Description: Responsive. Lean. Teal. Holacracy. Sociocracy. All of these terms can be used to describe a movement that is currently underway, which seeks to fundamentally transform the way people work together. In much the same way that Agile updated our approach to software development, we now look to update the operating system of the entire organization. In this conversation, we will discuss trends in organizational design and share practical, “safe to try” techniques you can take back and apply to any part of your organization. Speaker Bio: Chelsea is a people operations leader and organizational designer. She is fascinated by reimagining the way people work together and designing organizations for the 21st century. As a Master’s candidate at Northwestern University, Chelsea researches next-stage organizational structures with a particular interest in self-management. She has spent her career working in technology, both enterprise and startup, with a personal passion for fixing the broken and the outdated. In her free time, you can find Chelsea hiking, biking or baking bread.

1. Reimaging the
Way People
Work Together

2. CHELSEA WILLIAMS

3. • Organizational Design
• New Ways of Working -
5 Principles
• Create Sticky Change
Our
Roadmap

4. Actively
Disengaged
24%
Engaged
13%
Not Engaged
63%
Work isn’t working
Source: Gallup State of the Global Workplace Report

5. The Org Chart1855 1917
Today1987

6. “Intuitively, we know that design should serve a
functional purpose and deliver on a strategy. So
why, when we design organizations, do we
copy/paste the same boxes and the same roles?
It’s time for an era of
conscious organizational design.”
- Bud Caddell, Founder of NOBL Collective

7. Trends in Org Design

9. We will spend time on…
Principles

10. We won’t spend time on…
Specific
frameworks
Purpose

11. TRANSPARENCY
ROLE-BASED
DISTRIBUTED AUTHORITY
FLEXIBLE WORK
EMERGENCE
5 PRINCIPLES
1. Description
2. Try it on
3. Bright spot

12. Hem it
Embellish it
Mix-and-match
Donate it
Try it on

13. • Decision making rights lie with those closest to the
source of the information
• Individuals are given explicit permission to do whatever
they think is needed to accomplish their mission within
their specific domain
• Leverages the collective intelligence
Principle 1: Distributed Authority

14. Try it on!
Get your feet wet
It is not about
necessarily making
changes but about
uncovering and
talking openly about
where levels of
authority currently
stand.
Learn how to play at
Management 3.0 –
Delegation Poker

15. The Advise Process
Try it on!
1. Someone notices a problem or opportunity within
their specific domain.
2. The decision maker thinks about possible ways to
solve the issue and starts to formulate a plan.
3. The decision-maker may seek input from their
colleagues who would be affected by the decision
or those with expertise.
4. Taking this advice into account, the decision-maker
revises their proposal and decides on an action to
take.
5. They then informs those who have given advice
and possibly more broadly.
Decision maker
The proposal
Jump right in
Google: Reinventing Organizations / Decision Making

16. Bright Spot: USS Santa Fe
Captained by David Marquet
From worst to first
achieving the highest retention and operational
standings in the Navy.
“ I intend to…”

17. Principle 2: Role-based
From
Titles
To
Roles
• Specific and custom
• Fluid and revolved around
the work/project
• Cut a role, not a person
• Play to strengths

18. Role Activity
Try it on!
Jump right in
1. Your team has a new project they are starting.
Be clear on the purpose of this project.
2. As a collective group, come up with a list of the
accountabilities needed to make this project a
success.
3. Then start grouping the accountabilities that
naturally go together and give them a name.
4. Determine who will fill which roles – remember
people can hold multiple roles.
Generate support
for project
Talk to
customers
Set up a QA
environment
Ensure our design
is useful
QA our code
Talk to
customers
Ensure our design
is useful
Set up a QA
environment QA our code
Generate support
for project
Roles:
Quality Assurance Guru
Customer Insights Designer
Spokesperson
Shilpa
Kris
Jennie

19. Bright Spot:
Organizational Structure:
• 10,000 employees across 850 self-
managed teams
• Teams made up of 7 roles
• 1 main role, others open to choose
Company Facts:
• 10 year old healthcare organization
• Highest client satisfaction in industry
• Best Employer (last 4 out of 5 years)
• Documented savings of around 40% to
the Dutch health care system if all care
was provided this way

20. Principle 3: Transparency
INFORMATION
IS POWER

21. Default to open -->
No private slack channels
Get your feet wet
Try it on!

22. Jump right in
Try it on!
Hold open
meetings

23. Bright Spot:

24. Principle 4: Flexible Work
43%of Americans spend
time working remotely
By 2020
75%of Americans will spend
time working remotely
Today

25. precisely
defined &
agreed by all
Get your feet wet
Try it on!

26. Bright Spot:
Remote
Manifesto

27. Principle 5: Emergence

28. Alice: “There’s no use trying, one
can’t believe impossible things.”
Queen: “I daresay you haven’t
had much practice. When I was
younger, I always did it for a
half hour each day. Why,
sometimes I’ve believed as many
as six impossible things before
breakfast.”

29. 1. Choose an existing meeting you
have with your team
2. Do not set an agenda beforehand,
instead, set the topic of the meeting
3. Open up the meeting by asking
everyone to popcorn agenda items
they would like to discuss
4. Process each agenda item in the
order it was received
Get your feet wet
Try it on!
Emergent Agenda

30. Bright Spot:
Beyond Budgeting
• Swedish bank with 550
branches worldwide
• Abandoned traditional
budgeting process in 1970
• One of the world’s most cost
efficient banks
• Small profit centers with
increased autonomy to
decide which products or
services they sell

31. TRANSPARENCY
ROLE-BASED
DISTRIBUTED AUTHORITY
FLEXIBLE WORK
EMERGENCE
5 PRINCIPLES

32. Create Sticky Change

33. We (might) be here
[insert desired outcome]

34. 3 things
to
consider
when
making a
change
1. Show people the future state
2. Make it safe
3. Make it easy

35. Show the future state
Roger Bannister, 4-minute mile, 1954

36. survival anxiety > learning anxiety
Make it safe
change will occur
IF
THEN

37. Make Change the Banana
Make it easy

39. Make Change the Easier Choice
Make it easy

40. Thank You!

41. BOOKS:
• Reinventing Organizations
• Work Rules
• An Everyone Culture
• Teams of Teams
• Creativity Inc
• Deep Work
• Lean Change Management
PODCASTS:
• Leadermorphosis
• The Future of Work
• The Robin Zander Show
• Dear HBR
• Leading Wisely
• Work Life
• a16z

42. Let’s Connect!
chelseawilliams1
cwilliams1290@gmail.com
@cwilliams1290
workbetter2gether.com