A swarm organization allows anyone in the organization to pick from a list of important initiatives and begin working on them immediately based on their skills and interests. This approach promotes rapid collaboration and responsiveness. Key benefits of a swarm organization include speed of execution, cost-effectiveness by utilizing existing resources, cross-functional collaboration bringing diverse perspectives together, and inclusion by giving everyone the opportunity to contribute. Success requires open communication, clear roles, collaboration platforms, measuring results, and learning from experiences.

1. How To Get A Go-To Organization

2. “….To lead is to inspire…where you want the
organization as a whole to go.”
~Rick Falkvinge

3. The Birds and The Bees: Retold
Nature has much to teach us about working together,
sharing knowledge and skills, and, ultimately, surviving.
As organizations face external and internal challenges to
their success, new ways of getting good work done are
critical to achieving desired results and staying
competitive.
Enter the “swarm” organization.

4. The Birds and The Bees: Retold
What is a “swarm organization”?
Imagine creating a list of initiatives in the organization
that are important to the group’s success and require
immediate attention, skills and speed to complete.
Now imagine allowing anyone – everyone – an opportunity
to pick from that list based on their capacity, capability and
interest and begin work immediately. Not only would work
be activated, but collaboration and communication would
also begin immediately: surfacing challenges, identifying
solutions, and otherwise promoting a rapid, agile, and
responsive approach to getting good work done.

5. The Birds and The Bees: Retold
Why Swarm?
- Responsiveness: In times of constraint or other external or internal
influencers, this way of getting work done is driven by a simple call to
action. It is focused on what everyone CAN do.
- Cost-effectiveness: There are no new resource requirements.
Resources rapidly align themselves around tasks, pivoting the
organization without incremental needs beyond the capacity and
capability of those people surrounding the work.
- Speed: Given the nimble nature of this mode of working, execution of
projects is faster. Decisions are not run through the formal
organizational structure: teaming and leadership are encouraged at the
local level of work.
- Cross-functional and cross-departmental wealth: By inviting the
organization to participate in work, there is great opportunity for cross-
pollination of knowledge, skills, and styles. There is an innovation
opportunity available when diverse and capable perspectives combine to
problem-solve.
- Inclusion: A swarm is highly inclusive through the invitation to everyone
to pick work. A healthy by-product of inclusion is that areas of high
attraction and high potential individuals and teams can be identified and
motivated, and replicate it through the organization.

6. The Birds and The Bees: Retold
Swarm Success Factors
- Openness: Talent needs to be able to flow within and without the
organization for work swarming to be effective. Informal networks of
communication and skill are needed to allow fullest engagement of
organizational work.
- Role Clarity: Defined roles and responsibilities are necessary to align
diverse teams and focus on achieving results.
- Social Networks/Platforms: being nimble includes collaboration
platforms that can not only be shared within a team but also across and
organization. Quick contribution can be made to problem-solving and
also communicating breakthroughs and achievements.
- Artifacts: Measuring, monitoring and reporting on work results not only
maps the success of the initiative; but, also provides data to the
organization by which to replicate success models elsewhere in the
organization.
- Retrospection: Demonstrable proof that certain ways of working are
effective can contribute to ongoing optimization and improvement in the
organization , building sustainable effort around people, process, and
systems in the environment. In this way, lessons learned and benefits
realized form strong foundations for helping organizations discover what
works and what “wows”.

7. The Birds and The Bees: Retold
When you swarm, things like this can happen…
- Collective Intelligence: Large groups of people, very simply, can work
smarter together. Swarms can have system breakthroughs, going
beyond the administration of human resources and knowledge
management systems; but, also lifting information out of a database
and into the relationships that surround a piece of work.
- Think Global, Act Local: Larger organizations can become more agile
and able to respond effectively and efficiently to external and internal
factors that would have potentially negative impacts on its ability to
compete in an ever shifting market. The ability to scale to priority and
high value work is critical to optimization and effective transformation
activities. Being able to support select and specific shifts toward the
good work in an organization has exponential opportunity to produce
and expand desired outcomes.
- People, People, People: Interested and motivated people produce
incredible results. Your resources were hired for a reason – it only
makes sense to permit them opportunities where they can select their
success. When a team is motivated by a shared interest in an
assignment, it is typically also committed to its successful completion.
And when people are given opportunities to collectively own an
outcome, promoting a culture of openness and availability are high.

8. The Birds and The Bees: Retold
When you swarm, MORE things like this can happen…
- The Trustable Organization: An organization that instills trust and
confidence in its people, processes, and systems to enable creative
outcomes is, in turn, trusted. Additionally, resources that are linked
through informal networks across organization tend to build trust in their
peers being able to complete their work and support group success.
There are no heroes, then, in favor of the hive and every member on the
team is a component of success. When you factor in that 40% of an
organization’s work is now “non-routine” (Gartner) and outside the span
of control in most organizations, then you have a perfect requirement for
instilling trust and confidence in teams than have likely not worked much
together in the past – and may not in the future.
- Communities of Practice: Communities of practice are an excellent
place to explore swarming as well as embed swarming outcomes where
people, process and systems enhancements can become practice,
policy, or standard to a group or organization. Communities of practice
can both be derived from swarm successes and can also be perfect
launch pads to more flexibly surround – or swarm- work as required in
the organization.

9. The Birds and The Bees: Retold
And last but not least:
- Communication Uptick: In swarms, communication has to be intentional
as the risk for duplication and the requirement for transparency are at a
premium . When communication is local and at the level of work, it
tends to be increase opportunities and exchange around problem-
solving and creative solutioning. Access between resources is higher
as the swarm is unfettered by administration and more bureaucratic,
latent ways of sharing information. In these ways, communication is
quickly collaborative.
.

10. The Birds and The Bees: Retold
For more information on creating a swarm organization:
changeondemand@changethatsticks.com
@biztranfan
403.870.4749