Leadership is by circles in decentralized organizations

In decentralized organizations, there is no vertical hierarchy of coercive control. Instead, power is exercised through relational influence and is distributed throughout the network. “Circles” of like-minded leaders collaborate together to achieve the desired objective.

Because circles don’t have hierarchy and structure, it’s hard to maintain rules within them; no one really has the power to enforce them. But circles aren’t lawless. Instead of rules, they depend on norms.[1]

However, if a corporate structure (whether for- or non-profit) is assembled for any reason to facilitate the flow of financial resources, the decentralized nature of the complex network is likely to become much more centralized very quickly—a phenomenon that will inevitably surprise those who thought they were part of a decentralized network without a corporate hierarchy.

#organizations #systems #influence #decentralization

The five legs of a decentralized organization:

  1. Leg 1: Circles – Leadership is by circles in decentralized organizations
  2. Leg 2: The Catalyst – A catalyst starts and moves on from a decentralized organization
  3. Leg 3: Ideology – Ideology is the glue that holds decentralized organizations together
  4. Leg 4: The Pre-existing Network – Decentralized organizations emerge from networks
  5. Leg 5: The Champion – Champions relentlessly promote a new idea

See also:

  1. The Starfish and the Spider – Brafman and Beckstrom (2006), ch. 4, 90. ↩︎