Many of us have been part of a company that has tried the hottest new management principle — total quality management or just in time, for instance.
Often these new techniques come and go, leading executive management to dig deeper for the next grand strategy to try to improve the bottom line. Over the last 15 years or so, one new management idea that has caught on is self-managed organizations.
Self-management flattens out organizations and makes individuals accountable to their personal job responsibility, rather than a boss at corporate. This approach leads to the employee with the most knowledge and skillset calling the shots, rather than someone making decisions who might not even be located in that office. This leveling of hierarchy helps remove bureaucratic red tape, resulting in greater employee satisfaction and stronger outcomes.
Shared sense of purpose
Self-managed organizations define roles, which are dynamic and consist of a purpose and a list of accountabilities. When we find that we’re unable to make a decision within a role, we find the person who has the accountability to help us. Teams take true ownership and responsibility for a product or service rather than just being given tasks by management. Management and technical roles are shared and likely rotated within the team, and leaders advocate for teams with a broader vision for multiple teams.
A shared sense of purpose unifies the organization. It should transcend the traditional ideas around making money and achieving corporate goals, and focus more on how the organization is a part of the larger community. Shared sense of purpose makes sure that roles are aligned. It empowers people to make decisions towards the shared purpose even when a responsibility may be outside of the person’s role (with some caveats). When a responsibility is not fulfilled by the self-managed organization, the shared sense of purpose lets people create new roles to fulfill that purpose.
Holding space
In this organizational structure, leaders are responsible for holding space — an environment where people are freed to make decisions in the moment without fear of repercussions, but if they do need help, there is always someone to lean against. Teams work largely autonomously and are responsible for how the work gets done, staying on budget, staffing the team, purchasing necessary resources, etc.
In addition, all corporate teams have either direct customer access or work through a delegate that understands the customer’s needs. They focus on what the customer values most, and try to structure the team and make decisions accordingly. It’s also helpful to create working agreements with a focus on determining roles and the expectations of those roles. Teams should come to consensus up front on working agreements where decisions are democratically made, and know when to “call the vote” on topics that may be going on for too long.
This process helps diffuse situations that may become tense, such as whether to build the simplest device in a project to designing something that is a bit more polished, which would gain more customer feedback on the direction of the feature. We can all agree if we’ve created the correct acceptance criteria, and we split things into another story, or possibly set a time limit before moving on.
Empowered to make decisions
For decision making, the roles are empowered to make decisions within their area of responsibility. While some teams make decisions through a vote, sometimes a decision is made by someone taking action and then receiving feedback from their team on that action. Regardless, decisions are made openly, so that there is a clear path to giving and receiving that feedback. Other decisions may require input from management since team members may not have the entire picture on a decision.
Another important point is conflict resolution, which is resolved on a role-to-role basis. If two roles are having a conflict, people within each role are reminded to focus on the conflicts (or tensions in a holocratic sense) between their role and others. Optimally, people allocate themselves to the roles they are best suited to fulfill. This requires a tremendous amount of work in making sure the needs are clearly defined. Overall, self-managed teams are empowered to make the decisions that apply to the roles within the self-managed team, which enables the person/team most affected by the action to make the decision. Conflict in a team is constructive, rather than destructive. Individuals on a team build rapport with each other that extends beyond just the work they are focused on.
Leaders emerge through a natural evolution of what is needed, and who steps in to fulfill that need. Awareness and follow-through of what needs to occur is what defines a leader. It’s important that we maintain a distinction between leaders and managers. Some people are natural leaders and may act in this role continually, while others may take leadership roles when there is a particular problem or situation that interests them. Just like other roles on an agile team, leadership roles are dynamic.
Culture of continuous feedback
Our company has found continuous improvement and continuous learning are key. We strive to hire passionate people who are curious and action-oriented, and encourage our people to fearlessly ask questions, even if they think it might make them look dumb (though it almost never does). If something doesn’t feel right, we want people to question it. However, we also want those inquisitive people to help find solutions. If we are all working toward the same goal, we all have to lead at some point. It’s essential to encourage fearlessness to make sure the space is safe and to create a family atmosphere.
One of the most important factors in making this all work is to implement a culture of continuous feedback. Teams and their members need to feel comfortable giving and receiving feedback, while understanding that everyone is fully committed to making a self-managed environment work. Without feedback, self-management can grow steadily “off the rails” without any safety mechanism to keep things moving towards the vision of the company. Individuals in leadership positions must seek out feedback and use that to help guide their continued growth.
About the Authors:
Jim Mruzik is a Software Developer and Agile Coach for WWT Asynchrony Labs in its Denver office. Jim moved to Denver to help build this new branch office, and works closely with teams to help them adopt the Agile practices that work best for their projects.
Don Peters is a Quality Advocate and Agilist also at WWT Asynchrony Labs in Denver. He enjoys helping teams improve and delighting customers with quality working software.
