Network Organization
In today’s VUCA world, it is essential for any business to adapt to constantly changing needs. Organizations that have the culture of agility and adaptability ingrained in them tend to outperform the organizations that are more conservative and rigid in their approach. Versatility springs from the fact that the organization has opened multiple channels for sharing ideas, taking ownership and for communicating freely within the organization. Well- developed internal and external communication network is the organization’s answer to constantly evolving business needs.
A cursory glance at the definition of networked organizations would make you understand that these organizations thrive on multiple leaders who reach across functions to achieve a common goal. Networked organizations challenge the stereo typical departmental functions. It encourages employees to connect at independent levels across different departments for the greater good. Biggest advantage of networked organizations is that it allows various ideas to flow in freely thereby making a way for creative and innovative solutions. It allows the organization to tap the experience and talent of their employees optimally. Networked organizations have varied characteristics. Some of prominent characteristics involve flat organization, encouragement to communicate freely, agility & democracy. It is the responsibility of the leaders to provide varied communication platforms and encourage employees to work cohesively with various functions. I would like to take this opportunity to share some of the interesting practices at Liberty Videocon General Insurance that promote the characteristics of a networked organisation.
1.Encouragement to communicate freely: Management drives the culture of communicating freely with all employees. In order to create the culture of free communication, we have designed formal and informal platforms.
I-applaud Cards: Recognition and appreciation play a major role in employee motivation. I applaud cards are designed to help the employees to appreciate and recognize efforts of their peers, reportees and reporting managers. An employee can express his thoughts on the card and give it to the deserving employee. I-applaud cards play a vital role in developing synergy among cross functional resources while giving them a platform to express themselves.
Conversational Town-hall: Town hall is probably one of the best platforms for expressing one’s views however the conventional style town-hall does not facilitate two way communication. In order to explore the benefits of Town-hall, several organizations conduct conversational town halls where employees can freely speak about their achievements, challenges, queries etc. They are free to ask questions to senior management too. Conversational town hall thereby has two benefits, it opens communication channel for employees and also enables top management to understand the pulse of the employees.
2.Agility: Agile organizations have the ability to adapt to constantly evolving business needs. Such organizations tend to achieve business results in an efficient manner. Some of the practices that promote agility are
Flat organization: At Liberty Videocon, we follow a flat hierarchy, thereby eliminating the layers of bureaucracy. This enables our employees to take quick decisions. It empowers them and thereby adds value to their day to day work. A sense of empowerment helps them in taking ownership of the organizational challenges thereby creating a mind-set to look at challenges as opportunities. It develops problem solving approach. Agility helps the organizations to be proactive instead of being reactive.
Cross Functional Committees: There are several cross functional committees formed in order to achieve a common purpose. These committees address safety issues, CSR initiatives, Food and hygiene etc. These committees meet regularly and share their thoughts on the specified area. The objective of such committees is to promote collaborative problem solving approach. These committees enable the organization to tap on collective experience of the employees thereby creating novel and out-of-box solutions to regular problems.
3.Democracy: Democratic organizations encourage freedom of speech and exchange of ideas. They recognize merit and promote innovative thinking. Democratic approach ensures that most feasible and thought through decisions are implemented at the organizational level. It also makes employees feel valued as their views are taken into consideration while rolling out policies.
Themes- Shared Drivers for LVGI: Themes refers to an exercise whereby a cross functional group worked together for driving the agenda that came up after a brainstorming session to identify focus areas in the organisation. They then jointly define what needs to be achieved and set down their own agenda. This helps various cross functional teams to operate in synergy and to appreciate the contribution of varied teams.
Conversation Cups: once in a month, employees meet in an informal set up whereby they share their thoughts on a specific topic. The only condition in the entire set up is to allow all the individuals to speak freely without interrupting them or judging them. This enables the team to understand different viewpoints and then reflect on them thereby allowing them to have a bigger picture. Conversation cups celebrate diversity and conflict of thoughts.
Surveys: we roll out various surveys that enable us to understand the pulse of employees. Surveys like “what I value at LVGI”, “Annual conversation Survey” etc. help us in understanding activities that keep our employees motivated. These surveys are anonymous and hence help the employees in voicing their opinions freely.
These practices over a period of time form the culture of the organization. Networked organizations tend to have ability to adapt to constant change because they are fluid in their approach. Such organizations empower the employees to lead without titles thereby promoting freedom of thought and action. As leaders it is vital that we understand the importance of offering several communication platforms to our employees in order to empower them to adapt to constantly changing business needs.
About the Author
Mr. Jayesh Sampat is the Country Head –Human Resources at Liberty Videocon General Insurance Co. Ltd., since its inception In his current role Jayesh is responsible for employer branding, talent sourcing, organization capability & effectiveness, talent management, performance management, learning & development, total employee remuneration& rewards, employee relations and HR Operations
Tell others about
this page:
Comments? Questions? Email Here