A borderless organization is an unprecedentedly large portion of a system or entity that is not controlled by one person, group, or organization.
There are many theories about what a borderless organization should be and what it can do, but unless the entire system is combined into one entity, it remains a separate entity.
This has several implications for the people in the system, as well as for the surrounding systems. People in a border-free environment feel more comfortable and reliable than people in an underordered environment. People who are comfortable and reliable earn more money than people who don’t trust the system.
The presence of regulations also increase when there is a lack of control from one side to another. When there is no regulation, there is room for everyone to improve their product or service to meet market demands and raise their standards.
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Reduced geographic boundaries
Another way that an open, borderless organization can gain competitiveness is by eliminating or reducing geographic boundaries.
By having no boundaries, there is more room for expansion and creativity. This allows other regions to learn the open source community and its techniques, eliminating a perceived advantage in local knowledge.
It also reduces exposure to regulatory requirements and conflicts, both of which can decrease your company’s overall quality of service.
With no borders to close, department heads can operate in a more free-flowing manner. They can make decisions without being told whether they are right or wrong, which can lead to better quality of service (QoS).
Another benefit of non-geographic boundaries is that they help prevent favoritism and mobbing. When team members or department heads feel as though they are being treated differently based on their area of expertise, this can lead to internal conflict.
Reduced functional boundaries
a borderless organization is more open to new ideas and ways to do business, which can be a good and a harmful thing.
When there is only one way to do something, it can be hard to drive innovation. Because no one entity or company controls the innovation process, it can be difficult to know when changes should come or if they should come.
For example, in healthcare, where almost every phase of medicine uses different protocols and standards, there are many adoption cycles for new technologies and available treatments.
As a company grows larger, the need for internal communication becomes more of a communication between regions or groups instead of people traveling between them. This can become a problem of communication overflow instead of insufficiency.
A large organization can also have internal conflict that is not being seen by the outside world. Because there are no functional boundaries in a borderless organization, this type of conflict is not being addressed.
Reducing behavioral boundaries
There is a flip side to the boundary-reducing effects of a borderless organization. When boundaries are high, it can make people feel like they have to stick to them at all costs.
This can be a positive thing! People enjoy being told what to do and they like being supervised. If you like having total control over people, this job is for you.
As described in the previous article, there are some consequences to not having boundaries in an organization. These include wasted time and money, feelings of unreality and contamination, poor quality customer service, and increased chances of injustice.
We will discuss how to reduce the ill effects of a water-boarding (no physical contact) company that we worked for years with zero inner conflict or opposition. This was possible because the employees did not have to fight against these conventional behaviors.
The disappearance of the manager
One of the most pronounced features of a large organization is its borderless nature. All departments, teams, and functions are represented, and influential members are recruited from all over the organization.
This is intentional to give each department an opportunity to experiment and advance their interests without being limited to only those things that happen within their silo.
At this stage in development, there’s no clear leader or team responsible for everything in the organization. This allows each department to develop a reputation for quality work and gain more credibility when they deliver.
By not having a leader who decides what projects get funding and what doesn’t, it allows individuals to be more independent. As they are, many organizations have been growing at a rapid rate.
Become a leader, not a manager
We’ve laid out some key insights for a borderless organization in this article, but you don’t create a leader without a manageronga.
The greatest leaders are not necessarily the most experienced managers. A leader is someone who can get others to follow and trust him or her to lead.
That doesn’t mean no one else should be trusted to make decisions, it just means that the leader should not be a person who is in charge of leading.
As we said before, a leader is someone who can get others to follow and trust him or her to lead. That doesn’t mean no one else should be trusted to lead, it just means that the person in charge should not be in the position of leading.
The person who leads is usually in the position of managing rather than leading. Managing is asking others what they want and seeing if they believe they can implement it. When there is no other individual in this role, it is a role of a manageronga.
Embrace chaos
As an organization, we often focus too rigidly and strictly on existing rules and expectations. This is a good rule-based organization can mean the difference between success and failure.
However, when the expectations are more flexible, it creates more room for error. When there are no expectations, there is no stress.
A world of opportunity opens up to your employees as they can choose to follow their passions and create great work. You lose the staid voices that tell your employees what needs to be done and how to do it, but instead you have freedom-minded individuals who feel compelled to experiment with new ideas and methods.
This can be a scary concept for an employer to consider.
Make chaos discipline
One of the most significant implications of a borderless organization is how to handle chaos.
As described in the previous bullet point, a tightly controlled organization can be very restrictive about what it allows into its system.
For instance, in an organization where roles are defined clearly, people can be put into positions that they would not otherwise apply to others.
In a tightly controlled organization, people cannot just apply what they want to people else and see results. They must use the system they have applied before with more clearness or complexity reduced.
The importance of control in a chaos-disciplined environment has been discussed at length, and there have been several notable cases where chaos has been controlled and discipline has been lost due to lack of control.
Give up control for engagement
Having a borderless organization is great for engagement, and it can make a world of difference for your business. It lets people from all over the world connect, learn, and contribute to the team.
However, if you want to be successful in this system, you need to relinquish control. You have to trust your team members and their creativity to find solutions to problems. This can be difficult when you are the leader and you have no way of knowing what will happen or who will respond.
As a leader, you have two options: give up control or engage your team. If you choose the second option, read on!
Give up control means that you do not feel like the leader and that you do not have any power over the team. We call this self-effacing leadership.