How Organizations will Succeed in a Complex and Fast Paced World

It is a familiar occurrence. You are outside eating a bit of food when a few crumbs fall to the ground. Within a short period of time, those crumbs were covered with ants that seemingly came from nowhere.

We know that in ant colonies, there is not a single ant directing the behavior of the group. There is no CEO of the colony, there is not a Chief Foraging Officer, and there are no middle managers whose responsibility it is to keep things moving in the colony. In this environment, how is it that the ants know about the crumbs so quickly and manage to mount a collaborative response to dismantle them and get them back to the colony?

It turns out that the answer to this question is built into the biology of the ant. They use their antenna. More specifically, they smell each other with their antenna. Ants are covered in a greasy substance whose smell is unique to the colony. The ants that are outside foraging lose some of this smell. As they come back into the colony, the reduced odor of their coworkers distinguishes them as having been out foraging. The increased rate at which ants in the colony meet those coming from the outside communicates that there is something out there, and the ants will rally together to gather your fallen crumbs.

Fascinating! In an environment that lacks central control, this informal communication with each other results in the needs of the colony being met and sustained. We have much to learn from the little ant.

Structure cannot replace collaboration and communication. If anything, it?can get in the way.

The study of leadership has led to the development of the Contingency Theory of Leadership, which tells us that different environments and situations require different things of the leader and different leadership styles. The factor that has the strongest impact is the degree of change taking place. Where there is a relatively stable and task-focused environment, a hierarchical and directive leadership style may be beneficial. In environments that are dynamic with change, it is the more collaborative style, which flattens the leadership structure, that succeeds.

This is important because we are experiencing tremendous upheaval and change all around us, bringing new complexities to every industry and environment. The term "disruptive" is often used to describe the impact of technology on entire industries, leading an Oxford University study to conclude that by 2030, 47% of today's jobs will be able to be automated. Technology is reducing communication barriers and bringing the world closer together than ever before. The level of change and disruption places specific demands on leaders to create flatter, more collaborative, and agile environments, but these environments also demand something different from their followers.

The increasing complexity of our world requires greater levels of collaboration and communication, yet many of the hierarchical and outdated structures of business encourage disconnected teams that are focused only on their own work product and outcomes. This would be like the driver and pit crew in IndyCar acting like they are not on the same team. It is only through understanding each other’s tasks and objectives and communicating effectively with one another that they will find success. A team is not comprised only of those with similar functions and work tasks. The team is the entire organization or business, and they will succeed together, or they will not succeed at all.

The ant reminds us that when every employee understands the objectives of the organization and other work groups and communicates effectively with one another to build a collaborative environment, it will always perform better than one with elegant structures but lacking collaboration through communication. If ants are able to succeed with this rudimentary form of communication, how much more can we, who have more advanced methods, accomplish if we actually work together? The future requires that every employee understand the role of everyone around them and that the level of communication between workgroups is increased. If they do this while being guided by their mutual goals, they will be able to make the right decisions. They will do this not because someone told them what to do but because they have collaborated so well that the context informs them.

Tomorrow’s success will not rely on a specific leader but on the interaction of each worker.

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? 2018 Todd P Heath All Rights Reserved

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