Adhocracy

I had the good fortune to meet Andy Goldring from the Permaculture Association this week, who filled my head with wonderful possibilities which I look forward to exploring over 2008. He also shared with me the wonderful concept of adhocracy, which has got me thinking about all kinds of things.

The word adhocracy conjures up all kinds of fun stuff, but essentially it feels like the principle of coming together to do whatever needs doing, without reference to structures, hierarchies or individual agendas. That's not something we see happening very often, at least not in the commercial and educational worlds, but if you peek beneath the surface of things you can quickly see that it's actually how a lot of things work. Families, friendships, the best kinds of creative or commercial partnerships, all operate on the basis of shared purpose and needs. It is, in fact, the secret of getting things done.

I'm currently working intently on establishing exactly this sort of culture at my main "work" endeavour, the School of Everything, so it's a timely concept for me to explore. Thinking about how to establish that crucial sense of communal purpose here reminded me of this great post by Tim Boucher about how skills are shared and horded within organisations, and particularly how people hide their skills in order to have time to do their work. "This isn’t an effective way to operate within a shared value community though, which is what a company is. At least ideally: you are working towards one another’s mutual benefit, right? And not towards a paycheck?"

If we want to build communities and networks that are truly effective at getting things done, we need to establish two things: (1) a genuine sense of shared values and common purpose, and (2) a spirit of generosity towards supporting each other's needs and doing whatever we can to achieve our common objectives. If you have these in place, then your shared problems become much easier to solve, your ambitions quite achievable. Strange then that so many organisations talk of focus, roles and individual responsibilities, whilst our schools punish collaboration as "cheating".

Andy also told me a great line that his daughter uses: when I mentioned DIY culture he said "no no, not DIY - DIT. Do It Together!" So here's to adhocracy, to DIT culture, common purpose, and getting things done sociably. Thanks Andy!

Respect, innit?

This week I heard a recent DTI statistic stating that almost 60% of the UK workforce don't feel respected by their bosses. When most people hear statistics like this they probably think about the implications for UK business. But in my case, I couldn't help wondering how this affects our society? Almost two thirds of our working-age population are being disrepected every working day. How must this make them feel in the rest of their lives?

Respect is a powerful word, and I believe also a very important one, implying as it does notions of attentiveness, regard, dignity and esteem. Malcolm Gladwell relates in Blink that the single most reliable factor in predicting the longevity of a marriage is the level of contempt: once there is contempt of one partner for another, the relationship is apparently doomed. So what then does this mean for our other relationships, with our friends, family members, the strangers we meet (or never will), and our relationship with nature?

I believe lack of respect (and fear of contempt) is having a profound impact on our ability to form healthy communities, socialise, work, and play, together, and learn from each other. After all, if you don't respect someone, how can you ever learn from them, understand them, or co-operate with them? The Government seems to agree: their website tackling anti-social behaviour is actually called "Respect". But although they naturally focus on families, parenting, neighbourhoods, activities for da yoof and so on, there is no mention of respect in the workplace, or any other of the many ways in which society disrespects its citizens.

We expect nearly two-thirds of the working population to fight for respect in their communities and then face daily contempt at work. I personally experience ongoing disrespect from my bank, various big businesses, my Government, the public services, tradesmen, supermarkets and even the media. We look on as our institutions destroy the planet and alienate small businesses, our schools teach our children they are wrong and that their curiosity isn't welcome, and our financial systems enslave anyone who dares to be poor or vulnerable. And then to relax, we can watch Simon Cowell telling people that they have no right to sing any more.

We have imprisoned ourselves in a system that doesn't respect us. And then we wonder why we're all so anti-social...

Many years ago, my father wrote an essay for his philosophy society arguing that it is morally admirable to respect a stone, because the act of respecting defines the person doing it, and not the recipient. He still has a quotation from Hamlet on the wall of his study, the spirit of which I have always tried to live by:
LORD POLONIUS:
My lord, I will use them according to their desert.

HAMLET:
God's bodkins, man, much better! use every man
after his desert, and who should 'scape whipping?
Use them after your own honour and dignity: the less
they deserve, the more merit is in your bounty.
Take them in.

Don't wait for others to respect you; instead, respect them, and define yourself by that. The rest will follow.