The Shape of Water

Some of my blogs are eaten by the birds while others fall on stony ground.  Occasionally though one seems to take root and ends up giving me a good crop of readers.  Such was the case with one of my latest, ‘Do structures make a difference? ’ a subject that has been exercising my mind a lot over the last few weeks.

The problem I had and continue to have is that our organisational structures are based upon the past.  We set ourselves up focussed upon the way business has been for us over the last few months or years on the assumption that this is the way it will be.  We have no other knowledge to base it on yet what I am looking for is a structure that will meet the needs of our business tomorrow and the next week and the coming years.

But this is not possible.  Who can look into the future with any certainty?  Not even the most able futurologist could do much better than a tarot card reader.  I need a structure that is flexible, agile, empathetic and pre-active even, but they always come out rigid and static.

When I was describing my dilemma to one of my colleagues he asked me what the structure I really wanted would look like.   I thought about it, scratched my head a bit and told him he wouldn’t like the answer.  I drew in the air with my hands the rough shape of an amoeba, a highly complex but simple looking form with an obvious edge but no real shape.  I told him that I wanted our structure to flow to meet our demands and the look on his face told me I had not delivered the clarity he required.  Well I did warn him.

But the more I think about it the more I am reminded of the book by Andrea Camilleri, ‘The Shape of Water’ in which Inspector Montalbano struggles to solve a crime where the clues and the witness statements seem to move in whichever direction he follows.  His case flows like water into whatever shape it is poured.  If you get the chance it is well worth the read.

So here is the answer to my conundrum.   I’m not sure my colleague is going to be any more pleased with this explanation than the last one though.  I want a structure that has the shape of water.