I like this post by Charlene Li ‘Disruption Learnings from Self-Publishing a Book and Going to Burning Man‘, and in particular the part about the need for structure to achieve real disruption. Charlene Li is an experienced consultant specialized in disruption.
“One of the most interesting things I learned in my research for my book, “The Disruption Mindset,” is that disruptive organizations are incredibly well structured and ordered. When you don’t have to worry about how to get things done, then you can focus on achieving extraordinary, disruptive growth. You need to feel safe to take on risk, to be both vulnerable and confident in your ability to try and either succeed/fail. “
I find this insight very strong, as it shows that structure is actually needed for large scale change. People need to be able to focus on disruption and the rest needs to work perfectly, not losing time and effort. Messy organisations are not as likely to pull through a disruptive transformation than minimally organised ones.
“The takeaway is that you need to create just enough structure in your organization or community for people to feel safe space taking the first step out of their comfort zone. Your role as a leader is to ensure that this space remains steady for them, that it doesn’t wobble when they push off hard against it to take off on their disruption journey.”
The message is clear then: if you want to create a disruption, make sure you got the basics covered and organised, and create sufficient structure (and not too much) to enable proper focus on the change.
