The shiftN Papers
Power in self-organizing teams
Our collaboration seen through the lens of organizational inclusion and exclusion mechanisms
“We have at our disposal tools, notions, and efficacy, in great number; we lack, on the other hand, an intellectual sphere free of all relations of dominance. Many truths, very little goodness. A thousand certainties, rare moments of invention. Continuous war, never peace. We lack simple, democratic intellect for man.” — Michel Serres
In this longish piece I’m going to take a deep dive in shiftN’s organisational DNA. Readers unfamiliar with the orientation of this publication are invited to have a look at our introductory post.
This may look like a blueprint, but it isn’t. The image presented is not prescriptive, but descriptive. And it reflects my personal biases. There is no consensus view, no single answer to the question of what shiftN actually is.
The idea in ‘running shiftN’ has always been to keep things simple. But there is a lot of complexity enfolded in this simplicity. shiftN also has something of a bricolage. It has evolved over a fairly long period of time, driven by a mix of forethought and contingency. These will continue to be driving forces behind the morphing shape of our collaboration.
What follows allows us to describe the functioning of shiftN through the lens of a documented set of organisational mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion. They bring into relief how power is wielded in an organisation. Power differentials are unavoidable, also in a setting that consciously tries to minimise their weight.
I’ve taken the original set of six and expanded them to ten such mechanisms:
- The organisational culture;
- The role of hierarchy and organisational structure;
- The distribution of surplus value;
- The place-based character of the work;
- The way in which time has to be accounted for;
- Admittance of new members to the team;
- Access to knowledge and information;
- The continuity in the relationship between an organisation and its members;
- Exclusivity in the work relationship;
- The place for personal vitality and wholeness.
Let’s go …
1 — The organisational culture
At shiftN there is a distinctive organisational culture. It’s that hard-to-pinpoint aura that is also picked up by outsiders when they talk about shiftN as ‘friendly’, or ‘brainy’, or even ‘feminine’ (irrespective of how successful we are in striking a gender balance at that particular moment in time). However, our culture is not enshrined in a code of conduct. It has been a conscious decision to collaborate without a fixed set of rules to guide members’ behaviour.
At one point on our journey we spent an inordinate amount of time in discussing a basic shiftN charter. When we had it as good as ready on paper, we threw it into the bin. Indeed, the quest for unambiguous rules was born from a desire to control what cannot be controlled. It was, as a team member pointed out, a defensive piece that would turn us into ‘bonsai intellectuals’.
Articulating my own perception I would say that the culture at shiftN is characterised by a desire to live authentically, to be open to one another, to avoid politicking and hidden agendas, to trust each other’s judgments and choices, to refrain from passing around blame, to be self-reliant and empathetic, to be curious and to put great store in continuous learning, to be realistically positive with respect to the possibilities for the future. Team members share the belief in the value of a systems approach to complex organisational and societal challenges (and that includes the way in which we resolve our own issues).
2 — The role of hierarchy and organisational structure
At shiftN there is no formal hierarchy. I personally do have the privilege to sign contracts and proposals as I’m the statutory ‘managing director’. But I like to think that this formal responsibility does not entitle me to bossing people around.
There is an informal hierarchy, however, that is correlated with seniority, expertise, access to information, network, personal commitment and a person’s level of social efficacy (reflected in a person’s ability to engage in relationships inside and outside of shiftN, to articulate thoughts and emotions, to build new skills, etc.). In actual practice this informal hierarchy may be very pronounced and have a considerable impact on the team’s dynamics.
At shiftN there are no job descriptions. People are not a priori labeled as a ‘researcher’ or ‘business developer’ or whatever. Members are invited to define and take ownership of their own role. And that role is not fixed; it can evolve over time. We clarify roles by sharing with each other our perspective on the kind of contributions we like to make and those we’d like to avoid.
It is safe to assume that every individual that is member of the team has an idiosyncratic position in the collective. No two positions are the same because no two people are the same. A ‘position’ is the resultant of what people can and want to contribute. shiftN invites people to make their own choices, thereby triangulating between their personal priorities, all kinds of boundary conditions that play out in their lives, and their degree of commitment to the collective ambition of shiftN.
We sometime rely on the metaphor of the onion to visualise positions on a line from the onion’s core to its periphery. People in the core are able to contribute and do so unreservedly, with and without remuneration. They are willing to take care of shiftN in all its facets, strategically and operationally. Those in the periphery assume a more limited responsibility and their relationship hinges on their contribution in particular projects. So there is a shift in the balance between rights and responsibilities from center to periphery, but this balance has not been made explicit.
