How To Create A Good Team Ecosystem

When it comes to organisational leadership structures, small business owners and leaders make the mistake of creating businesses built on a traditional, hierarchical structure.

Unfortunately, most of these top-down business structures are built on the flawed model of an ego-system…a disempowering top-down “I’m the boss, you report to me”, even the flatter ones.

It is a mistake because the world has changed. It’s a mistake because power usually sits at the top and most of the information sits at the bottom. Rarely do power and information sit at the same table. Also, the vision is usually held at the top and diluted as it is cascaded down the hierarchy. All of this is self-protection, control and hoarding of power also doesn’t allow for the team to bring their best self to work every day nor the open flow of ideas in the business. Any time someone challenges anything within an ego-system, it is potentially considered wrong—even if it is a brilliant idea.

Instead, build an ecosystem of leadership within your organisation. An interdependent, interlinked network of teams where the best idea wins, not the boss’s idea. A structure where every team member has a direct line of sight to the purpose through the lens of the values. A structure where you become a coach, not a boss.

 

“Top-down leadership is a thing of the past. All around leadership is the way forward.”

– a Clarism

 

Ecosystems create motivation that promotes the development of close, mutually supportive relationships by energizing behaviours intended to be constructive and supportive and not harmful to others. This way the best idea wins…not the boss's idea.

The result is that your teams will be inspired to work with you, creating more productivity, performance, and way more fun.

Dave Clare, CEO & Founder of Circle Leadership

 

WEEKLY FERGASM

"Freedom is just chaos with better lighting"

- Alan Dean Foster

 

In a world where we're all searching for more 'freedom', it's curious to acknowledge that life - all life - happens within and as a part of a 'system' - lest we become a walking talking brain explosion emoji 🤯.

Nature, families, tribes, and tides that existed within systems, before systems of business and organizations (that have since been, demonised and sometimes called 'red tape' when authorities want to hide behind them), were and are the very reason there is any kind of 'order' on this planet.

Curious also, that while we, I (I should only speak on behalf of myself really), hate taking 'orders' from people #yourenotmyrealdad, we, I, also don't function well in 'disorder'.

Whilst I hate house chores and want the 'freedom' to #idowhatiwant, I also can't stand to leave the house if the kitchen bench has an escapee toast crumb on it #kitchenchaos.

(No, I clearly don't have kids - I know).

I also want to be able to eat whatever the heck I like without getting fat (not the fully PHAT kind that I love so much)... yet unless I have a 'plan' or a 'system' of eating or accountability to keep me nourishing my body in accordance with what I know is innately good for me, I'll find myself eating my housemate's Nutella straight out of the jar for the third time this week... before a sneaky trip to the supermarket to replace it in the hopes he doesn't notice.

Sorry, who's the "HELP" (Health, Exercise and Lifestyle Professional) here? I'm just keeping it real folks. (Maybe send help to the HELP lol).

But all chips on my shoulder and chips spilled out of the packet aside (you better clean that), isn't it interesting that at the same time that more wars, more lockdowns, and more uprisings in the pursuit of 'freedom' are occurring, so is the crazy-ass level of chaos being experienced on this Earth... maybe even more than ever before?

And I wonder if it's not actually the 'eco' in the system that is the issue here, whereby eco is "not harmful to an environment"... but rather the bastardisation of ecosystem to an ego-system... where a person's sense of self-importance now becomes the 'order'?  

One little letter. One giant cluster.

Written by Lisa Ferguson, Leadership Coach