Luddites have no place in the modern organisation

Published on
3 minute read

In our Professional Agile Leadership training  , we talk about changing your organisations hiring practices to hire more of the right sort of people to create the company that you want, not the company that you have. Hire the right people also implies that you will have to, within your cultural constraints, de-hire the wrong people.

Luddites have no place in the modern organisation

Early Luddites destroying machines during the industrial revolution

Luddite

“a person opposed to new technology or ways of working.”

“a small-minded Luddite resisting progress” · “I’m not a Luddite, after all I work with the internet for my job”

One of the reasons that your organisation is the way that it is, and that it is so hard to change, is its culture. The culture of an organisation is just a reflection of people that make up the organisation and the way that they do things.

As you transition from the traditional tayloristic model  of departments and hierarchy to an empirical model of cross-functional delivery teams that suits the modern world of business you need to make sure that you have the right people or you will encounter friction at every turn. You may even find that some folks try to actively undermine the change.

“To be a leader in this company, your job is to find the rose petals in a field of shit.”

― Satya Nadella,  Hit Refresh 

These are the Luddites!

Luddites are an anchor to your nimbleness

As you move down your chosen agile evolutionary  path there are many common changes that you will make, but there is a reason I use the phrase Evolution and not Transformation. An agile business is one that can adapt to changing circumstances effectively, quickly, and without panic, as the world changed around them.

Luddites have no place in the modern organisation

What changed at Microsoft as of 2017

Microsoft is the poster-child of what can be accomplished with the judicious application of leadership. With the servent-leadership and strategic vision of Satya Nadella, it has evolved from a traditional organisational model 10 years ago (2010) towards independent delivery teams  of today.

“Every person, organization, and even society reaches a point at which they owe it to themselves to hit refresh—to reenergize, renew, reframe, and rethink their purpose.”

― Satya Nadella,  Hit Refresh 

If you go into Microsoft today and ask them what has changed since they were a traditional organisation, they will say “everything”! The list above is a point-in-time snapshot taken in 2017 from their evolution. Most things on that list have changed since then.

The world operates at a much higher frequency than it ever did before and a lack of learning, innovation, and evolution of our processes, practices, and tools  is the realm of the Luddite.

Luddites have no place in the modern organisation #daretochange. Don’t be a Luddite!

Agile Leadership Organisational Culture People and Process Resilience and Change Organisational Agility Organisational Change Business Agility Change Management Enterprise Agility Market Adaptability

Related blog posts

Related videos

Connect with Martin Hinshelwood

If you've made it this far, it's worth connecting with our principal consultant and coach, Martin Hinshelwood, for a 30-minute 'ask me anything' call.

Our Happy Clients​

We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.​

ProgramUtvikling Logo
Teleplan Logo
Deliotte Logo
Trayport Logo
Schlumberger Logo
Bistech Logo
Genus Breeding Ltd Logo
Ericson Logo
YearUp.org Logo
Sage Logo
Slaughter and May Logo
Qualco Logo
Jack Links Logo
Philips Logo
Boeing Logo
Kongsberg Maritime Logo
Higher Education Statistics Agency Logo
Epic Games Logo
Nottingham County Council Logo
Washington Department of Transport Logo
Department of Work and Pensions (UK) Logo
Washington Department of Enterprise Services Logo
New Hampshire Supreme Court Logo
Royal Air Force Logo

NIT A/S

Illumina Logo
Lockheed Martin Logo
Capita Secure Information Solutions Ltd Logo
Trayport Logo
YearUp.org Logo