This is part of a series of posts about the Leadership Lattice, a framework for learning about the different dimensions of management and leadership.

The second layer of the Leadership Lattice is the Organization domain, which is about managing the structures and dynamics of teams.

This includes everything from building cohesion within a single team to organizing business units across a larger organization. There are some shared problems across this spectrum, but the frameworks are very different based on scale.

  • A guiding mental model I’ve found helpful is that of Organizational Flow. When we do things right to build and align teams in the right way, the organization structures become invisible and we can reach a collective “flow” state. On an individual level this is defined as “the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment”. Getting to this state requires the active practices of alignment, thoughtful organization, conflict resolution - all which are key to this part of the lattice. How this is achieved looks very different in a team vs. a large organization, but ultimately we just want our organizational structures to work. When they do, we’re in a flow state.

  • In getting to this states, these are some of the practices I’ve found:

    • Building Organization Structures
    • Managing Resource Allocations
    • Managing Leadership Teams
    • Managing a Team Lifecycle
    • Setting Roles and Responsibilities + Creating Autonomy
    • Importance of Building Diverse and Inclusive Teams
    • Setting Good Team Practices
    • Team Culture and Values
    • Building Team Cohesion
    • Conflict Resolution
    • Effective Communication and Dialog
    • Building Cohesion Between Teams
    • Change Management
    • Making Remote Work

  • Some Frameworks used to manage some of the practices above (a very incomplete list for now):