Work-life integration: a benefit of self-organizing groups

This week I had lunch with a friend who I worked with at Microsoft almost a decade ago. She’s an amazing person—a dedicated employee, wife, mother, and daughter. And, like many people I know, she’s also frustrated, extraordinarily busy, and tired just trying to keep...

Organizational benefits of self-organizing groups (1 of 2)

From 2004 to 2006, I was part of two life-changing, self-organizing groups at the same time: one group of employees actively experimenting in a global for-profit organization and one group of learners actively reflecting on our own experiences in an educational...

What is a self-organizing group?

If you’re familiar with this subject, let me know what it means for you. Today, for me, a self-organizing group is a collective whose members are surprised and delighted by what they become and do together. These collectives create themselves and contain members who...

Why do self-organizing groups form?

In the 25 groups I’ve studied and been part of so far, here are the reasons mentioned for group formation. To: Change the way the organization plans and designs its products (working across silo’d product teams instead of within silos) Help all of our kids...