Since graduating as an industrial engineer in 1978 my interest has shifted from technology to organisational development. It has turned out to be a challenging professional transformation in which passion for my new field of work gave direction to my hunger for learning. In the course of this learning process I as an engineer experienced the evolution of the Internet from very close quarters. The enormous increase in speed, the opening up of information sources worldwide and now the large-scale introduction of video and social networks make it possible for driven people to learn rapidly and informally. And this is the cause of what I call the information crisis. We are facing a crisis in which two groups are standing diametrically opposed to each other. There are passionate people who are learning extra fast and life-long from these new information streams, and there are those who have lost their passion for that which is new, and unconsciously live off formal credentials from long ago.

 

When I wrote the book ‘My organisation is a jungle’ I remembered history lessons in which I was fascinated by the timeline hanging above the blackboard. Each period was indicated on it with a name that typified that period. The Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age were some of them. This subdivision made it possible to not only describe our evolution but also to depict the various transitional crises. Time and again an older generation has had to give way to the next generation. Time and again people have approached that which is new as either a threat or an opportunity. What is happening today is no different, except that it’s not the processing of iron or bronze but the mental processing of an over-abundance of information sources. The companies and organisations which are able to do this most efficiently and effectively come out on top or can respond very quickly to the new needs of a rapidly changing society. New and inspiring information is, after all, the source of learning – of creative entrepreneurship or innovation.

 

The chaotic period in which we now live and work is the fascinating but dramatic transformation zone in which we are switching from the 2D to the 3D age. The flat two-dimensional (2D) age, characterised by classroom learning, predictability and continuous improvement, is laboriously making way for the three-dimensional (3D) age. The latter is an age in which more and more passionate talent will result in groundswells of new information and innovation. An age in which competition and cooperation among regions will play out by way of ongoing, contradictory, rapid and sustainable innovation. The greatest barrier to entering the new 3D age, however, is the invisible walls which 2D managers have unconsciously erected around our passions and talents.

The meaning of the word ‘manage’ is straightforward. It simply means ‘to get things right’. In the 2D world it was easy for the manager to get things right. He simply had to be better at the job than the others, and acquire the authority to make his employees work. The 3D manager, however, is no longer the professional expert with the highest diploma and the most experience. He is a 3D passionate and 3D talented manager who succeeds in attracting and enabling passionate talent to work together spontaneously in making a challenging vision come true.

 

Since I became a training manager in 1990, however, not much has changed in management training. Although new bells and whistles have been added these last 20 years, managers are still being assessed and trained in the same 2D mental framework. We need drastic 3D innovation in the head-hunting, training and deployment of 3D managers. 3D innovation management can only happen with 3D managers who allow their employees to develop and deploy their talents freely. But this does require them as managers to develop the necessary competencies to use human passion and talent as purposefully as possible.

 

For many 2D managers, however, this is unattainable. I therefore believe that the greatest resistance to the transformation from 2D to 3D organisations will be found among 2D middle management, the supporting 2D HR departments and the paralysing 2D trade unions. The necessary change interventions are not that complicated, but do require courage and perseverance. An example of this is the needed transformation from job descriptions to role descriptions.

If we place ourselves in the mental framework of 2D management we see a manager who knows the job better than his employees and directs them by means of task or job descriptions. Job descriptions and the associated competency management are today’s hobby horses which many like to make a meal of.

 

Job descriptions, however, have a nasty side to them. When we cut out all the frills it’s simply a list of tasks which an employee is supposed to perform. We always try to find the right employee for a job but always there are tasks which he doesn’t like or lacks the talent to do. In 2D management it is therefore accepted that it is impossible to organise work in such a way that everybody receives a job consisting purely of tasks for which he has the passion and the talent. Everybody is also expected to perform tasks which they don’t like. And this also applies to the manager himself.

 

Job descriptions and the departments where these jobs are performed have almost become tangible barriers which are placed around people in 2D organisations. People are obliged to stay within these fences, perform tasks which do not fully speak to their passions and talents, and attend training to make them better at what they don’t like. This is the outcome of the much acclaimed 2D competency management system. For me it’s clear ... if you fence people in you get sheep ... and that, in turn, is the reason why creative entrepreneurship has almost completely disappeared from most organisations. We have built organisations that unconsciously transform people into sheep instead of utilising that which makes us unique as human beings: passions and talents.

In the rapidly changing 3D age it is impossible to survive if we do not succeed in making optimal use of the talents and passions of people. We need creative, enterprising employees. To achieve this we must replace job descriptions with role descriptions.

 

This sounds like a simple intervention, but the consequences are huge. A 3D manager breaks with jobs and competency management. He makes a list of the roles that are needed to achieve his vision or mission and goes looking for passionate talents to play specific roles. He doesn’t ‘own’ employees but gives them the opportunity to deploy their passions and talents in the best possible way. In a 3D organisation or 3D region people are increasingly going to work in roles that allow them to express their passions and talents. The number of people working for different managers, business units and even organisations will be the indicator of success in making the transition to roles. Part-time work, the deployment of talented people with disabilities and an organic transition to full retirement will be further indicators of success.

 

This prospect, however, is daunting for 2D managers who cannot imagine how to organise like this. For 2D HR departments it is sacrilege because they have invested so much in 2D job descriptions and competency management that they cannot bear to admit that they might have had it wrong. For 2D unions it is hell because the entire job classification system and ‘working for one employer’ is being brought to its knees. For 3D managers, 3D employees and 3D unions, however, this development represents an opportunity because it establishes a basis for creative entrepreneurship. Mobilising the right talents in the right places.

 

So what do you choose: sheep or creative enterprising people? It’s not a question of money, it’s a question of courage. The courage to change.