Welcome to our first guest post!  Patrick Mullarkey, L&D Consultant at the Bradfield Group shares some thoughts about how taking a more flexible approach to organisation structures could unlock latent talent in your organisation.  And we agree.  The post was inspired by a three way conversation between Patrick and other connectingHR members Perry Timms and Gareth Jones on twitter - the power of social media.

 

Being a Gen Y'er (I would apologise for that but, being Gen Y and hugely less self aware than I give myself credit for, I see no need to) I am predisposed to expecting a lot from my employer, perhaps unfairly so. Nevertheless I like to think that I give as good as I gets when it comes to being a team player and flexible, so  do not think it is that unreasonable to exepect the the same in return. My previous experience of working in large organisations with many layers to their structure is that this made flexibility difficult and, at times, impossible.

 

 

This has lead me to think there might be a trick that small business counterparts might always be able to pull on their larger peers.

 

It is natural at times there will be a lack of resources (financial or not) to undertake a certain plan of action. This is when the resourcefulness of your staff comes in to play - and in doing so their willingness to take on tasks that might be considered out of the norm or which they are not regularly called upon to undertake. Organisations who are not hamstrung by their hierarchy have a distinct advantage - their employees might already be undertaking this career multi-tasking every now and again just to keep the ship sailing, so have less fear about taking on new tasks effectively and head on.

 

 

Having someone help and 'pitch in' can really help morale and motivation of other staff if they see that there is a team that is willing to support them and take some of the burden when needs must.

 

At the same time it also helps develop some interesting role models for others to follow as the history and culture of your organisation matures. You will have staff that can see that there are opportunities for growth in their current role if they show the same initiative as the last person did, who either moved on to get that promotion elsewhere or has turned up in a cool new role elsewhere in the business.

 

In doing so this provides development opportunities not only for the individual but the organisation itself as it might find that resources can be deployed more effectively as a result of sharing out responsibilities or re-evaluating roles. This could never happen with an organisation which (you knew there was going to be Charles Handy reference at some point, here it comes) has  bureaucratic structures which are 'role' focused - i.e. stick to the current job description or it all falls to pieces.

 

 

If you want to move forward, you have to do what Jean Luc Picard said and 'Engage!' - in this case your staff.

 

And this is the greatest bonus of not getting stuck in those hierarchical models. Staff will be more aligned with an organisation that is giving them an opportunity to grow and develop, rather than one which needs them to stick to the script and never deviate from what is in their job description. This is also not to mention being able to see how taking on a new tasks can have a direct benefit to the success of the business - and being able to trace your role in that is a great feeling.

 

Sure, we all need to do what we were told at in the job description but if a role was exactly what you expected that would make for a dull life now, would it not?

 

And, from the employers point of view, would you ever want to attract individuals who did not want to depart from the script and try something new to improve a task or service? There again maybe you would - I think I have the perfect hierachical model in mind for you... "