The Tribal Organisation

In the early noughties, silos and the destruction of these was all the talk in management consulting circles; get rid of the silos; flat structures are more efficient; silos are insular and should be dismantled........ I know, I was there actively participating in the destruction!

I await with anticipation each and every article illustrating Seth Godin's business insight which is a great source of education for me, and I recommend that as a Leader you could do a lot worse than doing the same. His concept of tribal communities is as accurate as it is timely in a web-centric world where sites like Facebook, Twitter and others have shown the power of tribes bound by similar interest themes. So I guess this is a case of back-to-the-future, except this time it is not merely a Hollywood fantasy!

So, did you ever consider that your organisation is already prepared for this world. And what if I was to suggest that the most cost-effective and fast method to unleash the power of your organisation is in fact to give power to these silos, bound by the same interest themes, simply by renaming Silos, Tribes. And I do not say this light-heartedly.

The themes of these tribes are for you to choose to build teams around. More likely than not, your organisation, independent of the many thousands of dollars of management consulting fees, still operate in Silos, except now they have gone underground protecting themselves from the wrath of management and management consultants, in an effort to protect productivity. And let me suggest that instead of, yet again disrupting natural organisational evolution, by spending management time rebuilding tribes, you reward Leaders within your organisation that identfy their silos/tribes; but there are a few rules.

Rules for effective tribes:

• Leaders of tribes are not necessarily Managers
  
• Tribe Leaders need to be protected from traditional managers
  
• Importantly, how are they creating and supporting the collective. Meaning how are they ensuring that they are a community of Tribes rather than Silos!
  
• Tribes could be cost centres as well as profit centres
  
• However, they need to clearly identify themselves as such
  
• Whether they are the former or latter, they need to clearly identify and articulate their purpose and how it delivers to the organisational vision
• Tribes that operate outside of the organisational vision are not to be repremanded
  
• Instead they should be asked to come-up with research to show validity for operating outside the vision (this could in fact be the Tribe that is creating your future).
  
• This divergent Tribe could be managed in a number of effective ways:
  
• integrated back into the Vision due to validity
  
• operate within an R&D environment if deemed opportunistic
  
• funded as a separate business
  
• sold-off as an idea (maybe to a keen venture-capitalist)
  
• Remember that they have had to first define their purpose and so have clear objectives

However, whatever you do, do not let a traditional manager convince you that they are just a run-away team intent on destroying the business; this would tell you more about your manager than the Tribe.

So, make it your business to ensure that your managers are Leaders, primarily facilitating the networking of these Tribes to create a collective that is bigger than the sum of individuals, rather than intent on disrupting the, often, great work within these Tribes.

There obviously are other (maybe not so obvious) aspects to Tribal Organisations that can be specifically developed for your organisation. However, before you go about potentially disrupting your Tribe, ask yourself if in fact they are an effective Tribe and should you need further support on Tribal Organisations, contact TribalOrganisation@CxOconsulting.com.au.

And if you are not yet convinced, ask yourself this question; "Why did we believe that flat organisations worked better". Surely the answer to this is that we watched small flat-structured entreprunerial organisations eat our lunch through their dynamism and effectiveness. What we did not realise is that in fact it was the outdated hierarchy based on greed that was destroying value and holding back earnings potential, and not necessarily the silos.

Aren't a group of small businesses merely Tribes with a different name. So shouldn't you be cultivating your Tribes and allowing them to be dynamic and responsive by loosening the schackles of hierarchy?

Another author that best describes the difference between Directive and Transformative organisations is Tom Voccola. Feel free to click here to download a free copy of his brilliant "The Accidental CEO" eBook (PDF).

Aldo Grech - CxO Consulting