Every self-managed organization rests on 3 main building blocks that, interconnected, support decentralized management while maximizing the potential of this style of management.
Representation of the building blocks and their interconnection.
Decentralized governance rests on 3 main building blocks:
- Roles rather than titles, to bring clarity and purpose
- The know-how needed to energize a role and align it with people's skills encourages performance and involvement
- The authority given to employees provides autonomy and operational efficiency
To bring this governance to life, processes are defined — along with the responsibilities and accountability of each role — to bring clarity, transparency and structure to the whole. Among the typical processes are the tactical meeting and the governance meeting.
The synergies between the building blocks are what reveal the benefits of decentralized governance.
For example:
- The right authority for the right role creates responsibility
- The right role combined with the right know-how creates efficiency
- The right know-how paired with the right authority creates engagement
From this perspective, organizations wishing to transition to — or operate — a liberated governance model must pay particular attention to balancing and developing each building block individually and in step with the others.
