The Effective Organization

Relationships make us human. Biologist E.O. Wilson mostly studied ants but used insights from that work as a window into human behavior. One of the last books he wrote “The Social Conquest of Earth” made the case that humanity’s success as a species is due to our ability to work together in groups.

Humans, Wilson says, are more group oriented than all other primates and most mammals. He calls us hyper-social or eusocial and points out that it is group behavior that sets us apart ecologically and evolutionarily from the competition. Individual humans after all aren’t that impressive. But put us together and we can move mountains, literally.

I remember getting choked up when the Avengers first assembled in the first film. The camera panning around them as they stand in a circle ready to take on the alien invaders. This teaming up is a common narrative device. It’s so powerful because there is something within each of us that longs for a team.

But the opposite is also true. We may long for a team but groups are also a source of annoyance. To quote Sartre “hell is other people.” Too often groups of humans are dumb, ineffective, and even destructive. Not only do we resonate with the insight’s like “a camel a horse designed by committee” but we know that dictators and cult leaders are nothing without followers; without groups.

For the last 20+ years I’ve been studying and working on team development and organization design. I’ve viscerally felt the unique joy when a team “clicks” and been show again and again how fragile and rare true teamwork is.

But somehow it all works. Despite what a pain they can be, groups continue to be our superpower as a species. We are not the oldest, biggest, most fierce, or even most numerous species — but we are without a doubt the most dominant.

I’ve always been fascinated by group behavior.

In college I studied “intentional communities” like monasteries, hippy communes and cults which culminated in an in-depth study of The Shakers, an influential communal religious movement from 19th century America, going so far as to learn furniture making so I could build a Shaker-style table out of cherry wood.

After college I hitchhiked around the US working in factories, and on farms and construction sites, then headed to Japan where I sat Zen and studied martial arts in centuries-old temples and dojos. A few years later I got into Irish music and got skilled enough to sit in on pub sessions in Ireland without completely embarrassing myself.

In the mid-90s I found my way to Silicon Valley where I worked on, and later led, creative teams in print and digital media. In the early 2000s I went to grad school for “sustainable management” to learn more about how business might play a role in building a better world.

Through all this study and experience, it’s become clear to me that we humans need to innovate — not just technically but also organizationally. Sure we need new and better stuff but we also need to get better at doing stuff together.

In other words we need more effective organizations. This is my focus as Managing Director of Org Effectiveness at changeforce.

To my way of thinking an effective organization is one that does well itself and serves humanity well too. Organizations after all can be a superpower or super weapon. Here’s how I break it down.

When an organization does well for itself it:

1. Is financially sustainable (e.g. is able to secure enough resources to keep going),
2. Creates something valuable, and
3. Is able to adapt to changing circumstances.

If you have these, you’ve got a pretty good business and most of my work is on these three things. But an effective organization does not stand alone. It always exists inside of a larger context — in a nation, society, ecosystem, and a time in history. For a business to be effective in this larger sense it must:

1. Help people actually live better lives with its products or services,
2. Not create harm, either through negative externalities or by design, and
3. Treat everyone inside the company, and within its orbit, with dignity and respect.

What do you think makes an org effective? What questions does this raise for you? What am I missing?