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Raleigh, NC
Rebecca Fernandez is a Principal Program Manager at Red Hat, leading projects to help the company scale its open culture. She's an Open Organization Ambassador, contributed to The Open Organization book, and maintains the Open Decision Framework. She is interested in the intersection of open source principles and practices, and how they can transform organizations for the better.
Authored Comments
For sure, it will always be messier in real life than in theory. Actually that's a big part of working through these ideas, IMO... getting clearer on how to get input from a lot of people WITHOUT ending up in a place where it's unclear who the final decision maker is, or where everyone feels they have a vote on every decision. Because, as you've so clearly pointed out, people can't get anything done in that kind of environment!
I'm looking forward to the discussion on chapter 6 (making inclusive decisions). Imagine we'll dive more into this kind of stuff!
Guy said, "...I also feel that some parts of the organization (legal, HR) aren't good candidates to run in this fashion, as they require too many 'hard real-time' decisions."
Hmm, in the spirit of the open organization, I'm going to have to disagree with you on this part. :) I actually think that the time is right for HR teams to face up to the challenge, and that they're being pressed to. Here's why:
When you look at websites like Glassdoor.com, which encourages employees to post anonymous reviews of what's it's like to work at their current and former employers, it's no longer easy for corporate back-office functions (such as HR) to make decisions without being held accountable for them. And frankly, a lot of HR leaders are deeply concerned about that, because they're seeing how this brutally honest and open feedback, out there for all the world to see, impacts their ability to recruit new talent.
So the time is really ripe for a new approach, one that engages people outside of departments like HR, and gives them a voice INSIDE the company.
One of the coolest things for me, about working in an open organization like Red Hat, is while we get negative feedback in places like Glassdoor just like every other company out there... it's rarely stuff that we haven't already heard inside the company, and stuff we've heard from specific individuals who felt comfortable speaking up. So we don't feel blindsided by it; we're aware of where our associates feel we need to improve, and lots of times, we're already engaging with them on those topics.
As the world becomes more open, organizations are going to have to figure out how to deal with that, and I believe the stuff Jim talks about in the book really will (and already does!) put companies ahead of the curve.