Scaling Up Magazine Scaling Up Magazine Summer 2018 | Page 10

10
SCALING UP BIOMIMICRY
SUMMER '18
LESSONS IN
SCALING UP
BIOMIMICRY
Dr. Tamsin Woolley-Barker
SCALING UP requires constant
leadership—endless meetings and people
to manage and motivate. Vision and
foresight are at a premium, and customers
and employees need to stay engaged
while you get ahead of the curve and the
competition. As companies grow, per
capita productivity and innovation decline.
Two out of three American workers are
disengaged, with suffering performance
as a result. Employees that once brought
energy and ideas to the table are replaced
by an endless staircase of short-termers
who train and advance, then move on.
Why? We know that cities and anthills
increase in productivity and innovation
as they grow—why not companies? The
problem is we design companies like
machines, trying to coax efficiency from
fragmented “cogs:” fixed job descriptions,
standardized best practices, rigid report
lines, silo-ed departments. Customers are
faceless demographics, while employees
jump through carrot-and-stick reviews and
bonuses. Our contributions don’t seem to
matter very much at the end of the day,
and we reserve the bulk of our passion
and creative power for the weekend.
When machines break, or conditions
change, you have to repair or replace
the broken part or get a new machine.
But people are living things, and so are
companies—growing from the bottom up,
adapting to change at every turn.