A lesson from Twitter’s organizational genius …

With the announcement this week of the naming of a new CEO, Twitter is displaying organizational genius worth examining.

Every organization experiences “pivot points,” times when an organization is uniquely poised for growth or change if the right resources and strategies are implemented. For Twitter, that has meant having the right leader in place to guide the organization for specific periods of development. The Business Insider has an insightful article here http://bit.ly/cHhXIX that highlights how Twitter has made sure it has had the right man at the helm for specific phases of its development.

What Twitter seems to understand is that one single individual isn’t always the right talent to lead specific focuses of development. For Twitter, that has meant changing CEOs as the developmental focus of the organization changes. For other organizations, it may not require a formal change of leadership, but rather assigning responsibilities more broadly throughout an organization.

Many — if not most — organizations of any kind limit their developmental capacity by locking themselves into specific people who maintain rigid areas of responsibility. The problem with that is the person in any given role may not be the best talent fit over an extended period of time. Organizations that allow for responsibility sharing, responsibility swapping, or even responsibility change allow for the best talent to be in the right positions to best direct an organization’s “pivot points.”

Most organizations don’t accomplish this because executive management are more concerned about the security of their own positions than they are about ensuring the best talent is in the right place to maximize growth. Organizations that have leaders more committed to their own positions rather than the best interest of the organization will lead only to the limits of the leader’s weakness rather than supplying the talent to expand potential.

If you really want to take your organization as far as is possible, set aside egos and ensure the best possible talent is in position to lead the developmental focus of your organization.

Scotty