We live in the age of Exponential Organizations (EXOS). These new types of businesses are flourishing because of the exponential technologies available. It is an inspiring time to be alive, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for us!
Exponential technologies generate a new environment where these new types of businesses flourish. It is because they can take advantage of the opportunities made possible by technology.
ExOs can grow much faster than traditional businesses because they are taking advantage of exponential technologies. These technologies make them more efficient and create a more interconnected world.
Businesses need to start taking advantage of exponential technologies. Soon, they will have unlimited and unrestricted access to energy, the internet, 3D-printed objects at home, etc. That will make our life more productive. By taking advantage of exponential technologies, businesses can grow much faster than traditional businesses.
Salim Ismail, in his bestseller Exponential Organizations, explains why a new breed of business has arisen in this era of plenty: the Exponential Organization (ExO).This organization is a purpose-driven entity that leverages new exponential technologies and operates at a much larger scale than traditional businesses. It is designed to take advantage of the abundance in today’s world and grow at an unprecedented rate.
The ExO Attributes are a list of shared qualities that enable companies to transform into Exponential Organizations.
There are eleven ExO Attributes: Massive Transformative Purpose, Staff on Demand, Community, Algorithms, Leveraged Assets, Engagement, Interfaces, Dashboards, Experiments, Autonomy, and Social Technologies.
The MTP is the only ExO Attribute out of the eleven that is mandatory
An ExO is different from a regular company because it has an entrepreneurial mindset. It means it wants to create value by being innovative. The MTP shows what this change in the world would be. EXOS is focusing on transforming the world for a better future.
Some perfect examples of MTPs are Google (Organizing the world’s information) and Airbnb.
SCALE is a group of five attributes focused on connecting and keeping abundance.
What are these five attributes?
- Staff on Demand: Employs a pool of preapproved workers hired on an as-needed basis to execute operational elements of your core business.
Uber’s drivers, as well as Kaggle’s data scientists, are excellent examples of Staff on Demand.
- Community & Crowd: Communities can be practical tools to help you reach your MTP. They can provide feedback, evangelize your product or service, and help drive word-of-mouth marketing.
They are devoted to solving the grand challenges surrounding your organization‘s MTP. When creating your community strategy, make sure to consider the following:
-What is the goal of your community?
-What type of community do you want to create?
An excellent example of community implementation is TED’s community, which is the main engine of this tremendous global movement.
- Algorithms: One of the benefits of using algorithms is that they can help scale products and services. Additionally, algorithms can help find solutions to problems, leading to a better product or service.
It is because algorithms can process large amounts of data much faster than humans. Additionally, they can make decisions based on this data that are not possible for humans to make. That allows organizations to do things they could not do before, leading to a better product or service.
Algorithms are used in everything from ordering food to scheduling flights. As a result, they play a massive role in our lives, and we rely on them daily. One good example is Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
- Leveraged Assets: the Leveraged Assets attribute gives you on-demand access to resources, replacing the need for ownership.
It also allows the organization to become much more flexible.
Airbnb is a prime example of leveraged assets. Airbnb has grown to be the world’s most popular hotel chain by using its service and website to connect individuals who need a place to stay with those who have extra space to rent.
- Engagement: One way to keep these groups interested and involved is by using reputation systems, loyalty programs, and incentive prizes. These can help keep your group engaged and committed to your shared purpose.
Duolingo is an excellent example of how gamification can be used to engage users and encourage them to continue learning. The platform rewards users with points and badges for completing lessons and tasks, which helps to keep them motivated and interested in the process. This approach has proven successful, as Duolingo now has over 100 million users.
The five internal attributes cold IDEAS focus on managing abundance
- Interfaces: For users, the UI is the part of the software they see, and the UX is how they interact with the system. By making the complex simple, we can create a compelling and user-friendly interface that will provide a great user experience.
Airbnb is an excellent example of an interface that is both easy to use and provides a great user experience. The site is easy to navigate, and the booking process is simple.
- Dashboards: EXOS uses dashboards with non-traditional metrics, such as innovation accounting and indicators focused on tracking the process towards the purpose.
- Experimentation: A critical part of experimentation is validating your assumptions before making significant investments into the organization or new ideas. It means testing your hypotheses to see if they hold up in reality.
- Autonomy: One of the benefits of self-organized, multi-disciplinary teams is that they can operate with decentralized authority. It allows team members to make decisions quickly and efficiently without waiting for approval from a higher-up.
An OKR system, for example, is one of the most effective methods to achieve autonomy. Team members can set objectives for themselves and their teams using an OKR method. At the same time, we can also implement a dashboard showing the OKR system that provides real-time information and transparency across the organization.
- Social Technologies: One of the benefits of social technologies is that they encourage internal communication and workflow. By using social technologies, employees can easily communicate with one another and share ideas and files. As a result, it can help improve productivity and efficiency within the company.
There are plenty of tools that allow us to increase the internal communication inside the company, one of them is Slack. In addition, it is essential to implement customized ways to enable our community to talk among themselves. It can be by creating specific chat rooms for different topics or integrating with other tools such as Twitter or Facebook.
A perfect example is Airbnb, which allows travelers and owners to talk between them even before renting a place.
A few years ago, a group of 100+ ExO practitioners worldwide collaborated to co-create the ExO Canvas. This tool allows innovators and entrepreneurs to quickly design an ExO by applying the ExO attributes. Creating an ExO can be daunting, but with the help of the ExO Canvas, it becomes much more manageable.
Now, you have one and eleven key elements that the fastest-growing companies have used during the last years.
The Exo Attributes are vision, mission, values, goals, strategies, structures, processes, systems, culture, and leadership. Implementing them to get the best version of your current business is time.
Leave a Reply