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Key Takeaways Replace traditional charts with work charts. Instead of mapping people and job titles, focus on mapping workflows, tasks and value streams. This enables teams to work dynamically.
Once you identify the tasks in your work chart that can be automated, start implementing AI agents into these processes. Then assign human teams to high-value work.
Implement safeguards to ensure AI has the right levels of oversight and governance. You should also reskill your employees so they’re prepared to work effectively alongside AI.
As a business owner, it’s critical to organize your team in a way that provides the most value, productivity and collaboration. Historically, the best practice was to sit down and map out your organization into a maze of boxes and interconnecting lines that show how each individual connects to one another. While traditional org charts look great framed on the wall, they’re an archaic approach that restricts innovation and throughput today.
The challenge is that organizational charts were designed for the Industrial Age, which required clear structure to enforce control and decision-making, especially in massive organizations with thousands of employees. Today, traditional org charts do nothing more than breed bureaucracy. They create decision-making bottlenecks as work stalls moving up and down the multiple layers and obscuring where work actually gets done.
The emergence of disruptive technologies has created the need for a new approach to organizing people. With automation being capable of completing complex tasks faster and cheaper than a human, the concept of people in roles with rigid job titles is becoming irrelevant. Instead, businesses should be looking for ways to create a structure that enables teams to work dynamically.
The solution is the work chart. Instead of a map of people, a work chart is a living diagram of the work, tasks and output of the organization, whether executed by a human or an algorithm. Entrepreneurs must understand how to make this fundamental shift in thinking to redesign their organizations to function successfully in the age of artificial intelligence.
Related: How to Structure and Build a Team For Long-Term Success
1. Map your workflows, not people
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