Structure creates growth with stability

- When you think of disruption in an organization, you probably think of a chaotic room filled with brilliant people frantically working on new innovations. But counterintuitively, disruptive organizations are extremely structured and have detailed processes on how to be disruptive. To be disruptive, you must create structures and processes that provide a stable foundation for disruptive change, and that stability allows you to focus on the future. Now in many organizations, structure and process are words that people run away from because we associate them with holding back growth and change rather than supporting it. It's actually just the opposite. Process and structure create clarity about how to work together, and that allows you to focus on being disruptive rather than spending time and energy figuring out how to get work done. To create really good structure and process, first start by mapping out where the most important, frequent, and difficult connections must be made. Then engineer that relationship into reality by putting those people on the same team or department. Second, instead of trying to tear down silos, put windows between them to develop better communication. Department silos play an important role in creating expertise and efficiency, so don't break them down. Open windows between them so that customers and their data can pass seamlessly throughout your organization. Third, demonstrate the benefits of processes early on. It'll help you be more disruptive and attract and keep great people. One of my pet peeves is badly run meetings. Planning great meetings with agendas, expected outcomes, and accountability takes a lot of time, but if the outcomes include better faster results, everyone will see the benefits and do the same. Finally, set high standards. Agree on what good looks like, and follow through with consequences if the standards are not met. Consistency is everything when it comes to establishing a process. Huawei is a sprawling global provider of information and communications technology with nearly 200,000 employees, and they have a process for everything, which has helped them grow more than 21% every year since 2007. They are now a $120 billion company. Huawei has 80,000 people working out of 14 innovation centers all around the world. Scientists and engineers follow the same protocols, making it easy to share research and innovation. As a result, any customer can benefit almost immediately from something invented 10,000 miles away. Identify the critical structures and processes necessary to create a stable foundation for your disruptive actions. Then watch as chaos becomes productivity.