This is a push to up-end the company culture, which is its own steep challenge. Kudos it they can do it.
Management has a role. Business politics is a real thing. Power struggles are not stymied by an egalitarian approach.
Any company will have decision makers at all levels of influence and control. In some situations, managers are those with time and wisdom to be able to sort out what is a regular ask and what is going to be an uphill challenge.
One of my favorite quotes from one of my managers was "I'll finish the fights you start." My autonomy in that role came from reinforcement from a wiser, steadied hand. I believe good people managers have a distinct place in employee growth.
Good people managers create employee groups that generate self-organizational habits, self-manage based on goals, and have increased efficiency. Poor people managers get in the way of this. Good people managers know when to step in to advocate for business importance where inexperienced employees may be able to generate good work product, but not be good advocates (yet!) They also understand longer term missions that may have been disclosed to them, so that they can prioritize correctly.
This prioritization is vital. I don't think the people lead themselves to the verdict that their work/problem is low on the totem pole. Quite the opposite, people own the role they are in and advocate as best they can. Self-organization and self-management require a distinct understanding of the business and where one's work lies in the scheme of things. Without management acting as a buffer, this could create a lot of noise.
Management has a role. Business politics is a real thing. Power struggles are not stymied by an egalitarian approach.
Any company will have decision makers at all levels of influence and control. In some situations, managers are those with time and wisdom to be able to sort out what is a regular ask and what is going to be an uphill challenge.
One of my favorite quotes from one of my managers was "I'll finish the fights you start." My autonomy in that role came from reinforcement from a wiser, steadied hand. I believe good people managers have a distinct place in employee growth.
Good people managers create employee groups that generate self-organizational habits, self-manage based on goals, and have increased efficiency. Poor people managers get in the way of this. Good people managers know when to step in to advocate for business importance where inexperienced employees may be able to generate good work product, but not be good advocates (yet!) They also understand longer term missions that may have been disclosed to them, so that they can prioritize correctly.
This prioritization is vital. I don't think the people lead themselves to the verdict that their work/problem is low on the totem pole. Quite the opposite, people own the role they are in and advocate as best they can. Self-organization and self-management require a distinct understanding of the business and where one's work lies in the scheme of things. Without management acting as a buffer, this could create a lot of noise.