In conversation with Christine Oymann From effective work shapes

Christine Oymann works as a change manager and transformation coach. It helps people, teams and organizations to work together effectively and develop towards self-organization. As a pioneer of the loop approach, she designs tailor-made change processes that meet the individual needs of teams and organizations.

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What advantages do you see in self-organization compared to traditional hierarchical structures?

We are living in times when constant, usually unforeseen and abrupt change makes us increasingly unsettled and we need skills to constantly realign ourselves in these complex and complicated systems. What we need in this volatile world is agility and effectiveness on the one hand, but also structures and support on the other.

This applies both as individuals as well as in organizations and, of course, also in society as a whole. When we look at the work context, it makes sense to strengthen people's effectiveness. Because this includes seeing people as a whole, with their respective competencies and life phases, working together more effectively as a team and, of course, acting more effectively externally than entire organizations. Self-organization is exactly the way that helps organizations become self-directed.

Right at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, I have the creative agency I like visuals accompanied by self-organization from Berlin. The aim was to distribute self-management throughout the agency. However, especially in the first weeks of the pandemic, employees needed strong leadership, lots of orientation and clear announcements. It is precisely this double change (social and organizational) that has strengthened them and today they are more self-organized than ever and even use this as part of brand building for and with their customers.

What challenges can arise when introducing self-organization and how can you deal with them well?

A major challenge is that people often search for the magic book that is “easy” to implement, saving as much time and money as possible. However, self-organization is a cultural change that, of course, also preserves old, well-lived things, but is also constantly on the move, which can be shaped by everyone. Here I like to use the LoopApproach transformation architecture. I also recommend starting where the actual work takes place. And these are the teams that spend a lot of working time together, working towards something, pursuing goals. If we change the way an individual team works here, then we will change the organization with several teams in the long term. And this allows us to use the biggest lever: take communication to a new level: sincerely and effectively, so that even meetings, for example, bring energy back instead of robbing it.

To what extent have you observed that self-organization promotes creativity and innovation?

Absolutely! I'm watching this closely. Because the strength-oriented, distributed responsibilities embolden people to use their potential effectively.

What tips or advice would you give to design firms that want to introduce self-organization in their company?

Think big, start small, act now. Especially in high-performance organizations, much more, or to a point, is invested almost exclusively externally. Here is my absolute advice to also invest IN the organizations and set out to get people involved, give them responsibilities and invest in communication and cooperation. In my opinion, it is advisable to take this journey with accompanying persons who support this transformation process. But you can also set off alone, as long as you start.

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The article was published in the column “Shaping the Future” in graphic magazine.

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