We have to come to recognise a number of vital functions in shiftN. These are activities that sustain the viability of shiftN as a work community. They request time and attention of all team members regardless of their position in the onion. These functions are:
• Articulate one’s personal intentions: this is a statement that clarifies one’s own view on one’s position in the shiftN team. Intentions are not promises and not binding in any way. The assumption is that they are an honest reflection of one’s state of mind at a certain point in time. Intentions are not definitive. They are reviewed on a yearly basis (or more frequently should there be important changes in the meantime). Intentions do not have to unequivocal. They can be riddled with provisos or question marks if a member is uncertain about his/her position.
• Be present at and contribute to a number of face-to-face meetings: members do their best to join each other at regularly planned meetings. This sequence of encounters is considered to be shiftN’s heartbeat. They provide opportunities for focused discussions (strategy meetings), peer learning (intervision meetings, ateliers), and also for more leisurely interactions (‘no agenda’ meetings, retreats).
• Engage in collaborative work: project work is a key instrument to transfer knowledge, deepen professional competences, build self-confidence and enhance trust in each other’s capabilities. In addition, it is the only mechanism to generate revenues and to distribute them to team members. (Only exceptionally members can claim revenue for contributions that are not directly related to project work).
In addition there are other activities needed to contribute to maintain the viability of shiftN: business development, networking, research, admin, marketing. These are taken up by members, particularly by those who position themselves in the core, on a voluntary basis. There is in principle no remuneration for these contributions. Financial value may emerge downstream of these activities associated to a continued flow of new projects. An implication of this way of working is, however, that many operational decisions are taken on the basis of little or no consultation.
“Authority is exercised over an individual whenever that individual relaxing his own critical faculties permits the communicated decision of another person to guide his choice” — Herbert Simon
3 — The distribution of surplus value
Revenues are distributed on a project-by-project basis. Fifteen percent of income is allocated to cover the running costs for shiftN. There is a variable lead-and-deal fee for those who have contributed to creating the opportunity.
Members who generate an opportunity decide on who will be involved in the project. Depending on the scale and complexity of the job they do the work on their own or they pull together a team. A team may consist of shiftN team members and/or members of partner organisations and freelance workers. There is no requirement to justify the composition of a team. shiftN team members who want to increase the likelihood of being involved in lots of projects may do so by either creating opportunities themselves or by broadening or deepening their skill set.
In principle there is no surplus accruing in shiftN. Shares of the cooperative are available to any member of the team who demonstrates a longer term commitment to the overall viability of shiftN. There is no requirement to buy shiftN shares to be part of the core team.
Members who own shares of the cooperative can exchange them for cash, at nominal value. shiftN is designed to incentivise people to grow, not to cash.
4 — The place-based character of the work
Members are free to work wherever they want. There is an online platform to facilitate interaction between geographically dispersed team members. There is an expectation, however, that members do their best to join each other for a series of face-to-face meetings (see 2).
5 — The way in which time has to be accounted for
shiftN does not impose any form of time registration. Members are not required to account for the way in which they allocate their time, not even within the context of a project. Remuneration for services delivered in the context of an assignment is almost invariably a lump sum that reflects two elements: a rough estimate of time spent on the one hand and the fee suggested by a team member (the latter being a reflection of responsibility taken, depth of expertise and seniority). Some members choose to work on the basis of an hourly fee and they do keep track of their time in order to be able to invoice.
6- Admittance of new members to the team
shiftN doesn’t recruit. But we are always open to engage in conversation with people who are looking for a new professional challenge and express an interest to learning more about shiftN. The composition and growth of the shiftN team is therefore mainly supply-driven. It is rare that we venture out ourselves to woo people into the team.
We like to cultivate a certain naiveté when it comes to meeting new people with an interest in our work. We try to be open-minded and curious about the promise of a new relationship. We don’t pin people down on their degrees and previous experience. But there has to be a basic match between the skill set, worldview and ambitions of a candidate team member and the type of work we do and the way we organise ourselves at shiftN. In addition there has to be a shared feeling of potential, a ‘click’. The idea behind this way of growing is that membership is based on the desire to contribute and to be part of the network. That wish should be expressed from the heart. If these conditions are met, we can start to collaborate. All in all this is a very informal process.
Collaboration may take the form of a specific assignment. However, there is no guarantee that a new team member will have direct access to a paid assignment. That depends on many variables. Clearly, it is easier to create an opportunity with a new team member that has a broad set of skills and a wide and deep professional network.
