How web3 and DAOs can change the way we work
There's a lot of discussion about how web3, especially #DAOs, can influence the future of work.
Most people who talk about this just use buzzwords. Very few of them know what they are talking about.
I worked for years with numerous web3 & blockchain companies as a CMO-for-hire. So let me explain how web3 and DAOs can provide a lot of inspiration for remote leaders and the future of work professionals.
First of all, what is a DAO?
In plain English, a DAO is what it says in the name: a decentralized autonomous organization.
It is #decentralized because the rules of how it works as an organization is written as code on the blockchain.
It is #autonomous because there is no central leadership, and its members govern it.
It is an #organization because it organizes a group of people towards a goal or vision or purpose.
What can we learn from DAOs that can be useful for the future of work?
1. Transparency
Blockchain itself is a transparent approach. How DAOs operate is visible to anyone. How the organization works, the rules, how they compensate participation, and how they interact are all transparently laid out for anyone's view.
I teach a lot about transparency.
Current organizations should be more transparent in how they work and what they do. Remote-first companies are way more transparent than anyone else.
The more transparent your organization is, the higher your trust level is.
The more people trust you as a leader, the more they are engaged, committed, and loyal to your company.
2. Horizontal structure
DAOs call it autonomous because the rules are pre-defined by computer code. When I say rules, it means this:
What value do members of the DAO generate?
How are they compensated (or incentivized) to do so?
How do they govern the future goals of the DAO?
But it doesn't mean they don't have leadership. Or they don't make decisions. Or they don't have common goals. Or they can't realign if they need it. If there is change, they can facilitate adaption.
For example, some DAOs, like Colony, have an interesting structure for value creation:
Members of the DAO do X work and generate Y value for the DAO.
They get compensated for the Y value they generate.
They also accumulate points that add up to their reputation.
The higher their reputation is, the more control they have in decision-making. They operate through transparent voting and other methods.
Their reputation decays over time. It means they are incentivized to create value for the DAO time-to-time, to preserve their standing within the organization.
Isn't this the way should transparent horizontal companies work? We can learn much from this approach regarding employee metrics, performance tracking, and compensation structures.
Not to mention the transparent and horizontal decision-making process.
Those with the highest reputation within a company have the most voting rights on where the company should go - simply because they are there for the most time AND create value all the time.
3. Talent attraction
When you join a DAO, you are aware of how it works. It is written in the code and transparently shared, even before you join. You join because you know how it works.
Why can't we do the same for any company?
What do we see now on careers pages, and how do we approach employer branding?
Frankly, mostly bullshit.
Smiling faces. Happy people sitting in front of a desk. Teams of people making fun stuff. Some explanation of values and benefits the company provides.
But we don't know how they operate. You get that info during the onboarding phase if you are lucky.
How often did you see a company detailing how they provide performance reviews for their employees? How many times did you see how they give feedback internally? How many times did you see the tools they use for achieving goals? How does their compensation structure work? How do they reward high-performers?
Yeah, happy, smiling employee faces are great. But to attract people to join your company, you need to share a bit more.
--
We can learn so much from upcoming and highly innovative industries. It is just web3, which was here for years, and we still look at it as something out-of-the-box. People do work and operate through DAO principles as we speak.
2023 will be all about AI; I can guarantee that. How will AI change the way we work? We couldn't even learn much from web3 yet - we are so adamant about resisting changes, hurdling people back to the office, and sticking to 100-year-old leadership practices.
Be open to the changing times. Otherwise, others will, and you will get left behind.
Yours fully,
Peter
PS: I had a fantastic conversation with Cory Hymel from Gigster on my podcast, Leadership Anywhere, where we discussed how web3 will affect how we work now and in the future. You can tune into it here.
Share this post!
