I always loved this sketch by Hugh MacLeod (@gapingvoid), It was released in 2005 and titled Hierarchy vs Flow.
At first glance you chuckle and then you pause and ponder your own organization’s hierarchy and then finally you start thinking about where you sit in the mix.
Sure it’s a cynical view of the state of organizations but that may not be the reality. There are plenty of smart and creative people who occupy those losers and clueless bands and certainly there are kind and giving people who elevate into leadership. It’s not like a sociopath could reach such heights without the ability to form healthy interpersonal relationships. Similarly, nobody hires the clueless and losers to move a company forward. So no, I don’t see this sketch as condemnation of people nor Hierarchy as the devil. Hierarchical systems don’t lure people of certain types to the positions within. If anything hierarchy (and the systems designed to sustain it) works more to change people to fit within it. I use this sketch as a reminder that the systems of organization, can force leaders to lose their sense of humanity and relegate others, the clueless and the losers, to be left in the dark only to become reactive where once they were proactive, fearful when once they were brave.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
So how can organizations avoid this trap? What can they do to ensure their hierarchical systems don’t default to the stereotype? – where leadership loses connection to the workforce and the workforce loses connection to the information that matters.
Easy.
Focus first on maintaining the connections.
