create the space within which individuals can express the organizational ‘why’. Clear practices that are embedded into the organization ensure that all of the individuals with their talents, passions, and own intrinsic motivations have channels to express tensions, communicate ideas, change the organization, and move together as a whole. Practices are the beehive to the bees and they provide the organizational cohesion that previously was achieved by overt power structures. Ask yourself: Do you have the organizational practices in place that ensure that the organization’s purpose and each individual’s purpose can be continually expressed?

Let go.

The way we organize ourselves as humans is rapidly changing: From predict and control to sense and respond. Self-organization is nature’s perfect recipe for organization in a complex world, and as organizational leaders of the 21st century we’re invited to see and embrace this perfection. The 3 P’s of Purpose, Principles, and Practices are the tools and the signposts that we can use to orient ourselves and build trust in the process of self-organization. Let go, and be in control.