The Busting Bureaucracy Hackathon

Would there be better or worse leadership, if leaders of projects / communities / departments / companies are chosen by people they want to lead?

What if we bust the organizational rules and procedures, reengineered the business functions so that only few rules are kept and those not contributing much are busted and replaced with guides and shared understanding ?

To limit bureaucracy: 1) Identify what bureaucracy/admin are legal or fiduciary requirements. Design these bits into a simple, functional whole system that can be understood by everyone. 2) Create IT to automate the above system to reduce the necessary burden to a minimum. 3) Decentralise and flatten the structure, removing boundaries and specialisations. Making people multi-skilled is essential in this process. This process is key to getting people to both understand perspectives and constraints more widely than their "department" and in reducing interdepartmental communication (vertically integrated processes go on in a single mind rather than between departments- think of hosting a dinner party where you both shop, cook and host- yet at work this needs purchasing, production and sales). This process dramatically reduces both admin and communication. 4) Of specific importance: Devolve accounts measures down to individual level- that means Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet on each individual. Each person should be able to demonstrate their part of the organisations assets and liabilities that they are responsible for, and the income and expenditure they produce from them. Remuneration and reward should be significantly based upon these metrics- these are grown up boundaries that must be integrated into any sensible system. A business is not just a money making machine, but breaking even or making a profit does not happen without constant focus, vigilance and discipline in this regard. NEVER EVER spread rewards across groups- this has a massive negative impact in the long term- although its understandable as it masks deeper problems in the short term. 5) No business cost (expenditure) should be spread across groups or teams. All expenditure must be accounted for by the person who makes the expenditure and attributable to their P&L; and Balance Sheet. No business risk may be entered into that effects others without their prior agreement. My experience is that: a)the legal/fiduciary demands on an organisation are pretty extensive- and will significantly outweigh the operational admin of the organisation. b)IT is expensive and complex, but the payoffs are huge. c)The biggest barrier to flattening a hierarchy is status anxiety. d)People resist the financial constraints, but eventually become proficient and value it as a clear expression of their "financial" performance and a way of ensuring a level playing field for everyone. e)People are not financial animals- they are social ones. A "financial" organisation like this is full of social and human concerns- the finances becoming far less prominent as each individual has domain over theirs rather than being the sole preserve of the finance dept. This frees people to speculate and invest as a daily habit. f)There is a massive spurt in personal growth and maturity that takes place within an organisation like this- people gain much more self esteem and self confidence. Collaboration and teamwork is common place because its clear quickly that the opportunities and rewards are greater when you combine you efforts with others- but you cant force people to work together- they must want to work with you.

What if everyone participates / can participate in development of cities - like on FixMyStreet?