Dynamic and volatile environments require both, the ability to adapt and innovate rapidly and a certain amount of stability and structure. Is it possible to combine those two somehow contradicting characteristics? Yes, it is, if both leadership culture and organizational structructures are transformed at least in parts of the company. (keynote presentation DIEM 2017)

1. Leadership and Structures
for Volatile Times
Richard Pircher
University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna
pircher.solutions

2. • Jäger und sammler
Human collaboration developed during the
history of mankind.
Among hunters and gatherers the determining
factor was ….
Image: Wikimedia

3. … physical power
and dominance
Source: Frederic Laloux

4. Image: worak Wikimedia
Through the development of gardening and
agriculture enough food became available to
allow some people in society to focus on other
activities like …

5. • Erste Staaten
Image: kidsen.com Pinterest
… constructing buildings,
produce art, investigating
the starry sky, work in the
military, …

6. Source: Frederic Laloux
rigid hierarchy was the constitutive order for
these societies …
and it still is in some organizations and countries

7. • Technologie bürokratie
Industrial production
offers enormous
productivity through
division of laborImage: nocloudinthesky

8. commonly such an
organization is understood
as a machine.
There are buttons and
handwheels you may use to
change it
Image : Ragin Stern

9. command
execution
monitoring
report
The industrial machine organization is
a top-down pyramid
Image : (c) michaeldb www.fotosearch.com

10. a machine is
rigid and inflexible
and most humans
don`t want to be
treated as a
gear-wheel

11. hunters and gatherers
agriculture
industry / machine
???
Source: Frederic Laloux
What next?

12. „Today in a volatile world
there are no errors,
there is no right or wrong anymore
but only course corrections.“
Stefan Truthän, hhpberlin

13. Problems with the Pyramid
• It is quite rigid and inflexible
• Information going from the bottom to the top
will be filtered and biased and take long time
• Commands from the top to the bottom will be
restisted or ignored in many cases
• Managerial power impedes innovation and
change because managers want to protect
their power

14. Is the managerial
pyramid the only
way to organize
collaboration?

15. Something new emerges …
1993
From 1980
2014
From
1958
From 1970
"The larger we get,
the more decentralised we get,
the closer to the customer we get."

17. The future of organizing human
collaboration is alive here already:
(Hamel 2011, Laloux 2014, Pircher 2015)
(500, production, FR)
(>400, production, US)
(9.000, service, NPO, NL)
(1.500, services, US)
(100, production, AT)
(1.350, production, US)
(org. model)
(600, services, DE)
(900, production, US)
(4.000, services, NPO, US)
(40.000, production, global)
(1.500 stakeholder, services, NPO, DE)
(750, production, FR)

18. Structures for Self-Organization
purpose-driven
self-steering
competency based
accountability
motivating
adaptive - flexible
innovative
relevant actions
the whole human matters
distributed authority
Image: (c) yodiyim www.fotosearch.com
collective intelligence

19. Coordi-
nation
LAN
Home
LAN
Home
LAN
Home
LAN
Home
LAN Elected speakers represent
the Home LAN at the
Coordination LAN for a limited
time and communicate in
both directions
Exemplary Structures

20. Tele-Haase: Content instead of Pyramid
Within the support
process „Regie“ the CEO
and Owner are active

21. applying

22. „Everyone who realy burns
for a topic and
who is able to inspire others
is a Leader.“
„We are the dynamos.
We keep the company running.“
Stefan Truthän, hhpberlin

23. The Power of Collective Intelligence
„Excellence is the reason for
employee participation“
Nadja Perroulaz, Liip (Swiss)
„We leave the power where it belongs.“
„We definitely find a solution for every
problem.“
„We wiped everything away which is
not necessary.“
Michael Botek, ITdesign (Vienna)

24. Transformation from
„heroic“ leadership to
Developmental
leadership
Manz / Sims: Businesses without Bosses, 1993
S
S
L
L
= Supervisor / Manager
Start-up team
Transitional team
Well-trained,
experienced team
Developmental
leadership
S
= Leader
S „Holding
the space“

25. Different Ranges of Change
One Area
One Aspect:
e.g. meetings
Whole
Organization
Subsidiary /
Start-up
The Company
Pircher (in print 2018)

26. A Map of Different Ways of
Self-Organization
Method
People
Development
Structures
Method
driven
Facilitators
Translators
Modeler
Developers

27. Different Levels of Complexity and Scope
for Design within an Organization
Agreement-Certainty-Modell (Ralph Stacey)

28. Different Levels of Complexity and Scope
for Design within an Organization
relatively rigid relatively flexible
explicit
structure
SIMPLE - COMPLICATED:
mainly prestructured
e.g. production lines, …
COMPLEX: Self-organization
e.g. in sales, strategy, projects, …
No or implicit
structure
SIMPLE - COMPLICATED:
informal organization
Culture, social „rooms“
COMPLEX - UNSTRUCTURED:
unpredictable
innovation, sustainability
Pircher (in print 2018)

29. New Work Experience
• A training was developed to prepare
employees, companies and students for the
world of new work environments
• Topics are among others:
– Self-organization and agile structures
– Agile and digital leadership
– Self-Leadership
– Roles Vs. Positions
– Office and collaboration concepts
Pircher (in print 2018)

30. Strengths
•Employees tend to be more motivated and engaged
•Both repetitive and reflexive tasks are combined
•Everybody in the organization may become a sensor
for relevant changes
•The potential of both people and the organization
may be realized much easier
•The purpose of the organization is the guiding star for
every decision and action
•Attractiveness as employer is increased
•Change is embedded in the genes of the company
•A culture of cooperation and effective use of
resources is much easier to establish
•Innovation is encouraged and facilitated
Pircher (in print 2018)

31. Challenges
• It takes time to understand a completely different logic of
collaboration and to get accustomed to it. Growth may be
limited because of the need to maintain the culture.
• Not everybody wants to engage in work or is able to
• Recruiting is more difficult
• A suitable approach for transformation has to be identified
• Efficient processes for decision making and coordination
have to be established
• Owners and leaders with an appropriate mindset are
essential
• Individual success may not be measured in conventional
hierarchical terms anymore
• Employees have to be capable of dealing with freedom and
accountability
Pircher (in print 2018)

32. Take-Home Message 1
1. Self-organization and distributed authority:
To distribute decisions to those people who own the
knowledge and have to implement them is a
decisive factor for agility and drive in a volatile
environment.
Pircher (in print 2018)

33. Take-Home Message 2
2. There are different options to transform an
organization towards more agility with self-
organization – ranges and strategies.
Not every way suits every company.
Pircher (in print 2018)

34. Take-Home Message 3
3. There are different levels of complexity and scope for
design within an organization.
Pircher (in print 2018)

35. Take-Home Message 4
• Developmental Leadership is able to unleash
hidden potentials of employees and the
organization. It is adaptable and much more
suitable for a volatile environment than „industrial
command and control leadership“.

36. Further reading and watching:
• Pircher: The future of organizing de.slideshare.net/pircher/
• Hamel: First, Let’s Fire All the Managers
• Bernstein et al.: Beyond the Holacracy Hype
• Frederic Laloux: www.reinventingorganizations.com
• Rooke / Torbert: Seven Transformations of Leadership
• White: Overview Effect https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHMIfOecrlo

37. Richard Pircher
richard.pircher@fh-vie.ac.at
pircher.solutions
Thank you very much for your
contemplation!
Slides at de.slideshare.net/pircher