This is a presentation I delivered to a client that wanted to grow without adding middle-management to its organizational structure. Participatory companies are growing in size, number, and influence in the free market economy.

1. The Elements of Morning Star’s
Mission-Focused Self-Managed
Organizational System
FROM 18 NOVEMBER 2015 WHITE PAPER
BY PAUL GREEN, JR. & CHRIS RUFER

2. Values, Principles, and Mission
 Company Values & Principles:
Live, Speak & Endeavor to Find the Truth
To shape the culture of freedom and responsibility
 Each employee has a Personal Commercial Mission, which provides the
organizational structure to the enterprise spontaneously via. Self-
Management.

3. Colleague Letter of Understanding
CLOU
 The Central Tool for Accountability
 3-way agreement between:
internal suppliers – self – internal customers
Contains
1. Individual Responsibilities
2. Stepping Stones (Metrics & Milestones)
3. Examples of Perfect Performance
4. Training and Education Commitments
Direction of Value Stream Flow

4. Councils – What They Do
 Resolve internal issues & intra-colleague disputes
 Develop best practices
 Find ways to leverage technology
 Coordinate action in right-sized teams
 Leverage specialized knowledge, skill, and slack time
(Optimize flow of customer value)

5. Colleague Development
 Be an Active Coach
 HR activities
 Facilitate CLOU development & documentation
 Guide Fierce, Confronting conversations between colleagues
 Facilitate peer interaction in service to discovery of best practices
 Coordinate Sponsorship program

6. Business Units
 Have their own P/L
 Encourage “environment of entrepreneurship”
 Encourage sense of urgency, discipline, accountability, initiative,
economic/critical thinking skills, and
 Judgement based risk-taking mentality
 AKA: Ownership Grand Central

7. Self-management as a “Game” has:
 1. A mission
 2. Strict responsibilities
 3. Activities
 4. Performance Metrics
 5. Accountability to peers
 1. A goal
 2. Rules & Right of Way
 3. Plays
 4. Score
 5. Penalties and Rewards

8. Business Process Documentation for:
 1. Operating Knowledge Base
 2. Continuous Improvement
 3. Coordinating Actions
 4. Training & Skill Transfer

9. Peer Review
 Written feedback for Self-Improvement and Compensation containing Key
Areas:
 1. Self-management capability
 2. Interpersonal Skills
 3. Commitment to Excellence
 4. Feedback
 5. Commitment to Total Responsibility

10. Self-Recommendation Letter
 Submitted to Compensation Committee based on:
 1. Stepping Stone (Metrics & Milestone) results
 2. CLOU peer reviews
 3. Business Unit Performance
 4. Progress on initiatives committed to in CLOU

11. Sources of Further Reading:
 Book: “Beyond Empowerment” by Doug Kirkpatrick
 Article: http://www.inc.com/chuck-blakeman/participation-age-companies-
8211-the-new-norm.html
 The Morning Star Self-Management Institute: http://www.self-
managementinstitute.org/
 Book: “Why Employees Are Always a Bad Idea” by Chuck Blakeman
 Book: “Making Money is Killing Your Business: How to Build a business you
love and a life, too” by Chuck Blakeman
 The Semco Style Institute: https://semcostyle.org/
 Book: “Maverick: The Success Story Behind the World’s Most Unusual Work
Place” by Ricardo Semler
 Book: “The Seven-Day Weekend: A Better Way to Work in the 21st Century” by
Ricardo Semler