Flat - The eBook How to fuel innovation, speed, and culture without managers. “Management did not emanate from nature, someone invented it. Management is great if you want compliance, but if you want engagement, self-direction is better.” Dan Pink, author of Drive, The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. The world today creates more and more urgency for companies to move faster, adapt quicker, and innovate higher. Doing so is required just to stay alive, and multi-layered organizations are at a disadvantage based on their bloated structure alone. In this free eBook, learn how a progressive new startup is changing the way companies get things done by eliminating the traditional management structure and providing a new level of autonomy for it’s employees. While others are still operating in the last century’s paradigm, adhesive.co is laying the groundwork for how companies must operate in today’s marketplace. With near-ubiquitous access to technology, the new battle that our country faces to remain a competitive force hinges on creativity and innovation. Today’s most creative and innovative companies recognize this and have made a conscious effort to focus their cultures on freedom and choice as a means of fostering innovation. The practice of creating and operating a flat organization elevates these core values above all else by empowering employees, rather than restricting them with messy rules and hierarchy. “Culture eats strategy for breakfast!” Peter Drucker Our founding fathers didn’t aim to create a better monarchy; they sought to supplant the concept of a monarchy entirely. They wanted something more, something to replace the voice of few with the voice of all. They set the stage for what would become the most prosperous nation on the planet based on a core tenet: freedom. Our country operates on civil (“Do what you say you’re going to do”) and criminal (“Do no harm”) laws, and within this framework we’ve thrived and prospered. We the authors believe that a company, like a country, can thrive with the same balance of freedom and structure. We all want freedom and autonomy. We want to do the things we want to do, and we want to do them the way we feel they should be done. We want to do it our way. The ability (or lack thereof) to do so is arguably the most important factor when it comes to our workplace satisfaction. Why is it we feel that if we extend that level of freedom throughout the workplace the entire company will just fall to the ground? Surely nobody will show up for work and nothing will get done, says conventional wisdom. Letting employees dictate their own schedules, purchase resources from the company checkbook without approval, and taking unlimited vacation time is just a recipe for disaster. We must hire managers to babysit our adult workforce to keep order and productivity in line. Companies think they just can’t function without the typical command and control we’ve grown accustom to.

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FLAT - the eBook
How to fuel innovation, speed, and culture without managers
http://www.hivewyre.com/flat-ebook/

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3. • Intro
• Leaders vs. Managers
• Commitment Loop
• Client Letter of Commitments (CLC)
• Alignment
• Hiring, Firing, Compensation
• A Culture of Process
• The Goodie Box
• Conclusion
3
Chapters

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Our founding fathers didn’t set their
sites on making a better monarchy,
they sought to supplant it
Freedom

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• Most important factor to workplace
satisfaction
• We want to do things our way
• If you want “A-Players”, you have to
provide it
Autonomy

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Responsibility is freedom’s twin

7. • The new battle that our country faces to
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remain a competitive force hinges on
creativity and innovation
• Today’s most creative and innovative
companies recognize this
• Their future hinges on developing
cultures of freedom and choices to
foster innovation
Autonomy

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Leaders vs. Managers

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“Management did not emanate from nature, someone
invented it. Management is great if you want compliance,
but if you want engagement, self-direction is better.”
Dan Pink, author of
Drive, The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.

10. Natural leadership is defined by
natural followership
10

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• Managers don’t lead companies,
leaders do
• People don’t leave companies, they
leave managers
Leaders vs. Managers

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Typically, key positions often go to
those who are the most politically
astute vs. the competent
Leaders vs. Managers

13. 13
Power is ‘sticky’
It doesn’t typically flow from an
individual who is less capable to
someone that’s more

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Typically, key positions often go to those who are
the most politically astute vs. the competent

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When you take out the pyramid, you
drain most of the poison out

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Commitment Loop

17. The core of a flat structure is making and
keeping commitments
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Persuade vs. Dictate
Commitment
Loop

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3.) If needed, negotiate a new
commitment if you can
4.) Meet the
commitment
2.) Agree on a
Commitment
1.) Colleague asks
you for a
commitment

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Keeping commitments creates
economic value and makes you as
an individual and the enterprise you
work within more valuable
Commitment
Loop

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• A goal is something you aspire to
achieve
• A goal is NOT a commitment
• Consistently making and keeping
commitments is the core of being flat
Commitment
Loop

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Making a commitment should be
voluntary
Nobody should have the ability to
force a commitment
Commitment
Loop

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Client Letter of Commitments
(CLC Doc) Pronounced Click Doc

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• Clients are internal and external
• Document that outlines key
commitments
• Commitments happen every day that
are not in a CLC
• Not a list of goals
Client Letter of
Commitments

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Commitments go well beyond what’s
in a CLC doc
Any time you say your going to do
something and when you’re going to
have it done by, it’s a commitment
Client Letter of
Commitments

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Client Letter of
Commitments
In-Practice
• Include commitments to core values
• Utilize technology to ensure current
and tracked
We utilize Confluence from Atlassian
• Always include dates
• Must be objective

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Client Letter of
Commitments
In-Practice
• Google’s process for establishing
quantified objectives
http://tcrn.ch/1lv5AUx

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Alignment

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Alignment
• Key to establishing consistency
• Top of the food chain is alignment to
company values
• Mission and vision statements
• Financial objectives
• Purpose

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Alignment “Make meaning!” – Guy Kawasaki

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Alignment
If autonomy is the #1 element that A-players
need to be happy, purpose is a
close second
Create alignment and drive by
answering the questions; “Why are we
here? What is our purpose?”