Each assignment tackled by a team is an experiment. If the shared feeling of potential persists through these initial efforts to create opportunities and do collaborative work, then the relationship can deepen. However, it is also possible that expectations are not fulfilled and then people disengage.
7 — Access to knowledge and information
In principle members have free access to the expertise and information embedded in shiftN. There is no consciously managed cache of intellectual property. Proposals and deliverables are kept on a shared repository, accessible to all. However, data management in shiftN is somewhat haphazard. There may be gaps in the archive and additional information resides on private hard discs or remains uncodified. This can be transferred upon request. Financial information is shared on a need-to-know, project-by-project basis. Aggregate numbers are shared on a want-to-know basis.
8 — The continuity in the relationship between an organisation and its members
The relationship between shiftN and its members is not formalised in a contract. The continuity in the relationship is the result of the reciprocal intention to collaborate and contribute to each other’s opportunity space. In other words the continuity is contingent on personal commitment. Members are free to revise their position at any time and there is no cost associated to doing so.
9 — Exclusivity in the working relationship
shiftN does not claim an exclusive working relationship with its members. Most members of the team have professional commitments outside of shiftN. Some are engaged in ventures that are quite different from our business, others are active in similar areas. This is coherent with the basic principle that people should be free in shaping their personal path. Elsewhere they may find opportunities to learn and create they do not associate with shiftN. That is left up to members’ judgment. Often there is no particular reason why a given type of work would not fit in the shiftN portfolio, and yet it doesn’t happen because the person involved does not feel it that way.
There seems to be a natural gradient in exposure to multiple professional contexts when one moves from the periphery of the onion to the center. Members who position themselves at the boundary will naturally be involved in non-shiftN activities. Those at the core will be inclined to devote all their energies to shiftN.
We leave it up to the individual team member to manage potential conflicts of interest. The assumption is that people are mature and honest enough to detect these conflicts and to resolve or steer clear from them. There is always the possibility to put things up for discussion in case people feel insecure about what course to pursue.
“Whether you like or not, your system is self-organising.” — Anonymous
10 — The place for personal vitality and wholeness
Many organisations keep their staff’s personal sphere at arm’s length. The organisation is usually not the place where ‘real life’ unfolds. As a rule, spiritual matters are out of bounds. In shiftN this is different, I believe. It offers a canvas upon which members are free to project the full gamut of their aspirations. (Which is not to say that there is a guarantee that they can be fulfilled in or through shiftN.) We sometimes use the playground metaphor to refer to shiftN’s function as catalyst for playful and creative personal development.
In sum
- shiftN has been designed as an open structure, an association of people who share an ambition to align their personal and professional paths of growth, and to develop into expert ‘systems thinkers and doers’, skilful in helping clients to deal with change and complexity.
- shiftN is the result of a conscious attempt to reduce the weight of organisational inclusion and exclusion mechanisms. The association is voluntary. People join because they express a deep desire to do so. There is no promise of continuing the relationship beyond experienced value for all parties. Joining and leaving carry no financial cost.
- shiftN is a ‘place-seeking’ community that invites people to seek out a position that matches their personal objectives, the real-life constraints they are dealing with, and their chosen commitment to the collective. Members are free to engage in other professional communities and trusted to manage potential conflicts of interest.
- Members are free to work where and when they want. Collaboration takes place in the setting of particular projects. Contributions beyond what is required in the framework of a project are voluntary and not remunerated. Knowledge and information is, in principle, freely accessible. All members commit to share their personal intentions and to be present at a number of face-to-face meetings dedicated to strategic discussion, peer learning and interpersonal bonding.
- Financially, shiftN is a vehicle to distribute project-based revenues to members who contribute to these projects. There is no accumulation of financial assets in shiftN. Hence, co-ownership has symbolic value only; it is not an investment intended to generate surplus down the line. Shares are transferred at nominal price only.
- The intention behind shiftN is to minimise the effects of formal authority, and to increase the scope of personal freedom compared to what would be possible in a traditional organisations. Informal authority is invested in expertise, level of personal commitment, social efficacy and entrepreneurial skill. In other words, people who are skilful in creating opportunities, have a broad range of professional competences and commit fully to the viability of shiftN are bound to have more impact than those who don’t.
- shiftN constitutes a demanding working environment. While it attaches great value to mutual aid and sharing of expertise, it fundamentally thrives on entrepreneurial energy, and member’s willingness to take responsibility and manage their own risk-reward balance.
Thank you for reading to the end of this long piece! Feel free to follow this publication for a regular flow of shiftN insights and stories.
