Being aware of all the facts summarized in the video above, in order to survive and thrive, many organizations are undertaking the fundamental shift from a traditional organizational model designed for the industrial economy to an agile model designed for today’s digital economy.
The traditional organization model evolved primarily for stability in a well-predictable environment: It is based on the idea of an organization as a machine and tends to favour a static, siloed, structural hierarchy that operates through linear planning and control to execute a well-defined strategy.
As the world grows more complex, the organization model has evolved to more matrix-like structure, more rules, and more control in an attempt to cope.
Many organizations are now reaching the tipping points and drowning in complexity.
The penalty of a status quo can be severe: Blockbuster, Nokia, Kodak, lost their way—not because they weren’t smart, but because their organizations were designed for a world that was rapidly disappearing.
In such unpredictable, rapidly changing environment, we need organizations to be:
Acting as a living-systems, while they stay both stable and dynamic.
Focusing on embedding customer-centricity in all they do.
Having tried and tested practices that can fluidly adapt and adjust to market changes, innovative technology, customer feedback, and government regulation.
Being open, inclusive, and non-hierarchical
Embracing uncertainty and ambiguity with greater confidence.
Such organizations are far better equipped for the future and require a new and fundamentally different kind of leadership.