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Made Without Managers: One company’s story of creating a self-managing workplace
Can we manage without managers?
Brought to life through the true stories of the real people who work there, Made Without Managers shares one company’s eye-opening experiences of a different way of working.
Concerned that the constraints of conventional line-management structures might stand in the way of exceptional innovation and unrivalled customer service, the team at Mayden decided to break free from traditional approaches to people hierarchies and take a liberating, exciting and sometimes rocky journey into the extraordinary instead.
What they created was a successful, dynamic, future-focused company that no longer relies on an outdated blueprint of traditional hierarchical management to get things done. What they learned can benefit any business that’s looking for more forward-thinking ways of working – ways that have the potential to unlock remarkable levels of empowerment, creativity, collaboration and productivity.
This authentic and compelling account provides an unprecedented opportunity to go behind closed doors and discover the truth about the realities of working in and running a self-managing organisation, directly from the people that have lived and worked through it themselves.
Learn about the pitfalls as well as the possibilities, experience the struggles alongside the successes and shine a light on what it really takes to achieve, prosper, survive and thrive in a business that’s made without managers.
“Add Mayden to your list of companies to emulate. This is the remarkable tale of how a multimillion-pound company developed a culture of self-organisation treating everyone like a leader.” - L. David Marquet, bestselling author of Turn the Ship Around!
“Making work more fun is our mission and this is exactly what the people at Mayden are doing. Together they are creating an innovative and fulfilling workplace that everyone can enjoy. Bravo!” - Joost Minnaar, co-founder of Corporate Rebels.
"You will be inspired! Mayden is one of the few companies in the UK that works without managers. How can that work? Find out in this book." - Henry Stewart, chief happiness officer, Happy
"Mayden’s story showcases the importance of empowerment and community in organisational success, and is a must-read for cynics of contemporary organisational life." Professor Stephen Brammer, dean of Bath School of Management
"I love it! Unpretentious and comprehensive, moving and funny, this is a precious resource for other businesses on a similar path." - Lisa Gill, Tuff Leadership Training, Leadermorphosis podcast host
"What Team Mayden has in abundance is a strong connection to their purpose and an equally important empathy with each other - two essential ingredients for today’s ever-changing world." - Paul Goddard, agile coach and certified scrum trainer, Agilify
Brought to life through the true stories of the real people who work there, Made Without Managers shares one company’s eye-opening experiences of a different way of working.
Concerned that the constraints of conventional line-management structures might stand in the way of exceptional innovation and unrivalled customer service, the team at Mayden decided to break free from traditional approaches to people hierarchies and take a liberating, exciting and sometimes rocky journey into the extraordinary instead.
What they created was a successful, dynamic, future-focused company that no longer relies on an outdated blueprint of traditional hierarchical management to get things done. What they learned can benefit any business that’s looking for more forward-thinking ways of working – ways that have the potential to unlock remarkable levels of empowerment, creativity, collaboration and productivity.
This authentic and compelling account provides an unprecedented opportunity to go behind closed doors and discover the truth about the realities of working in and running a self-managing organisation, directly from the people that have lived and worked through it themselves.
Learn about the pitfalls as well as the possibilities, experience the struggles alongside the successes and shine a light on what it really takes to achieve, prosper, survive and thrive in a business that’s made without managers.
“Add Mayden to your list of companies to emulate. This is the remarkable tale of how a multimillion-pound company developed a culture of self-organisation treating everyone like a leader.” - L. David Marquet, bestselling author of Turn the Ship Around!
“Making work more fun is our mission and this is exactly what the people at Mayden are doing. Together they are creating an innovative and fulfilling workplace that everyone can enjoy. Bravo!” - Joost Minnaar, co-founder of Corporate Rebels.
"You will be inspired! Mayden is one of the few companies in the UK that works without managers. How can that work? Find out in this book." - Henry Stewart, chief happiness officer, Happy
"Mayden’s story showcases the importance of empowerment and community in organisational success, and is a must-read for cynics of contemporary organisational life." Professor Stephen Brammer, dean of Bath School of Management
"I love it! Unpretentious and comprehensive, moving and funny, this is a precious resource for other businesses on a similar path." - Lisa Gill, Tuff Leadership Training, Leadermorphosis podcast host
"What Team Mayden has in abundance is a strong connection to their purpose and an equally important empathy with each other - two essential ingredients for today’s ever-changing world." - Paul Goddard, agile coach and certified scrum trainer, Agilify
314 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 19, 2023
5 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 21, 2023
Great insight, easy read.
So interesting it almost reads like fiction considering how widely spread classical business structures are.
So interesting it almost reads like fiction considering how widely spread classical business structures are.
August 15, 2023
There's a revolution brewing in reinventing how organisations are structured, and there are now tens of shining examples of companies which have abolished hierarchy in favour of flat structures.
Made Without Managers is an approacheable practitioners guide for building a hierachy-less organisation, step by step. It chronicles the life of Mayden a UK-based software company in the health sector, that decided that life would be better without managers. Led by its founder Chris May, the company started applying scrum principles to not only its development team, but also its marketing and support teams. It then figured out how to make decisions, resolve conflicts, coach staff, design long term strategy, determine salaries, career progression, and redistribute all other responsibilities which managers typically wield. The result is a step by step guide for creating hierarchy-less organisations, with lessons learned, and the key principles that led Mayden to grow and thrive since its transformation.
A must-read book for those interested in the future of work.
Made Without Managers is an approacheable practitioners guide for building a hierachy-less organisation, step by step. It chronicles the life of Mayden a UK-based software company in the health sector, that decided that life would be better without managers. Led by its founder Chris May, the company started applying scrum principles to not only its development team, but also its marketing and support teams. It then figured out how to make decisions, resolve conflicts, coach staff, design long term strategy, determine salaries, career progression, and redistribute all other responsibilities which managers typically wield. The result is a step by step guide for creating hierarchy-less organisations, with lessons learned, and the key principles that led Mayden to grow and thrive since its transformation.
A must-read book for those interested in the future of work.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews