The Case For Less Hierarchy
Leadership
October 28, 2016
David Evans
Topics
Change, Leadership, Leadership Development, ManagementAs an employer, you know that striking the balance between being respected and being liked is a stunningly hard task. I would like to offer you a type of management that refuses this premise entirely. The most successful employers work with all their employees, and are often seated alongside their lowest tier employees. This model completely smashes the damaging hierarchical system that most companies have.
This style has been implemented by the most innovative and forward thinking employers. This is no more evident than in the management style of Jack Ma, the charismatic Chinese founder and CEO of Alibaba until 2015. Jack had this progressive message to CEO’s: ‘If you want to win in the 21st century, you have to...empower others, making sure other people are better than you are. Then you will be successful.’ This typifies the new CEO model and has brought unprecedented success for Jack Ma and Alibaba. This method of management is implemented by modern heavyweights like Google, Facebook and YouTube also, as their businesses rely massively on their employees' new ideas on how to adapt to their target market. The beauty of this employer style is that you will hear your employees thoughts on how to improve your business as the environment will be constructive and open.
This model reinvigorates your employees as they will be able to communicate directly with you, and that gives them a sense of purpose and importance, which subsequently improves morale. Your employees will ask you questions and make conversation with you and with each other in the hope that you notice their hard work. If you listen to them and treat them with respect and dignity, you will find that they repay you in their quality and quantity of work. They will start working for you and not just a faceless company.
After a while, you will become friendly with your employees, and you will be able to joke and laugh with them. This will directly improve the teamwork and communication of your workplace. After a while, you will be able to gauge their opinions and values; this knowledge can be used when delegating tasks and job positions to your employees. When you match their work with their interests they will give a lot more effort and enthusiasm to their job. By getting to know your staff, you will be able to understand them and see work from their perspective.
The days of separate hierarchical offices where an employee had to talk to their superior for their superior to then talk to their superior are over. You don't have to be young, funny or even sociable to successfully implement this modern model of managing. Many business realise that this system utilises their employees' best abilities and creates a welcoming working environment where everyone at the business feel represented and thus improves office life ten fold.
Once you get over the hurdle of change, there really are no downsides to this method. I have seen both the employer and the employee side of this management technique and I can honestly say it is an absolute foolproof way of improving one's business and is an enjoyable style to work under as an employee.