We used Google NotebookLM to relate the twelve domains from Aaron Dignan’s book Brave New Work to the concepts of Open, Open Work, and Open Management. Here’s what it said:
The twelve domains from Brave New Work directly relate to the concepts of Open, Open Work, and Open Management by providing a framework for implementing the principles of autonomy, transparency, adaptability, and a human-centric approach within an organisation. Teal Unicorn’s “Open” concepts aim to create better ways of working and managing, and these domains offer specific areas to focus on to achieve that goal.
Here’s how each domain aligns with Open, Open Work, and Open Management:
- Purpose: In Open organisations, purpose should be eudaemonic, enabling human flourishing. A mission statement should define the result of success, rather than only the definition, and should inspire employees. This aligns with Open Work’s emphasis on values, humanity, and a positive contribution to society.
- Authority: Open Management advocates for distributing authority to teams and individuals, empowering them to make decisions. Brave New Work encourages offering teams the authority to change how they work together. This shift from centralised power aligns with the Open movement’s aim to flip the hierarchy and promote egality.
- Structure: Open organisations should act like dynamic networks, allowing members to organise and reorganise around projects. This contrasts with traditional vertical hierarchies and supports Open Work’s focus on collaboration, agility, and fluid team structures.
- Strategy: Instead of rigid, long-term planning, Open Management favours iterative and experimental approaches. Brave New Work introduces the “barbell strategy,” balancing safe investments with speculative bets.
- Resources: Open organisations should embrace dynamic resource allocation, allowing people to direct their time and attention to where they add the most value. This aligns with Open Management’s principle of liberating work and worker.
- Innovation: Open organisations view work as a place to learn and grow, welcoming continuous growth and collaboration between members with different skill levels Brave New Work emphasizes that in complexity, the job isn’t perfection but building a culture that is always learning.
- Workflow: Open Work emphasizes visualisation, systems thinking, and value flow. Brave New Work advocates for limiting work in progress (WIP) to improve workflow. Spotify’s workflow approach, which ensures teams are loosely coupled but tightly aligned, maximizing strategic alignment while minimizing dependencies and red tape between teams, embodies this concept.
- Meetings: Open organisations should be mindful of the true cost of meetings and eliminate those that don’t add value. Experimenting with a meeting moratorium can help identify the purpose and structure needed for effective meetings.
- Information: Open organisations prioritise transparency, ensuring information is freely shared and accessible to all members. This aligns with Open Work’s emphasis on transparency, trust, and psychological safety.
- Membership: Open organisations view membership as more than a legal status, offering people different roles to play and the opportunity to move between teams. Brave New Work suggests writing a user manual for colleagues to improve cooperation.
- Mastery: In Open organisations, individuals grow through discomfort, and learning is prioritised through experience . Communities of practice enable team members who share interests to learn from each other.
- Compensation: While the sources do not expand greatly on this domain, Brave New Work includes compensation as one of the twelve domains in its OS canvas that can help organisations transform to an evolutionary model.
By focusing on these twelve domains, organisations can create a culture of trust, autonomy, and continuous improvement, aligning with the core principles of Open, Open Work, and Open Management. This involves shifting from traditional, hierarchical structures to more dynamic, networked systems that empower employees and foster adaptability .