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Hiring, Firing and
Compensation

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Hiring
Firing
Compensation
• No single person can carry a hammer
(fire someone)
• No individual can change your
compensation
• No coercion
• Persuade vs. dictate

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Hiring
Firing
Compensation
In-Practice
• Colleagues should be encouraged to work out issues with their
colleagues on their own whenever possible
• If a colleague has an issue with a fellow colleague that cannot
be worked out, they can ask for mediation
• Colleagues cannot meet with a mediator on their own to
discuss issues about a fellow colleague
• Use of a mediator should be a last resort, not a first one
• Mediators should provide input and advice on the situation and
request that the parties work out their difference
• If both parties cannot agree, then a second mediation will take
place with 3 or more mediators
• Mediators will make a final ruling that all parties must agree to

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Exceptions:
If you feel in danger, threatened or harassed you will not be
expected to have a group mediation
If it’s proven that someone is threatening a colleague, causes them
harm, engages in illegal activities or harassment, then a senior
leader in the company could immediately dismiss them if they find
merit in the accusations and bypass the mediation process
Hiring
Firing
Compensation
In-Practice

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What is a Commitment Mediation
• Colleague not meeting agreed to
commitments
• The perception that a colleague is
sandbagging on their commitments
• Colleague not agreeing to
commitments that are reasonable for
the role they’re in
Hiring
Firing
Compensation
In-Practice

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Commitment Mediation
• There must be 3 mediators in attendance
• Meeting will take place ASAP
• The mediators are there to review facts
• Colleagues have the burden of proving that a fellow colleague has
not met their commitments
• Only objective commitments are reviewed
• What are some of the things you can you expect
• Guidance from the mediators and a request that the individuals
continue to work out their differences
• Possible termination
• A recommendation that a colleague take a new position in the
company that might better fit their skill level
Hiring
Firing
Compensation
In-Practice

37. Mediators should be senior leaders in the
company that have experience in dealing
with conflict resolution
Mediators should be chosen by the
organization and will include a process by
which they become mediators
37
Hiring
Firing
Compensation
In-Practice

38. Compensation Committee
• Includes senior most leadership
• Every new colleague and existing colleagues compensation must be
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produced and agreed to by a majority of the comp committee
• Pay will be a reflection of the following:
• Market data
• Commitments and ability to meet them
• At any time, a colleague can request that the comp committee
review their current pay and commitments and ask for a comp review
based on the fact they have increased their commitments or the
market has changed
• Encourage colleagues to bring offers to the comp committee
Hiring
Firing
Compensation
In-Practice

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A Culture of Process

40. • Processes are sequences of procedures
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that create value for your clients
(internal or external)
• Processes add strategic value
• Documented processes are key to a
self-managed organization
A Culture of
Process

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• Rules are not process
• Rules are typically in place to help
prevent individuals from making
mistakes
• Rules stifle innovation and creativity
• A culture of rules will drive A-Players out
A Culture of
Process

42. A process mindset thinks beyond individual
quirks, personalities and conflicts
A process culture values its processes and
seeks independence from individual
knowledge and ‘turf’
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A Culture of
Process

43. An enterprise with a process mindset will
always have a strategic competitive
advantage over an organization that
doesn’t – because a process culture leads
to continuous improvement
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A Culture of
Process

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• Utilize technology to create and
maintain process descriptions
• Must be current, updated and tracked
We utilize Confluence from Atlassian
• Anyone can change or cause change
to a given process (Toyota employee
stopping the production line)
A Culture of
Process
In-Practice

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The Goodie Box

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Titles
• We allow individuals to create the title
that best describes their position
• We do not allow director, VP or other
title descriptions that point to hierarchy
The Goodie Box

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Time Off
• It’s up to each colleague
• We do not track time off
• Most of the time you have to force A-Players
to take the time
• We also don’t ‘pay-out’ when an
employee leaves for not taking
vacation time – defeats the purpose of
time off
The Goodie Box

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Reviews
• Nobody likes annual or semi-annual
reviews
• We don’t do them
• Foster regular communication
• Market (or market+) based pay
• 360 reviews are great for feedback on
growth opportunities
• Should not be used as a ‘hammer’
The Goodie Box

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Conclusion

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• More initiative driven by “reputational capital”
• More expertise – the experts aren’t managers, it’s the people doing
the work
• More flexibility – “Clouds form and go away”
• More collegiality – no backsides to kiss and no adversaries to elbow
aside – “there’s less back-stabbing because we’re not competing
for that scarce commodity called a promotion”
• More judgment – Sr. managers make decisions that appear to be
brilliant but boneheaded by those on the front lines because they
lack context
• More loyalty
• Less overhead – layers of people telling other people what to do
Benefits

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• Recruiting and retention – this ain’t for everyone
• Holding each other accountable - “hey, I’ll go easy on you if you
go easy on me”
• Growth through acquisition is not realistic
• Tracking career progress – it’s all about the title
Challenges

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Success hinges on healthy confrontation

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Resources
Beyond Empowerment: The Age of the Self-Managed
Organization
By Doug Kirkpatrick
Morning Star Self-Management Institute
http://amzn.com/0615470149
“First, Let’s Fire All the Managers”
By Greg Hamel
Harvard Business Review, Dec 2011
http://bit.ly/1cFP0Lo
Flattening Hierarchy to Lift Creativity (Abstract)
By Bernardo Grilo, Diogo Nunes, and Sofia Vistas
Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High
By Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al
Switzler
McGraw Hill
http://amzn.com/0071771328
“Netflix Culture: Freedom & Responsibility”
By Reed Hastings
Slideshare
http://slidesha.re/18kXY4G