Executive Director at Harvard Business School | Human Capital Sustainability | Case Studies | Franco-German born in Mexico, raised in Africa, Europe & the US
What if our workplaces could be more like Quaker meeting houses and less like Catholic High Mass? Earlier this week, pharmaceutical giant Bayer reported that it is delayering management and asking nearly 100,000 workers to ‘self-organize’ in the hope of saving the firm more than $2 billion. This prompted us to look for management lessons from the Quakers, a religious movement started by a Church of England dissenter in the 17th century. Quakers rejected strict hierarchies and regalia, preached inclusion and equality, embraced the power of silence, encouraged anyone, including visitors, to "minister" at their gatherings, and focused on the "Divine Spark" within all of us. We consider Quaker teachings for the modern workplace on three levels: - the personal (how an organization sees a person); - the structural (how individuals interact to get work done in a community); and, - the cultural (how the individual and the organization come together in mutually reinforcing ways). For each, we include reflection questions such as: Personal: - Do you acknowledge your inner light? Where do you feel most comfortable letting it shine? Is one of those places where you work? If not, what would you need to change about your workplace to make that true? - Or are you shining too brightly at work? Have you forgotten the other places where your light is also needed? Organizational: - Next time you are in a meeting where PowerPoint is the hymn book, consider what is happening. Do you enjoy being able to disconnect and pretend to be listening? - How might adopting a flatter hierarchy or more open meetings, similar to the Quaker organizational model, influence communication, decision-making, and employee empowerment—and what would that mean for you as a leader and employee? It might mean more work and risk because more engagement requires more emotional and mental connection. Are you willing to take it? Cultural: - What is the payoff of radicalism? When we become more pragmatic, does it feel like we are settling? How can “practical accommodations with the mundane world” feel liberating and not disheartening? - And how do we adapt these teachings while avoiding what Quakers have been criticized for, such as letting others fight “their” wars, being too passive, and not being explicit about their beliefs? Thank you, Matthew Vernon Hanson, for the collaboration, and Arthur (Arturo) Natella, for the heads-up on Bayer and for keeping your finger on the pulse of management transformations. (https://lnkd.in/giMzyg6f) #engagement #inclusiveleadership
Carin-Isabel Knoop this idea of openly sharing ideas and collectively solving problems in the context of an inner light unique to each member is terrific. I like how you have “illuminated” a path that integrates DEI and other workplace challenges. It is also a time that would benefit from solutions that evolve without rigid hierarchy or concrete conclusions. Particularly on deep questions. All of this is needed right now. Especially in the workplace. A communal rich dialogue among dedicated peers is the ethic espoused but not lived in many professional service firms: not within the partnership. Andersen lived it for a time, almost a century - “many voices inside, one voice outside.“ Sridhar Ramamoorti jack bigelow There’s another aspect to highlight here which flows naturally from this elegant essay: where is the light shone? As it relates to the workplace, where is our inner spark directed. The answer seems clear to me. It must be on the legitimate work of the enterprise. Part of the challenge in partnerships comes from the over leveraging of subordinates or past clients. So, leaders don’t collectively take their inner light and direct it on the existential threats to the organization. We need more “bat” like work. 🦇
This is a massive reorg. I do think a lot more companies are going to need to do this. As a whole continue to operate like legacy military units. The world outside has changed so much Workplace will need to do the same.
Dennis Glacken
6mo
Did not make the case why copying an operating model that only has 400,000 customers is preferable over a model that has over a billion customers, ie there is a 3,400 to 1 ratio of market share. De-layering, decentralization have been around for a very long time. There are many great businesses that practice decentralization and delayering with much success. Peter Drucker made a great case for how organizations will change more like orchestra’s etc. more than 35 years ago. Drucker’s work always ties back to running a profitable busiess.
Michael Padurano
6mo
What a beautiful integration of individualized self empowerment and self consciousness can inspire whole organizational shifts. This is magical Carin-Isabel Knoop Thank you for this
Truly excellent bridging between Quaker concepts and a current corporate dilemma. Thanks so much for this model Carin-Isabel Knoop. And Shane Cragun's point about the value of ritual extends beyond young people, and, if implemented strategically, could "feed the soil" for a culture change of this magnitude .
This…is brilliant. 1. How the heck did you think to draw this parallel? It’s really good. 2. You are truly a writing machine 🤣🤗
This is fascinating Carin-Isabel Knoop - I am also really interested in the Buurtzorg principles.
Helpful! This will allow for people to work as people instead of production tools.
Executive Director at Harvard Business School | Human Capital Sustainability | Case Studies | Franco-German born in Mexico, raised in Africa, Europe & the US
6moHelena Arjuna Suter -- because your divine spark shines so bright!