#EntDigi #EDS18 Organisation Principles for a Gig Mindset

The first keynote this morning at the Enterprise Digital Workplace Summit in London is from Jane McConnell who runs the annual Organisation in the Digital World survey and is on organisational principles for the 'gig mentality age'.

This isn't about gig workers (though I think that would be interesting to think about too)but salaried employees who are self managing, have the freedom to disagree and challenge ideas; and an entrepreneurial spirit with the freedom to experiment:

"The gig mindset will be the real competitive advantage in the digital age"

Jane suggests eight key differences between the behaviours of these gig mentality workers and employees with a traditional mindset, including being goal oriented, flexible to work in different types of teams and work dynrmaics, creative, willing to challenge ideas and highly aware of the external world.

Organisations need to be more able to adapt because their people will be more adaptable, and also resilient in that they won't get taken down when a disruptive event takes place.  They need to be able to learn and work out loud.

Jane suggests this adaptability requires more focus on skills rather than roles, and that when you do this you fracture hierarchy - which is no bad thing. We also need to redefine leadership as influence rather than hierarchy. And pay more attention to teams, processes, openness, decision making and our vision for how works get done.

I really like this early attempt at rethinking the principles we need in the new digital age and though they're still draft, prefer the direction that they're going to, eg those in Bruce Daisley's manifesto. I also like the fact that they're reasonably succint, eg in contrast to Ray Dalio's TL;DR tome.

There's also another good list from Esko Kilpi here.

They real key though is developing a set of principles for your own organisation, making sure they are aligned with your own particular vision, and are clear enough that they'll influence your actions.

I'll be returning to the theme of principles and organsiation design in my own Enterprise Digital keynote in November.

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