Can your company thrive in a chaos culture?

I absolutely LOVE the phrase "organised chaos"!

It conjures up an enthralling image of absolute mayhem wrapped up in a neat little box. Perhaps others would disagree - probably they see a neat little box drowning in absolute mayhem.

This is a scary proposition for any organisation trying to implement some semblance of "having it together".

But isn't it the only way for innovation to survive??? Hello? A new business sprouts, grows and thrives on creativity... and then it hits the maturity phase, where all efforts at organising, tidying up, "controlling" the company and its employees often achieve their goals, but more importantly - they send innovation, creativity [and the company's best long-term prospects] straight to file 13.

Ouch.

The challenge? Not to balance the two - this is probably impossible and has killed greater people than you or I. No, you have to let go of the reigns. 80/20 at least [that's 80% chaos, 20% organised]. Yes, it might be scary. Absolutely horrifying in fact [it sure scares the .... out of me]. Yes, it won't be easy. Yes, your first question should rather be "Can my company even survive in a chaos culture?"

But won't getting out of bed in the morning be a bit easier? Won't the fun be energising? Won't the fact that you can see the wonder and amazement and excitement in everyone's eyes be worthwhile?

Perhaps that phrase should be "organisational chaos".