Here is an excerpt from an article written by Frank Kalman for Talent Management magazine during which he explains why implementing horizontal leadership doesn’t necessarily mean breaking with hierarchy, but it does require a shift in leaders’ mindsets.. To read the complete article, check out all the resources, and sign up for a free subscription to the TM and/or Chief Learning Officer magazines published by MedfiaTec, please click here.
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Heather Baldry doesn’t have a formal job title. The veteran employee at GitHub, a collaboration software company based in San Francisco, said none of its 162 employees do.
“I get called ‘HR’ regularly, just because it’s a descriptive way for people outside of the company to understand some of the things that I do,” she said.
The no-job-titles approach is part of GitHub’s flat organizational structure, where aside from a small group that handles administrative and other broad companywide issues, there is no formal hierarchy. Instead, the company is composed of teams that prioritize different projects. Employees are free to join different teams, which is often based on interests and needs.
This horizontal approach to leadership and organizational structure has gained traction recently. With attitudes shifting in how work is done, even traditional top-down companies are making efforts to be more like startups.
In March, The Wall Street Journal reported that a number of large companies, including PepsiCo and Mondelez International Inc., a spinoff of Kraft Foods, have sent groups of employees to work at small media and technology startups to learn how smaller companies are successful.
A commonality among many such startups is a penchant for flat leadership — the idea that companies and teams can produce more effectively without traditional hierarchies — where ideas are invited to flow collectively instead of a more command and control style.
Some who operate in this style may begin with a clear and purposeful vision embracing the benefits of horizontal leadership. Others, busy getting a business off the ground, never get around to addressing how leadership will be structured.
Traditional companies are going to embrace some components of horizontal leadership sooner or later, said Mara Swan, executive vice president of global strategy and talent at ManpowerGroup, a human resources consultancy. She said the speed of the current business environment simply demands it (See sidebar).
Baldry said the no-bosses model has been in place at GitHub since the company was founded in 2008. Its flat leadership structure stems from its founders’ vision — a vision shaped by openness and transparency, characteristics typically embraced by the software development community.
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To read the complete article, please click here.
Frank Kalman is an associate editor of Chief Learning Officer magazine. He is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where he earned his master’s of science degree in Dec. 2010. He is also a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington, earning a degree in American history in May 2009. Prior to joining MediaTec, Frank served as an editorial intern for Crain’s Chicago Business, covering commercial and residential real estate for Crain’s real estate spinoff, ChicagoRealEstateDaily. He also covered public finance and commercial banking while a reporter at Medill. Frank can be reached at fkalman@CLOMedia.com.