In recent years, a new organizational trend called “unbossing” has been gaining traction in the corporate world. This approach involves flattening traditional hierarchical structures and eliminating layers of middle management. The theory of unbossing is founded on the idea that modern teams tend to operate better in a more self-directed manner without a lead manager, hence the term unbossing.
Companies adopting this model aim to create more agile, innovative, and employee-empowered workplaces.
According to Forbes, pharmaceutical giant Bayer wants to flatten its organization and let employees manage themselves by the end of 2024. Novartis CEO Vasant Narasimhan praised unbossing and built a culture around it.
What are the benefits and drawbacks of this trend, and how can leaders effectively implement it?
Why organizations are unbossing
There are various reasons larger organizations are looking to flatten their organizational charts. These include:
Increased agility
With fewer layers of management, decision-making processes become faster and more responsive to market changes. Employees feel more empowered to make decisions themselves based on the information before them, primarily because there are no longer ten layers of management to analyze the problem.
Enhanced innovation
Employees at all levels are encouraged to contribute ideas, fostering a culture of creativity and continuous improvement. Leaders communicate trust to all workers, allowing them to experiment, fail, and learn from their trials, leading to greater innovation.
Improved communication
Direct communication between top leadership and front-line employees can lead to a better understanding of company goals and customer needs. Employees closer to customers and market dynamics can help leadership make strategic decisions based on actual market conditions and customer experiences.
Cost savings
Reducing middle management positions can result in significant cost savings for organizations with less personnel and overhead.
Employee empowerment
Workers feel more valued and engaged when given greater autonomy and responsibility. Employees with the greatest ability to make a front-line impact are empowered with the responsibility to make things happen rather than wait for decisions from managers, their managers, and eventually, leadership. Unbossed employees often have a stronger sense of ownership over their productivity, how they work, and a stronger connection to their outcomes.
Dangers of flattening organizations
Of course, with any change, there are some dangers and pitfalls. Things to watch for during unbossing include:
Potential for chaos
Without clear hierarchies, there’s a risk of confusion about roles, responsibilities, and decision-making processes. The greatest potential for confusion can exist during a transition to allowing employees to manage themselves.
Loss of career progression
Eliminating middle management positions may reduce opportunities for career advancement within the organization as fewer managerial or director roles are available in an unbossed environment.
Further disengagement
Middle managers invest time in ensuring team members remain engaged. They mentor and coach junior staff and establish connections across departments. With employee engagement at an all-time low, organizations risk creating further disengagement at a time when they cannot afford to.
Increased pressure on employees
More responsibility and autonomy can lead to higher stress levels for some workers who were used to having decisions made for them. Many junior team members may be thrown into making decisions that they’re ill-equipped to make, creating immense pressure.
Challenges in coordination
Large-scale projects may become more difficult to coordinate without dedicated managers overseeing various aspects of inter-department communication.
Risk of burnout for leaders
Top executives may become overwhelmed trying to manage larger numbers of direct reports if they don’t more proactively uncover new leadership methodologies that empower employees and eliminate decision fatigue.
How to make unbossing work
If your organization is transitioning to an unbossing paradigm, shifts in management and leadership are inevitable. This transition should be approached proactively, empowering both leaders and employees to understand each other better. Be aware of the above pitfalls, and then create a proactive plan with a vision and intent for greater empowerment. Things to consider:
Establishing trust
A critical factor in an unbossed environment is trust. Employees must trust their leadership, and leaders must trust their employees. To do so, leaders must prioritize:
- Effective communication
- Proactive strategies for managing conflict
- Setting a clear vision and purpose for the organization
Empower through motivation
Knowing your people and helping them understand you as a leader is critical. If your people understand how you operate as a leader, they’re empowered to understand your vision, communication, and leadership style. As a leader, when you understand how your people are motivated, you can more effectively empower them to make decisions from the heart of their Motivational Dimension. Unbossed employees must make decisions based on the data they have. As such, arming them with full knowledge of themselves, their teammates, and their leadership is critical to their success.
There’s no micromanagement in an unbossed environment; leaders simply do not have time or bandwidth to get into the details. Your team must understand their role in the organization and boss themselves to success. Make sure they have a full understanding of who they are to understand how to best motivate themselves.
Transitioning gradually
Implement changes incrementally rather than all at once, allowing time for adjustment and refinement. Create a long-range plan. Novartis began its transition of unbossing in 2018 and created a multi-stage approach to rolling out this new paradigm within its organization, starting with executive leadership first.
Communicate expectations
Ensure all employees understand the reasons for the change and what it means for their roles and the organization. Position the change as positive and encourage empowerment at all stages of the transition. Ensure your people know that their leaders believe in their ability to self-govern in an unbossed environment and empower them along the way.
If employees come to you with questions you would prefer they answer themselves, guide them through effective decision-making strategies that can help them in the future.
Invest in training and self development
Provide professional development training to help employees develop skills needed in a flatter organization, such as self-management and decision-making. Of critical importance is self-awareness, mindfulness, and the ability to discern information quickly. Attune your expectations of workers to how they’re motivated and how they find fulfillment. As you identify which core motivations spark excitement in your people, you’re more able to guide them toward fulfillment in a self-directed way that requires far less managerial intervention.
Establish new frameworks
Create clear guidelines for decision-making, conflict resolution, and project management in the absence of traditional hierarchies.
Proactively build culture
Build a culture where employees feel safe taking risks and making decisions without constant oversight. Creating psychologically safe spaces gives employees ways to provide feedback, giving them more autonomy in implementing the vision.
Leverage technology
Utilize collaboration tools and platforms to facilitate organizational communication and project management. Establish policies for asynchronous communication so that greater autonomy and flexibility can support self-managed teams and better motivation.
The role of motivation in unbossing
If your organization is considering unbossing your workers, it’s critically important to provide them as much information about their co-workers, the organization, and your own motivations as a leader. Motivation Code can provide guidance that can help organizations and their people, no matter what change you’re moving through.
If your teams need support during a transition, contact our team to learn how Motivation Code can help.
