New Work in practice: More self-organization in your company
You wish there was more self-responsibility and shared leadership in your team. Hierarchy does not work so well any more (especially since Corona). You heard of “New Work”, but where to start? You want to work with someone who has already led a company into self organization. We and your team start the journey together.
The “Inner Work” approach
As a managing director I saw myself: Pure restructurings are a flash in the pan. New Work needs Inner Work. Self-organization and collegial leadership only work if you also look at the human being and its inner workings. If everyone on the team knows herself or himself well. And can also talk about it freely.
So the goal is to strengthen the inner competencies of the team needed for that: for example self-contact, self-reflection, conversational quality, feedback, conflict, the ability to assume a bird’s eye view even in stressful situations.
If this succeeds the foundations are strong. After that, structural changest are the smallest problem.
The Process
Each organizational change is different, but in most cases I go with clients through the following steps:
- You discuss concrete case studies of self-organized companies.
- Status Quo Assessment: Which leadership culture do you have right now? Where is it sonsistent, where is it not? You learn a vocabulary that enables you to express this very precisely. You decide where you would like to create more clarity right now.
- You discover which inner compentencies you will need for this clarification. You expereince and train them in practical exercises. Through small experiments you change your day-to-day work right away.
- Once you are clearer and more authentic with each other, you decide if you want to go a step further: You develop your leadership culture of the future: new values, new structures, new responsibilities.
- You implement the new culture, piece by piece, and through experiments.
Who works with me
Executives and team members approach me from companies, social enterprises and nonprofit organizations.
They believe they can achieve more with their team. As leaders they look for relief. They yearn for a more authentic leadership culture that fits better with their mission. They want to become more attractive again as employers for young talents.
In bigger companies I work with the executive team or a particular department. In smaller companies or startups I work with the whole team.
Details
We start with a 60min conversation with the boss.
A 1-2 day workshop follows for the Status Quo Assessment.
The following steps are diverse. Some clients are happy with a one-time inspiration. Others continue with roughly quarterly workshops.
A full organizational development usually takes 12-18 months.
All steps are possible in person or online.
Background
I abandoned all formal hierachies in my own organization. The method has been summarized in the book “New Work needs Inner Work” and still very strongly shapes my approach.
As co-founder of the “Inner Work Alliance” and as Affiliate Consultat with KONU I regularly accompany teams und organizations. I am a member of the Adaptive Leadership Network.
Among my approaches and methods are Adaptive Leadership, Nonviolent Communication, Immunity to Change, Integral Theory, Spiral Dynamics, Strengthsfinder, the TKI conflict model und Time to Think.