Dive Brief:
- Dane Atkinson created buzz last week when he wrote a column about how his company, SumAll, elects their management at each quarter. He wrote the piece in response to growing attention to Zappos' “holacracy” approach, according to the Washington Post.
- Atkinson calls the elections the “antidote” to “spiteful bosses, petty politicking and bureaucratic inertia that scare way talent and strangle innovation.” Employees better appreciate the challenges of being a manager and those he never thought would be good managers often end up thriving in the role.
- But those who do poorly can dent productivity for a few months, he notes. In addition, many large companies would find quarterly votes too disruptive. They would require more layers of management to keep communication tight, Atkinson added.
Dive Insight:
While larger companies would have a hard time adapting to this fairly radical management style, its sense of innovation is something to consider.
SumAll had already gathered some attention for their unconventional managerial style, according to the Post. The start-up keeps salaries transparent and puts job applicants through a trial run before they are hired on—tactics that would be easier for larger companies to adopt or test than management elections. In industries that are resplendent with “lush perks” (particularly tech), such innovation may attract talented applicants.
Even in the largest, most traditional companies, HR can take a look at the core aspects of their companies and see what can be done to improve communication and attract talent.
