We often hear managers say “we have a flat structure here”.
A flat structure is a great idea in principle, who wouldn’t want an organisation where everyone feels empowered to make decisions, and managers aren’t required to monitor output or referee conflicts between teams.
They absolutely can work, but you have to really think it through and work at it on an ongoing basis. Setting up a flat structure takes a lot of careful thought. Any human system left unattended will have cliques form. Also, Humans naturally gravitate towards hierarchy and they will arise spontaneously even in a flat organisation, whether you want them to or not. They can form based on power, knowledge or resources. To set up a flat structure there are a number of things you need to keep in mind:
๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ผ๐ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ฝ ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บs ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ “๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด”.
People confuse flat structures as a “free for all”. Bring everyone together to agree the standard everyone will work to so there is consistency, not anarchy. A team agreement that sets out the way of working is a great way of doing this
๐ฎ ๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐ถ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป, ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ฎ๐๐น๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐
If you want people to take more responsibility you need to share information so they can do their job, you even have to trust them with the sensitive stuff
๐ฏ ๐๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐น๐
People need explicit permission to make decisions and take responsibility. So you need to work with individuals and groups to define how much authority they have to act. You also need to clarify the process for making decisions. Will people need to take advice, will it be consent-based decision making, can someone have veto?
๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ, ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป’๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ฐ
You have to constantly clarify and update peoples’ roles and ensure everyone is clear with each other. In a flat organisation, it’s easy for things to fall between the cracks or for there to be friction between overlapping roles
๐ฑ ๐ฌ๐ผ๐ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฒ๐พ๐๐ถ๐ฝ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐น๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ๐บ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐น๐๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐ผ๐ป:
Peer to peer feedback is the lifeblood of a flat structure. However, you need to give them the skills and the training to have these conversations
There are a wealth of resources to help you if you’re looking to revisit your flat structure or to set one up. A good place to start if you’re thinking of working this way is Frederic Laloux‘s classic book “Reinventing Organisations”.
Daniย and I are always happy to chat if you want to assess how ready you are and the steps you need to take!
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