This was a compelling post. I have little experience with org design, yet my work in large orgs required a lot of organizational change management work, and enabling effective OCM is critical to my work now. Your description about managing org change resonated with me, as I have seen this screwed up (and of course I have made plenty of mistakes myself!)
2 main questions:
- What OCM approaches are you familiar with, and which (if any) have you found effective in your experience?
- Do you believe Holacracy could be modified to make it effective, or is it doomed to fail no matter what refinements may be made in it?
I hope to write on organizational structures for my work in the near future, yet the nature of the writing is that contexts are highly variable as you described. My initial thought is that using methods to keep unit structures small may be the key, as it requires less skill to shape effectively (as you called out).
I’d love to see more from you on this topic!