Those up there, those down there

Different countries are shaped by different cultures. This applies to society as well as to individual organizations or companies.

In Germany, there is currently a tendency towards flat hierarchies. Interaction and communication are becoming more and more informal, less official and often are impromptu. This applies even more with increasing success of the company. Everything is set and fine. 

But what happens if difficulties arise? If you face challenges or a period of transformation, or your company is already stuck in a crisis? This might cause your organization to relapse into old hierarchy patterns.

An increasingly steep organization-pyramid will make the hierarchical gap more apparent than ever. 

Symptoms of an ongoing, suboptimal transformation are precisely detectable by paying attention to each party’s expressions. 

Those ‘up there’ in corporate management complain:

…„They just don't listen to me“ …. „Why does nobody understand me“…„If they would just do as I told them to“…„Why don't they communicate with me“…

The employees ‘down there’ complain:

…„They don't know themselves, what the plan is “…„Always changing back and forth, what do they actually want from us“…„Where is this supposed to end“…„we have no vision“…“We are not informed at all“…“We are not included anyway, they won't even ask for our opinion“…

Those hallway conversations commonly end up with the conclusion, that there is a lack of communication. Before or during a transformation the consequences of lacking or deficient communication can be crucial: It creates uncertainty. Every tiny action and word is being judged. Bad decisions or no decisions at all are made. Teamwork suffers from emerging mistrust. Tempers start to heat up. Insecurity starts the spread around the workplace. And eventually the beginning of the end of it all: key players start to leave the company! 

Overall, the companies performance is decreasing further. Only if you close the gap between those up there and those down there, this negative dynamic can be reversed. Trust needs to be built. Because trust is a flat hierarchies foundation and the means to an end: professional communication. Read more about it article “Good Communication - Good Transformation”.