The challenge in self-organization, is that we are not used to letting go of old identities and shifting in and out of new ones. We are uncomfortable in the phases of transitions, where identities are not yet fixed, or fixed identities are being challenged in the process of negotiation. This is why we are so obsessed with fixed roles and direct-report relationships.
Some people believe this anxiety around identity and role-play is a permanent aspect of our human condition. Yet playing with roles and experimenting with identities seems to be what we do to learn, to grow, to expand our horizons and to create new ways of being together. What would childhood be without role playing and the continual shifting and expanding of one’s identity? What would society be, if we were limited to only a few categorical identities?
While it is certainly true that in organizations, shifting roles and forming new identities creates anxiety, I believe this is a result of the way that organizational life has conditioned us. I believe we are hyper-anxious around role-identity because we have lived our entire lives inside institutions where role-identities represent authoritarian and disciplinary power over us.