During these days, I am recalling the first time I visited Hong Kong. It was the year 2000 and one of the things I found more fascinating about that star-striking city where skyscrapers had their own daily light show at 8pm was, precisely, that skyscrapers were not built using steel scaffoldings, but bamboo. “Bamboo structures are much lighter and flexible and, therefore, they are better to build resistant buildings”, a local told me. And, taking into account that Hong Kong is the world’s tallest urban agglomeration, nobody can discuss its authority in skyscraper building knowledge.
Flexibility is definitely a must when talking about building techniques. Just have a look at the building design evolution in seismic prone areas. There, structures are thought just taking into account the impacts they will endure and having in mind that the natural forces which will strike the buildings are obviously dynamic. Buildings are then designed and built to adapt to the elements they are exposed to without being damaged and, in the event there could be any damage, it has to be easily and quickly mended. Damping, torsion and ductility are essential concepts when designing buildings made to last even throughout extremely high vibration episodes.
It would be very interesting to apply such mindset to organisational design, mostly in a time where it’s more than obvious we are exposed to all sort of planetary impacts. Stiffness (in materials, design or structures) never helped to create a building having more chances to survive in adversity. It will neither help companies nor institutions to live longer or to offer better service to their final users, just the opposite. In the moment of truth, robust monolithic organisations will crumble down, the same as a house of cards.
Maybe it’s a good time to forget steel scaffoldings and embrace bamboo structures. Let’s take advantage of the opportunity we are given to create lighter, flexible organisations which will last even throughout troubled scenarios.
