Do you want your team to run upon the principle of democracy or benevolent dictator or some form of holarchy or self-selection, etc? There are many ways to organize or self-organize. But the one form that humans have found valuable and worth repeating is best described by the term Benevolent Dictator. This is the pattern that describes so so many of our businesses and many organizations. We must find it useful.
I just heard that scientists have found that dolphins have a tiered network of associations.
"Bottlenose dolphins form multi-level alliances to find mates — the largest known network outside of humans, according to a new study. Bottlenose dolphins are social creatures, usually traveling in a pod of 12 or more, even though they do strike out on their own from time to time."I was talking with a business owner who described one of the key factors in his weeding out of people that didn't fit well with the company (either culturally, mission, temperament, etc.) He resonated with the classic communication connections required for a human network to function well (Order of Magnitude N*N). This may relate to a human cognitive capability - typically called Dunbar's number (150).
If multiple typical persons in the company (team) didn't know what another specific person was working upon... and this was common. That specific person was suspected of "not fitting in" and was worth further evaluation. That is to say - he didn't hesitate to fire that person, as they were friction to the collaborative social construct the company fostered (e.g. culture)
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| A Divided House - US Congress |
See Also: a list of reading on the topic of scaling up and team size: Before Scaling UP - Consider.
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