Without a Boss - self-forming organizations - ODWS Tuesday + Wednesday

Imagine that you don’t have a boss, or on the contrary, you don’t have subordinates. Everyone is equal at work. Got it?

Then imagine there are no departments. No HR, no sales, no marketing. Got it?

Then imagine that the organization takes a new shape at every project kickoff. Got it?

Then imagine there are 180 people in this organization. Do you think such an organization could operate successfully?
The answer is: YES! How?

Well, this is not easy to visualize...

In Hungary? Noooo. I believe there’s a long way for us to walk in organizational and individual levels as well, but let’s put that aside for a minute. In the Netherlands, however, where people live more consciously, there is an example that works perfectly. Form a self-forming organization like this, to operate successfully, the ingredients have to be able to work together well. Responsible, motivated people who work as if they owned the company, well-organized processes, as well as a crystal clear company goal and solid values.

Are you skeptical? I used to be skeptical too, but on Tuesday Fokke Wijntstra and Harold Janssen gave me a snapshot of what’s behind the scenes. They meet financial leaders and managers day by day as a consulting company assisting finance departments of firms. Teams form to work on the projects they build around the assignments and these company  units take decisions on strategy, sales, involving further human resources or product development. The entire coordination and the ’objective eye’ role is taken by a member of an another team. The interaction among the teams makes a web of the organization. Activities like marketing events and client celebrations that are organized by teams of volunteers create new company units. Hmmm.  I just sat there and listened, as other members of the audience tried again and again to challenge the unstable looking organization with questions brought from their own lives. The answers were always clear and rational. (This presentation and six others were broadcast live that morning on the HR Café website. Those who missed it, can view this and an other 20 later in our archives.)

I have just realized that we in Hungary do have something similar and I’m attending their conference. The operation of ODWS team looks very much like the above described. A couple of days ago I had the opportunity to be part of this  group – I hereby thank them for the trust and the assistance. It was interesting to see from inside that ODWS is not an organization but a group of people thinking together. What is more, this work started four (!) years ago and after a lot of preparation, the result was eight perfect day.

Thanks to this realization now I do comprehend Péter Kalmár’s thoughts (discussion in Hungarian) he shared during the interview he gave us on the first day of the conference. Four years ago the initial question was where communities and organizations were heading. Then the fast change that used the crisis as if it was a catalyst made it necessary to brainstorm new directions, ideologies, practices. Thus those acknowledged organization development experts – inspirational leaders – were invited that represent the schools accepted throughout the world. We drew the new road with them and solved – co-creating - the eight cases together.

The goal to organize an ‘out-of-the-ordinary’ conference was reached. At first, I didn’t understand what it was good for to run 15 presentations parallel in five sections – it’s a waste, I thought. Then I realized that it was part of  a script  built especially for a precisely built community (well, four years is four years). This way the people who gathered around the organization development trends, or, if you like, the inspirational leaders, had the chance to  meet and talk, what is more, special programs had been organized to encourage this. Furthermore, the communities that formed were stirred in parallel lectures and at the end, they worked together.

For a long time I was unable to describe why I had had a great time at this event and I could draw simple conclusions like ‘it is because it is an international team’, ‘it is because the people here are open and nice’, ‘it is because I enjoy the presentations and I like the thoughts’. Then the pieces started to form a picture and I arrived at the first idea, ie at the self-organizing organization. The example of the two Dutch gentlemen, Harold and Fokke. Not only the ODWS team was similar to this, but the entire conference was built based on the idea. Consciously? By mistake? I will definitely ask Peter, who said the following during the interview: “ A good conference should have more than a professional imprint. It should be the starting point of such trends or projects that have an effect in the world.” If the self-organizing organization is such a trend or idea, then it is an acceptable alternative for me and I would like to believe that many people agree because it would mean that there are many of us who do our jobs with passion and responsibility, ie we feel good in our skins.

I am happy to say that I’ve been infected with the thought and I hope, what’s more, I’m sure that everyone takes home something valuable.

The biggest challenge for me is to keep the HR community and the Hungarian organizations interested in the topics of the conference for a long time, but at least for eight months. I would take it as my personal success if this self-organizing community would live on and further  grow both on the Hungarian and the English site of HR Café.

Anyhow, it would be great to see what such an organization, or the ODWS team itself, or the participants of the conference or the Harold-Fokke team would look like on a network research diagram. In my opinion it would be edifying in several dimensions.