I was today years old when I learned about Chaordic organization - defined as being:
self-organizing and self-governing in whole and in part. Exist primarily to enable their constituent parts. Are powered from the periphery, unified from the core. Are durable in purpose and principle, malleable in form and function.
Although I’ve never heard of it before today, I’m very intrigued by this idea — as perhaps this is how I organize all the things for the work I do.
In the same way that nature often holds on to many connections loosely, I try to learn from that example. I move things forward but tend to not take things personally or get emotionally over-invested, so they don’t feel as painful if plan-A turns into a very different plan-B (allowing for a quicker and easeful pivot when required).
If I find a person is not able to continue with a project, I’ve learned (though not-so-great experiences) to adapt and identify others who could pick up the functional role to move the project forward. If a resource becomes unavailable, I look around to find alternative options that meet a similar function in the plan.
Resilience in nature is associated with decentralization, duplication, and diversity. When we remove centralized control, make sure to include variation (and the ability to adapt the plan iteratively) in planning, and allow redundancy to relieve the pressure on leverage points when the project doesn’t go as planned, we build in flexibility.
Chaordic organizations leverage self-organizing and self-governing systems, which is decentralized control and decision-making. Servant Leadership (sharing power, putting the needs of others first, and helping people develop and perform as highly as possible) is really about leaders that are primarily in a role to enable their team members (the constituent parts) to succeed.
The teams I work on are employees (paid to do the work — powered from the periphery), and unified by a core vision of improving ecosystem health through regenerative business design. We are very purpose and principle focused (although a bit of pragmatism keeps us from getting stuck in place), but we are flexible in form and function — able to adapt and pivot to meet the needs of the moment and move the work forward.