How to become less-hierarchical within a hierarchical structure
I recently spoke to a group of leaders at Belfius, one of the largest Belgian banks, and the title of my talk was “Becoming Less-Hierarchical Within a Hierarchical Structure.” I wanted to share the key points of the talk as I think it may be useful and of interest to others.
My core thesis is that organizations can become less-hierarchical without changing the basic hierarchical macro-structure of the organization, i.e., the authority structure where individuals report to managers who report to managers and so forth. What i’ve learned from studying organizations that have eliminated their hierarchical macro-structure and adopted “boss-less” or “self-managing” structures, is that becoming less-hierarchical is less about changing structure and much more about changing problematic mindsets, behaviors, and interactions. While changing the former can help, it’s not necessary to change the latter.
The key behaviors and mindsets that organizations are seeking to foster that are difficult within hierarchy are:
1) an environment where individuals feel engaged and empowered in their jobs, accountable for their work, but not micro-managed.
2) a team climate filled with psychological safety, i.e., where individuals feel safe to speak up with new ideas and to disagree if needed, and where team dynamics are characterized by open communication, respectful interactions and feelings of connectedness.
A vast body of research shows how hierarchy powerfully works against creating this type of environment for a whole host of reasons.
Hierarchy makes people afraid to speak up. It’s hard to overestimate the tendency of hierarchy to reduce employee voice. Amy Edmondson and Jim Detert have shown that people hold deep assumptions, called “implicit voice theories,” that make them less likely to speak up within hierarchies. Also, individuals quickly pick up on topics that are “undiscussable” or taboo, based on based on leader behaviors.
Hierarchy tends to dehumanize. A vast body of research in the last twenty years has shown how having power makes people more likely to view others as a means to an ends and reduces empathy and perspective taking.
Hierarchy distorts communication patterns. The power dynamics that hierarchy tend to produce a reliable distortion that I call the managerial megaphone - or the tendency for a suggestion or idea from a superior to be heard as a decision or command from a subordinate.
But with appropriate level of vigilance, the right set of tools, and continual practice and patience, I believe organizations can counteract the negative tendencies of hierarchy and enable empowerment and collaboration. The key tools are
New leadership mindsets. I think the three key metaphors for the less-hierarchical leader is
Leader as architect - Designing the right structures and environments in which others can thrive;
Leader as conductor - Shifting away from any person being the boss to the work itself being the boss
Leader as coach - Shifting away from monitoring work and providing oversight and towards guiding a learning journey where both accountability and safety are held simultaneously
New ways of interacting.
Using spaces and scripts to foster collective experimentation and risk taking with new ways of interacting.
Creating new meeting formats other than the traditional management meeting (where the boss is the facilitator and sets the agenda) that enable more connection and open communication
I always end by remind people that this is hard stuff - hierarchical ways of interacting and relating are deeply habituated. Changing the way we interact is scary. Leaders must show the way by finding the darkness in themselves, modeling these new behaviors, and creating spaces for experimentation within the organization. It can be done!