Management has decided to eliminate management, it seems. A new trend is emerging, as bureaucracies are flattened – and teams need to move forward inside a new structure. With recent trends in white collar layoffs, the future of work is being built on self-directed teams. Cutbacks are driving the change. Yahoo!News has declared that the six-figure job market faces a “white collar recession”. Bloomberg Intelligence says that Global banks will cut as many as 200,000 jobs in the next three to five years. Inside shrinking job markets, the need for career autonomy and flexibility is growing. For companies like Meta, Bayer, GE and 3M, the movement away from management is a step towards new requirements for workers. How can you prepare for the new new normal, where management means something different than it ever has before?
Self-Leadership is the New Management
Author and leadership expert Steve Denning has done research into new management structures. He notes that many high-performance teams are not manager-led. Top results emerge when management steps back, allowing the team to self-organize. “What generates the energy and passion of self-organizing teams, and their eventual high productivity, is that the members enjoy the opportunity to organize their own work and contribute their full human potential to the collective,” he shares.
Management layers are reduced in the pursuit of profitability, efficiency – and greater empowerment for employees. But moving to a self-led structure isn’t as easy as writing a prompt for ChatGPT. Workers want to know who is in charge, when the managers are being let go. Who referees between budget allocations, product launch dates, legal approvals? Who will have the authority to sign off on your next vacation request? The answer depends on the organization, but greater autonomy is emerging as the path forward. In a world without managers, opportunity appears. An opportunity for you to step up – and step into – self-leadership. These three vital self-leadership skills will help you to prepare for the future of work – and future-proof your career.
As Management Departs, the Self-Governing Workforce Arrives
In self-governing teams, according to Denning’s research, “what to do” is often harder than actually doing the work. The ability to identify choices, and challenges, is central the team. That objective emphasizes the importance of persuasive communication. That way, others can enroll in a proposed course of action – but discussion and discourse are part of the new new normal. To thrive in this evolving environment, employees should focus on developing the following self-leadership strategies:
- Decisiveness: Are you good at making decisions? Structure can reduce or even eliminate the need for choices, if you choose to let it. However, removing the hierarchy of management means everyone needs more decisiveness. Responsibility is shared, not dictated. Your success relies on your cognitive skills, not management oversight. The future of work requires employees that can see the rules (guardrails) and innovate in between them – seeing new possibilities not just old regulations. Abdicating responsibility won’t work any more – ownership is what’s required, at every level. The navigation involves critical thinking, assessing available information (including that suspicious output from ChatGPT) and taking responsibility for outcomes. Decision-making will shift to the individual, based on the needs of the team, when moving to self-directed workforce. Here’s how the Project Management Institute explains the difference: “Manager-led teams are defined and led by someone from the outside. A manager appoints a project manager, and the project manager becomes the boss of a team. The team does whatever the manager tells it to do.” In the self-directed team, you are the CEO of a Brand Called You. Your choices define your success, based on the impact you create for your team. What decisions do you need to make, to enable that impact?
- Collaboration and Cooperation: Success in self-directed teams hinges on effective collaboration. Building strong interpersonal relationships and fostering open communication are essential for achieving collective goals. So, how do you do that? Turns out, collaboration and cooperation both leverage the oldest tool in business: the conversation. In self-directed teams, notice that “self” isn’t really what matters most. Ambition takes a back seat, when nobody needs or wants to be the manager. Advancement comes from advancing projects. Evaluation is based on performance. Surprisingly, self-directed teams emphasize selfless service, not selfishness. The project or task is what matters – not office politics, promotion or positioning. Collaboration is critical to the success of self-directed teams. Where will self-directed teams fail? Inside toxic cultures. Cutthroat culture companies can’t compete in the new order. If you aren’t finding collaboration and cooperation, look at your culture – and get ready to change.
- Self-Reliance and Initiative: Projects need to follow SMART objectives: goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-boxed (urgent). Teams must organize around SMART goals, not management orders. Involving others in creating those objectives is the key for self-governance. In manager-led teams, expectations determine behavior. In self-directed teams, agreement drives behavior. Moving from expectations to agreement is an exercise in self-reliance and initiative, so that you can share your ideas in a way that is compelling. In my consulting work with companies undergoing digital transformation, creating a culture of agreement (not expectation) is key. After all, in the self-directed team there’s an egalitarianism of ideas (everyone has an opportunity to contribute – it’s different than just listening to the boss for guidance). This emerging democratization of the workforce means you have to own your voice, and your ideas – sharing them with initiative and confidence, in your communication.
What Leaders Can Learn From Established Management Systems of Self-Directed Teams
The concept of self-governing groups isn’t new. For instance, boarding schools provide a parallel, where students live away from parental oversight. Unlike that flashback from an episode of Yellowjackets, a natural discipline and leadership emerges for young adults in prep school. At St. John’s Northwestern Academies, a boarding school in Delafield, Wisconsin, students learn and demonstrate personal accountability. “Boarding school life requires students to step outside their comfort zones and become more self-reliant.” The same can be said for the self-directed workforce. And maybe for the characters on Yellowjackets? I’ll leave that for you to decide.
Despite initial concerns about potential disorder, students often develop unspoken systems of collaboration and cooperation, establishing a natural order among themselves. As adults, we have an even greater capacity for creativity and collaboration, inside self-directed teams. Concerns about disorder need to be replaced with a deeper understanding of human nature. We are wired to collaborate. Our ability to communicate and innovate built the world around us. This phenomenon illustrates the human capacity to self-organize and adapt, which has been around since long before Henry Ford built the first assembly line. Management is evolving to bring us back to what we do best, when ownership, empowerment and self-leadership take charge.
