Can people really be free in today’s organisations?
What if there was a way to make people free by imposing structure, process and rules? This sounds counter-intuitive, doesn’t it?
Our friend and co-conspirator Dr Stephen Bungay recently published this excellent article on www.infoq.com. He addresses the myth that structure, process and rules inhibit freedom.
Growing companies commonly grow bureacracy to deal with size and complexity. Then bureaucracy stifles initiative and creativity, and people progressively dis-engage as they feel their freedom is constrained.
Stephen’s article proposes an alternative to bureaucracy. And it isn’t a ‘no rules’ policy. He describes how the right kind of rules help embed important values and enable autonomous decision-making at scale.
We agree that modern companies require a subtle blend of thoughtfully designed principles, processes, procedures and behaviours, without which true corporate freedom cannot exist.