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An old old problem: how to provide a balance between leadership and ‘ownership’ in your team or your workforce, optimising efficiencies and innovation simultaneously.
A distinction can be made between ’spider’ structures (strong centralised power in the ‘head’) and starfish structures (no ‘head’, distributed power, strong central ideology). The US government is a spider; al-Qaeda is a starfish. Spider groups have CEO’s; starfish groups have ‘catalysers’, facilitators skilled at harnessing the Wisdom of Crowds.
Practically speaking, a hybrid structure might be what suits. Brafman and Beckstrom’s excellent analogy holds true for the largest and the smallest groups. Highly recommended. Pick up Surowiecki’s ‘Wisdom of Crowds’ as well.
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