The org chart is the lifeblood of most organizations, the arteries through which productivity flows. The C-suite sets the direction, then assigns initiatives to their subordinates who assign tasks to theirs, and they to theirs, until finally it reaches the boots-on-the-ground folks responsible for making each piece come to life.
When you’re trying to maintain normal operations, this chain of command keeps things running smoothly. Everyone knows exactly who is in charge, and exactly whose responsibility something is. But when you’re trying to build something new or design an innovative change, there’s no greater impediment than hierarchy. That’s because change is a creative process. It asks you to imagine a new future and work together to realize it.
So how can you help your organization release their iron grip on traditional hierarchy and embrace a more creative innovation process?
Well, before you know how, you have to understand why.
How does your traditional org chart block meaningful innovation?
It makes it clear who owns the change—and who doesn’t. This discourages anyone not in the relevant organizational area from feeling ownership over the change initiative, which makes them less likely to commit to its implementation.
It emphasizes ideas from the management class. This helps ensure that whatever’s designed works great for those at the top—but not necessarily for the people who are ultimately implementing the change on a day-to-day basis. Those people have great insight. But their voices are often deprioritized for the voices of those who have an eye on profit and efficiency.
It encourages people to relate to each other as their job title. This stifles dialogue and respect—the two things most essential for creative thinking in a shared context. This is perhaps the most important point for creating an environment conducive to real change. Everyone in the process has to be willing to check their ego at the door and see everyone at the table as equals, with equal power and equally good ideas.
How does non-hierarchical collaboration power real change?
It prioritizes the best ideas instead the most powerful people. The purpose of organizational hierarchies is to designate who should defer to whom. So, when a hierarchical group brainstorms ideas, you only end up with the ideas of those at the top. Even if those at the top don’t want it to be this way.
It builds collective buy-in to ensure implementation. Most people don’t like being told what to do. They may still do it, but they will do so begrudgingly, or haphazardly, or with a flawed understanding of what they’re being told to do and why. The result is either an unhappy workforce, a failed initiative, or both. But by bringing in stakeholders from every level to design the change together, you ensure the resulting initiative is actually feasible to implement and that everyone involved feels a sense of ownership.
It solves governance issues and pushback ahead of time. We’ve all seen it: you’re chugging along with a change initiative when all the sudden, someone from an adjacent department hears about what you’re doing and says it falls under their jurisdiction. Or the higher-ups decide that the initiative can wait until Q4. And then that’s it. Dead in the water. But inviting these potential naysayers into the process ahead of time and giving them a stake in the initiative can head off these potential roadblocks before they happen—and turn detractors into advocates.
How do you break down these hierarchies to unlock true innovation?
In our 45 years of experience helping organizations break down their walls and drive lasting change, we’ve seen what happens when people push for innovation but lack creativity. Every brainstorm leads to the same old tired ideas that fail to gain traction the second they leave the conference table.
We’ve discovered two seemingly contradictory truths: first, every organization is unique, with its own distinct needs and challenges; second, every organization is basically the same, because every organization is made up of people. And when it comes to thinking creatively and collaboratively, people largely encounter the same difficulties. Thankfully, the solutions (while not easy to implement) are relatively straightforward.
Design thinking for new perspectives
The day-to-day operations of any organization mostly asks people to consider their own perspective. How will this initiative affect my workload? What will make me stand out to my boss? But driving a major change requires you to take everyone’s perspectives into account. To do this, you have to think differently.
Design thinking methodologies are focused on breaking people out of their routines and getting them to consider other perspectives. Carefully developed exercises ask participants to begin the ideation process from the end-user’s point of view, meaning they can design an experience that is truly optimized for the people it’s meant to serve. It also removes the typical intrusive objections—“We could never get that approved”, “It would be way too expensive”—that can mean death to the initial ideation process. (Don’t worry, those come back later).
In this way, design thinking has a flattening effect. It takes everyone outside of the org chart and puts them on an equal playing field: everyone embodies the end user. And when everyone takes on the same role, everyone’s ideas can be given equal weight. Only then do you unlock the full creative potential of the whole group, and open the door to innovation.
Visual processes to invite creativity
In most corporate environments, the goal is usually to avoid doing things you aren’t good at in order to appear competent and effective. As such, people tend not to want their peers to see them struggle. This is why visual brainstorming processes and development tools are such an equalizer. While your CEO is much more influential than a mid-level manager, they are likely as good (or bad) at drawing as anyone else. This shared uncomfortability puts everyone on the same rung of the ladder.
What’s more, visual thinking tools open up creativity. Traditional brainstorming asks people to think in words, which keeps them in the logical half of their brain. But visual brainstorming, using napkin sketching and diagramming, puts people into the more creative, child-like half, making them more likely to present ideas they’re unsure of. This invites more creative collective thinking and brings out many of the innovative ideas that wouldn’t normally see the light of day.
Outside help for an equal playing field
The best way to break out of hierarchical thinking is to put someone else in charge. Someone who isn’t attached to your organization. An external moderator brings both outside perspective and outside authority. This helps elicit new ideas and remove the pressure that comes with being asked for your opinions by someone higher than you in the organization. When someone else is in charge, it turns everyone into an equal participant.
In addition, an outside moderator isn’t attached to a particular outcome based on what’s been done in the past, what sounds easiest to implement, or what ruffles the fewest number of feathers. They can put all of those usual considerations aside and help dig for the best, most creative ideas.
Break out of hierarchical thinking for true innovation
Don’t worry—bringing creativity into your innovation process doesn’t have to mean hiring a whole new group of people. You can bring out the natural creativity of your team simply by being willing to do things differently.
If you’re ready to look beyond the hierarchical org chart that’s crushing your creative thinking, reach out. We’d love to hear about your situation and come up with a design-thinking solution that’s right for you.