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Welcome to Flatland

A forthcoming workshop from the British Psychological Society prepares psychologists, leaders and managers and coaches for working in the emerging world of self-managed organisations.

07 June 2016

How can leaders and managers let go of control? Can psychologists provide routes to collaboration, and work towards developing individuals to ‘self-manage’? An event this November as part of the British Psychological Society’s professional development offering will prepare its delegates for ‘the new paradigm of Flatland’.

Lead organiser Dr Kirsty Wallace is a Chartered Psychologist with over 25 years experience working as a Consultant to many organisations from the FTSE 100, as well as the public and not-for-profit sectors. She has noted that coaching and organisational psychologists are increasingly having to engage with an emerging preference for flatter organisational structures, less defined roles and responsibilities, fewer policies and procedures, greater agency and more autonomy in how employees respond in agile and innovative ways to market conditions. She tells us that in ‘Flatland’, no one has a boss, there are no job titles and no promotions, employees negotiate their roles and responsibilities, everyone can spend the company’s money, and be held accountable for the wisdom of their decisions. Each person is responsible for doing what needs to be done, the focus is on delivering benefits and value to customers, and the amount of remuneration is determined by what is internally fair and externally competitive.

But self-management is not for everyone. ‘Adapting to life without bosses, a career ladder to climb, or the formal roles, responsibilities, strategies and reporting structures creates its own anxiety,’ says Dr Wallace. ‘Most employees are unaccustomed to such transparency, democracy and continuous stakeholder engagement, and others may be concerned that external customer value is being compromised by the time and effort it takes to manage oneself within these new complicated internal processes.’

On the day, participants will be asked to consider the impact of transferring and applying the practical takeaways on self-management from this workshop within their own practice. Visit the website to book.