Someone wise once said, “if you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together” This simple quote by unknown goes directly to the heart of structure and why it is the glue to success to build anything. Having worked for a start up organisation, a huge corporation run badly and a huge corporation run brilliantly, I can safely say the most distinctive quality in all of them had to do with the structure of the organisation.
I feel strongly that a lot of people in general everyday life also have a problem with structure in life. Structure is always asking, where do I belong? Is it a clear distinct boundary that shows me my limits? As a person you can be plagued with this because individually it’s about knowing yourself. But we wont talk about it from a personal point of view, let’s instead imagine our bodies. Yes, your own individual bodies as a whole company with its various parts.
For a company to run smoothly there needs to be departments and everyone has to know their roles. But how do they know their role if the organisation doesn’t tell them each their role. So this is basically what structure is about, knowing your role. If you know your role well enough, you are also most likely to be creative in your role. But if you are not sure of your powers, value and authority you’ll probably tip toe around hoping not to cause a scene.
So then the real question is how do you build structure? I completely understand its necessity for success but how does one build structure. I struggled with this the first time we worked on Kutambokisa. So many things required decisions and eventually I felt overwhelmed and yet I wasn’t alone. I had an amazing group of people helping me. But everything is growth and learning from that experience almost 3 years ago and I can still see the pit stops and sharp turns I could have avoided.
I don’t want to pretend to know the answer, but so far, loads of communication with the team and understanding that you can’t succeed alone. You need people just as excited about creating change as much as you are. And communicate to them everything, even the the disappointing fact that you may not be as sharp as they thought you were.
Building anything takes a lot of effort, with more people means more confusion. So you build structure, structure says, “look this is the aim, I understand this seems more flashy but we have to stick to the aim” what’s more amazing is knowing you’ve implemented structure means you get to rest easy at night because people can make important decisions in your absence because everyone knows what the aim is.
Twende babili temwenso
(Walking together isn’t fear)
A Bemba Proverb
As you build I figure you also ought to allow yourselves some grace, no one gets everything right. We all need correction, we all need to listen, we all need to learn. Don’t create structure in the dark, use the bright minds of those you want to build with and create it together. The idea should become personal for everyone. Grace also to be patient as our unsteady hands try to glue the idea and structure in place.
I know the world is still fighting a pandemic but you deserve to rest once in a while and glue your structure in together. When we are done building structure, I’ll be able to share more of what we are working on after we are done creating the structure, whatever that will look like. If you’re curious as to what it is all I can say is check Facebook for Kutambokisa.
Until next time, I hope your life is filled with love and that it’s so immerse and overflowing that all you can do is share it with others.
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