The Management 2.0 Hackathon

THE PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT 2.0

After uncovering the limitations of Management 1.0, we began a collaborative process to define the principles of the Web that can be applied to management—as well as discover examples of organizations that are already applying these principles.

From our discovery and the discussions that followed, we synthesized the results to create the following 12 principles.

1. OPENNESS

The willingness to share information and do business out in the open.

On the Web, information travels quickly and freely. Information can’t hide, and the Web never forgets. The traditional boundaries of business are also rapidly disintegrating—changing the nature of what it means to be an employee, customer, or competitor. Organizations willing to blur the lines of what lies inside and outside the business could have a distinct advantage, particularly when its leaders display the humility, kindness, and courage that openness demands.

2. COMMUNITY

The ability for people with shared purpose to organize and engage.

The Web has made it possible for people anywhere in the world to connect to one another to solve problems that no one person could alone. This new form of organization is dynamic and built around shared purpose rather than the organization itself. Organizations can leverage peer-to-peer interaction and the power of community to inspire deep engagement.

3. MERITOCRACY

An environment where ideas and people succeed based on the quality of ideas and contributions, not on age, sex, color, or existing hierarchy.

On the Web, ideas are open to anyone and the best can rise to the top—whether through search rankings, retweets, or the number of views on YouTube. Organizations operating as meritocracies may find people to be more motivated when they know that promoted and funded ideas have earned their place fairly and with the support of peers, rather than being dictated from above.

4. ACTIVISM

Tapping into individuals’ desire to stand up, opt in, and express themselves.

People have an innate desire to contribute. The Web is the most powerful tool ever created for people to make their mark and mobilize toward a common mission. When organizations productively cultivate and channel this passion, they will inspire individuals throughout the organization.

5. COLLABORATION

The capability of groups of people to work together, divide tasks, and leverage individual strengths.

Perhaps one of the Web’s most defining characteristics is creating the means and the tools to allow distributed collaboration on a global scale. Organizations can also leverage the properties of collaboration—both within and outside their organization—to expand their capacity to generate ideas and effort.

6. MEANING

The most powerful motivations come from within.

With all the freedom, autonomy, serendipity, contribution, and experimentation unleashed by the Web, one enduring truth becomes even more true: the most powerful galvanizing force is a distinctive and deeply felt sense of purpose. Organizations can tap into a sense of shared purpose and leverage community principles to increase engagement as never before.

7. AUTONOMY

The freedom to act on one’s own, making decisions without direction or approval from higher levels of management.

The Web has given more individuals the tools to act independently. Where in the past management was structured around a command-and-control model, today’s organizations must provide a deeper and more powerful principle of freedom for the individuals in their organizations.

8. SERENDIPITY

The occurrence of events by chance in a beneficial way has always played a fundamental role in innovation.

The Web is perhaps the greatest serendipity engine in the history of culture, driven by the connective nature of hypertext as well as social media’s continuous hunger for new things. Organizations should learn from the Web—and increase the odds of value-creating happenstance—by encouraging more diverse sets of connections to be made by diverse groups of people, as often as possible.

9. DECENTRALIZATION

Rather than a top-down approach where activity and decision-making are closely held in small, central areas—decentralization allows it to happen anywhere.

On the Web, markets can relocate and grow according to demand. Likewise, organizations can also distribute power and resources in more equitable ways, giving individuals the opportunity to play a role in allocating resources, and driving accountability and decision-making throughout the organization.

10. EXPERIMENTATION

An environment where ideas can be tested quickly and improved continually.

The Web is always under construction—a perpetual beta where rapid progress trumps perfection. Here people have an opportunity to create and test online experiences at a dramatically faster pace and lower cost than ever before. Organizations today can leverage the same principles— building, testing, failing, improving—all at great speed and with relatively low investment of resources.

11. SPEED

The unprecedented pace of change and immediacy of information.

Because of the Web, vast amounts of knowledge are now available at an instant. With mobile technology, access to this information is rarely out of arm’s reach. Organizations must be able to move at the same pace.

12. TRUST

An acknowledgement that each of us is acting on good faith and good work will be reciprocated.

The Web and social media are pushing us from a world of tight control and ownership to one where generosity, openness, and assumed trust are first principles. The most successful organizations are built on the most successful human relationships. Organizations must replace fear with trust to invite people to share their passion, creativity, and effort.