[OSList] Orgs that Failed to Implement Self-Organization?

Fri Jun 21 06:34:55 PDT 2019

Really helpful thanks, Daniel.

David

*David R. Osborne*
Organization and Leadership Development

6402 Arlington Blvd., Suite 1120, Falls Church, VA 22042
703-939-1777   |   dosborne at change-fusion.com   |   change-fusion.com

On Fri, Jun 21, 2019 at 6:08 AM Daniel Mezick via OSList <
oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:

> Hi Jake,
>
> There are many failed examples of "mandated self organization." You can
> imagine the success rate of such an approach.
>
> Now, the Agile industry is pretty good at selling this "mandated self
> organization" stuff. But I'm getting ahead of the story...
>
> Most of the failure stories do not make it out into the wild. But the
> insiders do whisper about them. To friends and colleagues. In dinner
> discussions at conferences. And so on...
>
>
>
> The Mandate of Holacracy at Zappos
>
>
> In 2013-14, Zappos mandated a way of working called 'holacracy.' The idea
> was, I think, to encourage more self-organization. More good outcomes. I'm
> sure the intentions were good at the time...
>
> But there were big problems by late 2013.
>
> By 2014, the "mandate of holacracy for self-organization at Zappos" was in
> big trouble, even as the press was celebrating 'holacracy' at Zappos as the
> future of work, the shining example, the path forward in the new world of
> work.
>
> But there were big problems. Lots of resistance. I heard the whispers
> through a friend on the inside, a person with access to the CEO.
>
> Through that friend, I quietly offered some help (I had some consulting
> work inside the org previously,) and in Las Vegas a lunch meeting was
> arranged with the CEO.
>
> I flew out there. I showed up with a file folder with some Open Space
> stuff inside. We ate tacos.
>
> I talked to Tony, the CEO, and briefly explained OST. I took a few
> questions. We had a nice lunch.
>
> The result was that, a couple weeks later, Tony did experiment with a very
> brief OST of 2 hours at a Zappos all-hands meeting. No burning issue. No
> proceedings, etc.
>
> That was it. No further follow-through. No follow-up calls.
>
> I did not chase the CEO. But after a few more weeks of silence, I did
> write this:
>
> The Mandate of Holacracy at Zappos
> https://newtechusa.net/the-mandate-of-holacracy-at-zappos/
> In case you have not heard, Zappos is rolling out a defined authority
> distribution scheme called “holacracy”.
>
> The way everyone works will change. Every single employee will be forced
> to comply with a set of rules they had no part in creating.
>
> At the time, the press was celebrating 'holacracy' at Zappos as the future
> of work, the shining example, the path forward in the new world of work.
>
> Everyone in the press was applauding and citing what was going on at
> Zappos as "the future of work."
>
> But there was A LOT of resistance to the mandate of 'holacracy' inside
> Zappos. All of that resistance might have been easily processed positively
> in Open Space, but the CEO did not select that option.
>
> Instead, he issued this ultimatum:
>
> ADOPT HOLACRACY OR LEAVE:
>
> https://www.fastcompany.com/3044417/zappos-ceo-tony-hsieh-adopt-holacracy-or-leave
> Last week, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh sent his employees the following memo,
> provided to *Fast Company* by Zappos. In it he offers his employees an
> ultimatum: adopt Holacracy or quit.
>
>
> Moral of Story: "Mandating self-organization" is misguided at best, and
> profoundly harmful and deeply disrespectful to people at worst. And:
>
> 1. All systems are open
>
> 2. All systems are self-organizing
>
> 3. Open Space can help
>
>
>  I hope this story helps you Jake. This Google search leads to these
> listings if you want to examine the story in detail:
>
>
> https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=FqsMXdKZIoLktQXAzoOQBQ&q=holacracy+failure
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *Daniel Mezick*
> Phone: 203 915 7248
> Bio & Contact Info: http://www.DanielMezick.com
> Latest Book: http://www.InvitingLeadership.com
>
> Business Agility Leadership event May 14-15 Boston:
> The Open Leadership Symposium <https://openleadershipnetwork.com>
>
>
>
> On Jun 21, 2019, at 3:53 AM, Michael M Pannwitz via OSList <
> oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
>
> Dear Jake and you others,
>
> I am intriguing myself with your quest for pitfalls in regard to
> "implement self-organization".
> If it is assumed that "self-organization" is inherent in all groups,
> organisations, systems and in all processes on this planet and in the
> universe and has been since the Big Bang, it would not be necessary to
> "implement self-organization".
> In fact, attempting to "implement self-organization" could in itself be
> the pitfall. This would jive with the notion that a sure fire way to impede
> self-organization is to mess with it (that is, control it).
>
> Picking up on what Rob just wrote
> "By definition self organisation occurs despite any efforts to make it
> happen."
> I suspect that
> "Self-organisation is hampered by efforts to make it happen."
>
> I also wonder if it would be helpful to distinguish between
> "self-organization" as we observe it everywhere around us (such as children
> self-organizing their game on a playground or a butterfly unfolding from a
> chrysalis or a break-out group in an os-event self-organizing their
> activities) and the "force of selforganization".
>
> Assuming  that the force of selforganzation is behind self-organization it
> might be useful to focus on the "factors" that would support an environment
> in which the force of selforganization can thrive, unfold...
>
> One of the stories we have is the development of OST itself. OST was
> dreamt up originally as a way to organize a conference in a few hours
> instead of a whole years work (a wonderful gift that was borne out of being
> bored with working hard). After it kept working in various settings with a
> vast minimum of pre-implemented structure, no panels, no speakers, only one
> facilitator... his originator began wondering on why it was working.
>
> We know the rest of the story and have payed attention to the 5 or 6 or 7
> prerequisites that now have been tested in thousands of events which need
> to be in place for the "force of selforganisation" to do its thing which we
> then perceive as "self-organization".
>
> Its simple but not easy.
> Is not facing that which seduces to twists, adulterations, creating
> surrogate cocktails...?
>
> Greetings from Berlin
> mmp
>
>
>
>
> Am 21.06.2019 um 04:04 schrieb Juliane Martina Roell (Structure & Process)
> via OSList:
>
> Jake Yeager via OSList schrieb am 20.06.19 um 19:31:
>
> Hey everyone,
>
> Does anyone know of organizations that attempted to implement
> self-organization but failed? If so, do you know some of the factors that
> contributed to the failure? We hear about the successes, like Semco and
> AES, but rarely about the failures. I'd like to understand better what the
> pitfalls are and also what the success rate is.
>
> Hi Jake,
> what do you mean by "implement self-organization"?
> How would one go about doing that?
> Best Regards,
> Juliane.
>
>
> --
> Michael M Pannwitz
> Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
> ++49 - 30-772 8000
> mmpannwitz at gmail.com
>
>
> Check out the Open Space World Map presently showing 484 resident Open
> Space Workers in 76 countries working in a total of 141 countries worldwide
> www.openspaceworldmap.org
>
> At my publisher you find books and task cards on open space, most in
> German, some in English, some as ebooks, some multilingual
> https://www.westkreuz-verlag.de/de/Kommunikation
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