What is Wirearchy?
Reams have been written about the erosion of the effectiveness of command-and control. It is evolving to champion-and-channel.
Wirearchy is an (emerging) organizing principle. We believe it is showing up in clear ways all around us, and can be seen in daily events and in the ways people are working, behaving, and buying. Examples are reported on regularly, as the impacts of living in the digital infrastructure of an electronic age take root.
The working definition of Wirearchy is:
"a dynamic two-way flow of power and authority, based on knowledge, trust, credibility and a focus on results, enabled by interconnected people and technology"
It is clearly implied by the phenomenon of e-everything. Interconnected access to information, knowledge and instantaneous communications is the modern equivalent to the dynamics created by the invention of the printing press - information gets distributed (much) more widely.
Today's rapid flows of information are like electronic grains of sand, eroding the pillars of rigid hierarchies. This new set of conditions is having real impact on organizational structures and on the ways we do things and behave.
Some of this is exhilarating, and great. Some of it is not. Some of it is about greater confusion, stress and frantic action. Some of it is about clarity, calm and right action.
Polarities are appearing everywhere. Different dimensions and dynamics of influence, power and control are emerging at various nodes of the interconnected workplace and world.
The last thirty years have been about the building of the technical infrastructure that provides an interconnected world. The integrated platform for a transformation to economies and a world driven by the communication and exchange of information is now solidly in place.
The next fifty years will be about learning how we will behave in an interconnected world and workplace.
The dynamics of wirearchy are similar to, and different than, traditional hierarchy - yet need effective hierarchical structure and action to work smoothly.
What Wirearchy Means For You
As a Leader - become deeply aware of - and truly mindful about - the scope and reach of interconnected markets and flows of information. Understand how people are connecting, talking, sharing information. Be prepared to listen deeply, be responsible, accountable and transparent.
As a Manager - become knowledgeable about online work systems and how the need for collaboration is changing the nature of work, generally - and the nature of managerial work specifically. Learning how to be an effective coach is all-important.
As an Employee - become more aware of the changing nature of work, and the traditional structures of authority. Develop a clear understanding of how to be both empowered and valuable and of service. Understand how to navigate on one's own through a constantly shifting landscape of work.
As a Citizen - understand the possibilities and responsibilities inherent in open and public dissemination of information. Understand and exercise the responsibilities of citizenship in a country. Understand how to have influence via electronic participation and collaboration.
How To Respond to Wirearchy
It is about adapting on a continuous basis, to an environment that keeps changing based on real-time feedback. This means:
- being aware of, and identifying, the changes,
- setting a direction for a desired future,
- translating that into goals,
- learning how to fulfill the goals,
- taking the necessary actions.
As the impacts of information technology have penetrated more deeply and pervasively into the workplace, the nature of work has shifted. The first responses were a general flattening of organizational structure and a focus on developing and implementing teamwork.
Today, the responses are emerging thick and fast - and there is a pattern to them. Clear trends are emerging about how to respond:
Architectural Considerations (Technology and Social)
Flexibility and responsiveness are critical. However, too often legacy mindsets and the inability to "let go" of power and control mitigate against the discipline necessary to experience real transformation.
Dialogue - Purpose, Meaning and Values
People have an intrinsic need to find meaning and experience community in their work. The responses identified by OD (organizational development) theory and practice) during the past thirty years are more important than ever - yet it seems that the "soft stuff" is still the "hard stuff". Finding the time, and breaking through the resistance, to work on dialogue is as difficult - and necessary - as ever.
Scenario Planning
In an increasingly interconnected and rapidly-flowing world, linear cause-and-effect planning is showing its age. Involving people in creating stories about what might happen, and then choosing possibility based on a preferred future, is gaining in awareness as an effective tool for responding to ongoing uncertainty.
Strategic Conversations and Workshops
Organigraphs, Balanced ScoreCard, Strategy Maps, Strategy Canvas, Network Analysis, Wirearchy Blueprinting
The tools listed above are all useful means of engaging in purposeful conversation about the "why" and "what" of grounding the theory of a business and implementing the disciplined activity necessary to realize positive outcomes.
Participative Work Design - Fluidity, Responsiveness, Mass Customization of Work
The people on the front lines, at the "coal face" of an organization's interaction with customers, are best equipped to make strategies real and effective. Participative Work design has proven its value, time and again, when organizations find the courage to address true empowerment.
Knowledge Management, Employee Portals
Knowledge Management is the "buzz word" that won't go away. And for good reason - the floods of information and knowledge unleashed by the confluence of software and the Internet won't stop. People now increasingly work with flows of information and knowledge. Learning how to work with (and within) these flows is mission-critical - riding the flow will require putting the dynamic of champion-and-channel to effective use.
Team Work, Team Building
Teams are here to stay. Interconnectedness, and the interdependency of integrated flows of information and knowledge demand cross-functional perspectives, and the ability to carry out and receive smooth hand-offs.
Emotional Intelligence, Coaching
Getting things done in the "permanent white water" of the interconnected world demands higher levels of interpersonal effectiveness. People will less-and-less accept authoritarian directives based on position. And if they do, it leads quickly to fear, resentment, disengagement and erosion of effectiveness.
Collaborative Technology
The integrated infrastructure is often in place in today's organization. Collaboration is fundamental to getting things done - and yet, there are still many examples of territoriality and the division of work into functional silos. This has been a concern for at leats twenty years - it must be addressed when the threads of connection run throughout the organization and its links with customers, enmployees and suppliers.
E-learning
E-learning is too obvious as a time-and-cost saver to ignore. It also will, in time, show itself to be adaptable to individual learning styles, and will support the mass customization of learning
Employee Relationship Management (ERM)
All of the above responses point to new dynamics of relationship between employees and organizations. The world is moving too fast for the primary relationship to remain the "master-servant" archetype of the Industrial Age. An adult-to-adult model (rather than parent-child) is emerging - with all of the attendant responsibilities for both parties in the relationship.