Flat Organizations

The company prided itself on running “flat” minimal layers of management. It allowed the company to minimize overhead, make decisions quickly.

But there was a focus on developing leaders too. On the lower ends of the ladder there was room to promote through the supervisor and managerial ranks. On the upper levels of the ladder — not so much.

People were trained, coached, and guided to do more and achieve more. The upward pressure of highly capable people strained the “flat” philosophy. These people kept doing more, being more, achieving more. Soon their titles did not…