Brave New Work

PART TWO: THE OPERATING SYSTEM 94% of problems in business are systems-driven and only 6% are people-driven. -W. Edwards Deming Becoming a people positive and complexity conscious organization can be overwhelming. It's hard to know where to begin, or what matters most. But through the careful collection and tagging of hundreds of unconventional practices from around the world, I found that Evolutionary Organizations are converging on twelve domains as the proving ground for the future of work. It is in these spaces that the courageous few are taking risks. And it is in these spaces that struggling enterprises will likely find their faults. Together they form a canvas-an Operating System Canvas-through which we can see and shift our organizational identity. The OS Canvas PURPOSE How we orient and steer AUTHORITY How we share power and make decisons STRUCTURE How we organize and team STRATEGY How we plan and prioritize RESOURCES How we invest our time and money INNOVATION How we learn and evolve WORKFLOW How we divide and do the work MEETINGS How we convene and coordinate INFORMATION How we share and use data MEMBERSHIP How we define and cultivate relationships MASTERY How we grow and mature COMPENSATION How we pay and provide THE OPERATING SYSTEM Each domain of the OS Canvas asks us to consider an aspect of our organization more deeply than we typically would. For example, what is authority? How should it be distributed? And how does that manifest (or not) in your culture? How do you make decisions? How should you? Is your approach to authority a signal-controlled intersection or a round- about? Is it People Positive and Complexity Conscious? The canvas forces us to confront the deltas between our assumptions, our beliefs, and our reality. If we say we want to hear every voice but spend most of the day talking over others, that tells us something. If we say we value agility, but every decision requires a dozen approvals, the opportunity is clear. In the pages ahead, we'll explore how each of these domains is changing, the provocateurs that are shaping them, and the emerging principles and practices they're pioneering. Each domain is broken into five parts: an overview that introduces the concept, thought starters designed to challenge your assumptions, ways to take action and try something new, insights on navigating the domain in change, and ques- tions to consider as you reflect on and reinvent your own OS. You may have noticed that the domains of the canvas are generic and value agnostic. That's intentional. We want to ensure that any orga- nization can leverage the canvas regardless of its organizational philosophy. The Morning Star Company, for example, has found huge success in the domain of structure by revolutionizing traditional job titles and roles. Every year, four hundred full-time employees at the world's larg- est tomato processor write their own job descriptions. They do this by authoring a Colleague Letter of Understanding, or CLOU, that contains their commitments to and agreements with one another. CLOUs are reviewed and challenged by colleagues who offer advice, not mandates, about what should change. Since this document changes every year, there's no need for traditional job titles or promotions. But that's okay, because everyone adjusts their own salary as they learn and grow. The math works out. While their industry grows around 1 percent a year, Morning Star has averaged double-digit revenue and profit growth for the past twenty years. Today it generates more than $700 million in revenue. In an indus- try that normally treats workers as expendable, it has managed to create a way of working that rivals any unicorn for innovative and human- centric design principles