swarm: how to get a go-to organization

How To Get A Go-To Organization

“….To lead is to inspire…where you want the

organization as a whole to go.”

~Rick Falkvinge

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.


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.


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.


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”.


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.


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.


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.

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For more information on creating a swarm organization:

[email protected]

@biztranfan

403.870.4749

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swarm: how to get a go-to organization

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