From 1-1-8 to 4-2-3-1 Approach

Whilst reading up on the Football World Cup tournament I stumbled across an article by Michael Cox who talks about the evolution of football formations.

”You see, modern football is largely based around passing, but it wasn’t always the default approach. Early football games revolved around dribbling. Players would receive possession and move directly forward in possession, with team-mates largely concerned with ‘backing up’ to collect the ball if it ran loose.

An alternative approach, however, was being developed. The Queens Park side of the 1870s dominated Scottish football and provided all the players for their match against England in 1872. Although the English players were much stronger, and built for a more rudimentary style of football, the Scottish players worked properly as a team, attacking in pairs and slipping the ball to one another on the run.

This approach was startling to the English players, unaccustomed to the concept – the idea that a ball could be deliberately passed to a team-mate in a better position had barely been considered. Inevitably, this combination game maximised the talent of players and created more of a harmonious team. Equally inevitably, the idea spread across Britain – and then the rest of Europe.”

Following this revelation I am hoping that my wife might read this post.  I have been trying – unsuccessfully – to evolve how we run our home and family life. I am convinced we can achieve so many more efficiencies so that I don’t always end up being the Head of Craft for school projects or the Chief Driving Officer for the multitude of weekend trips we make for our children.

At work (as well as at home!) I have been asking myself the question – how should a company in the disruptive economy structure their teams?

It used to be that they operated in hierarchies, which is standard across most traditional businesses.

But today, this is becoming less common. The millennials are driving change. Most studies show they aren’t looking for a boss – they’re looking for coaches and mentors who can guide them on their career path.

As Gen Y continues to take over and become the primary workforce, it’s important for leaders to be thinking about how to best utilize their young talent.

Change is happening in the disruptive economy. Companies are beginning to embrace the idea of developing networks of teams instead of a pecking order.

Organizational design is evolving, and perhaps it’s time you embraced change too.

The Problem With A Hierarchical Organizational Structure

Managers and leaders sometimes complain: “I wish Jenny would talk to Steve, because they would both benefit from these interactions and be more effective in their roles overall if they kept the lines of communication open.”

Meanwhile, Jenny and Steve have no idea what you’re thinking because they’re mired in tasks they must complete daily. They may even report to different managers.

Let’s say Jenny is in marketing and Steve is in sales. The connection is relatively obvious. If the two worked together, they could determine what messaging to use to attract prospects, define what a warm lead is, decide when marketing should pass leads onto sales, and so on.

Rarely does this happen organically. Marketing and sales usually don’t talk to each other, and that’s part of the problem. Neither wants to spend a lot of time thinking about what the other is doing. They want to focus on their tasks and assignments independent of each other.

This is the challenge with a hierarchical structure on a micro level.

On a macro level, it’s challenging to get your team moving in the same direction. If you don’t share your goals and objectives with your team, they have a major unanswered question: “why?” They know they have tasks to complete if they want to keep their job, but they don’t necessarily know how their participation leads to organizational success.

This tends to inhibit collaboration and communication between separate teams.

How To Break Down Organizational Silos & Encourage More Collaboration

Breaking down silos might require that you restructure your organization.

Disruptive businesses tend to be innovative. Why should this stop at the product or service level? It’s important to innovate in the context of teams too. After all, in the disruptive economy, an industry can change overnight. If you aren’t agile and flexible, you could find yourself scrambling to come back from a major loss.

Here are some practical things you can do to start breaking down organizational silos and encourage more collaboration:

• Increase communication. These days, it’s common for teams to be made up of a mix of onsite and remote workers. When people who barely know each other are working together on complex projects, they require more communication, not less. Managers should get to know everyone in their team individually, build trust with them, empower them with the tools they need to succeed, and keep a close eye on their performance.

• Increase autonomy. Give your teams the opportunity to set their own goals and make their own decisions within the parameters of business objectives.

• Create an operations center. Give your teams the ability to share relevant information and make connections between themselves based on desired business results.

• Make it easy for people to move from team to team. Empower your workers to collaborate by moving between teams as needed. There should be a “home” they can return to when a project is done, but if their expertise is required in another context, they should be encouraged to move around as necessary.

Final Thoughts

Per Deloitte, 92% of companies believe redesigning their organization is either very important or important.

Is it time you thought differently about your organizational structure? Are you ready to make some changes?

In the disruptive economy, setting your team up for success might mean thinking differently about how your organizational structure works.

Having reluctantly accepted that the home improvement race against my wife was lost I thought I would turn to comment on another exciting race that is taking place – digitalising talent acquisition. Technology is everywhere and on this occasion it’s making the process more efficient and effective than ever.

Winner takes it all?