5 Ways to Organize a New Business to Take Advantage of the Future of WorkIf you were starting a new business designed for the future of work, what would it look like?

ByCory Hymel

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The future of work we have all been waiting for came faster than we expected, completely reshaping how to start and run businesses. Enterprises and established businesses are currently struggling to rethink their offices and company culture as the human cloud andhybrid work modelscome into greater demand. Unfortunately, traditional organizational structures and 9-5 work cultures are difficult to break free from when they've been how the company operates for years.

New businesses aren't burdened by any existing, outdated processes and policies that can limit growth and productivity in the future of work. Today's entrepreneurs and startup founders have the ability to organize their business from the ground up to take full advantage of the benefits ofthe future of work.

So, if you were starting a new business designed for the future of work, what would it look like?

Related:4 Things for Employers to Consider About the Future of Work

Incorporate distributed teams into your organizational chart

Traditional companies have an established, top-down org structure, and any freelance, contract or gig workers are considered "other" or outside the organization. This structure isn't viable in an era where the workforce is becoming increasingly freelance, contract, remote, fluid and distributed.

Apart from showing each employee's job and who is accountable to whom, a startup'sorganizational structurestreamlines the flow of communication and information from the company's leadership to all workers and team members. The future of work demands a more flexible and inclusive organizational structure, bringing on board a fragmented workforce while fully addressing the roles and communication channels available between the organization and its team members working outside the company. Remote and distributed workers can help meet your company's needs when their employer meets their expectations and fulfills their psychological needs of belonging and recognition.

Adopt a non-linear chain of work

When developing the org chart, you should also allow for more decentralized decision-making instead of a traditional hierarchy. As the work model gradually adopts the new concept of employment, startups and budding entrepreneurs must move away from the traditional top-down management structure and adopt anon-linear or decentralized business model. Top-down, linear management slows down the pace of work and limits the potential for team members to contribute innovative ideas.

Decentralized decision-making will be particularly valuable as you embrace outsourcing and allow for the expertise of people outside the organization to be added to the conversation.

Related:4 Reasons Decentralized Business Management Is Booming

Embrace outsourcing

As companies look to innovate at scale,outsourcing software developmentand leveraging staff augmentation have become increasingly common. In fact, having a large in-house team isn't really necessary at all in the future of work.

Outsourcing development to distributed teams allows your company to stay lean while rapidly responding to the latest tech opportunities. By comparison, traditional companies that expanded their tech staff in the past several years are now being forced to downsize their teams as the overall market and tech landscape changes. In addition to avoiding the costs of constantly scaling up and down to meet your current needs, outsourcing provides access to expert software teams that can improve the speed and quality of your development cycles.

Consider remote and asynchronous work

The future of work increases the chances that you will end up hiring across international borders, as data from theRemote Workforce Report 2023shows 44% of firms are increasing cross-border hiring. To fully enjoy benefits like greater productivity and higher retention rates, you'll need to create corresponding distributed processes for your teams in different time zones and geographical locations that must work together to deliver results despite not sharing common office spaces.

A change in the work environment demands a corresponding operational change to maximize efficiency and productivity; you may want to implement asynchronous processes instead of traditional ones. Withremote teams, work will not be happening in the same place at the same time; you must establishasync communicationand coordination processes for remote workers because the future of work means work can happen in different places at different times. Going async from the start means workers don't have to be online simultaneously, as they can work autonomously and still deliver expected outcomes.

Related:How to Be a Truly Asynchronous Workplace

Create workflows for distributed teams

Arecent studyfound that 72% of the polled workers wouldn't consider accepting offers from companies that didn't offer flexible work options, as they preferred a better work-life balance. As the future of work provides prospects for workers to operate from the most exotic places, you should future-proof your new startup by creating a workflow for your remote teams that makes work-related communication easy to increase productivity.

Make plans for implementing clear and visible workflows showing how team members and managers collaborate to reap the benefits of remote working. Atailor-made workflowis a tool that will make it possible for your managers to track all tasks and focus on high-value tasks. More visibility, such as seeing teammates' conversations on dealing with work-related obstacles, will help others learn lessons and avoid repeating the same conversations all over, thereby enhancing efficiency and creating better teamwork.

Large organizations worldwide are already implementing new ways to stay ahead of the competition. Luckily, entrepreneurs have an advantage because they can design a business perfectly organized to take advantage of the future of work. As businesses rely on outsourcing, asynchronous work anddistributed teams最好能够支持的组织these new structures will see the most success.

Wavy Line
Cory Hymel

Entrepreneur Leadership Network® Contributor

Vice President of Product & Research at Gigster

科里Hymel作为产品的副总裁& Research at Gigster, a company democratizing access to great software development. With over 800 engineers, Gigster helps startups to Fortune 500 companies unleash human cloud-driven innovation at a global scale.

Editor's Pick

Related Topics

Social Media

How This 18-Year-Old TikTok Star Built a Business With 5 Million Followers

TikToker Ryan Shakes shares how he built a devoted and engaged following.

Science & Technology

The Rising Threat of Generative AI in Social Engineering Cyber Attacks — What You Need to Know

The rise of generative AI is revolutionizing social engineering cyber attacks, making them more sophisticated and harder to detect. As these threats escalate, individuals and organizations must stay informed, exercise caution and employ robust cybersecurity measures to counteract this new wave of AI-driven cybercrime.

Growing a Business

5 Essential Steps to Drive a Culture of Continuous Improvement

Discover how to unlock your organization's potential for growth and innovation by fostering a culture of continuous improvement, leading to increased productivity, employee engagement, and long-term success.

Starting a Business

10 Common Obstacles to Avoid When Starting a Business

Starting a new business can be an exciting and rewarding venture, but it also comes with its fair share of challenges. Here are some common obstacles to avoid when starting a new business.

Business Ideas

The Top 10 Home Business Ideas for 2023

Can't figure out which enterprise you should launch in 2023? Check out 10 stellar home business ideas to get inspiration.