One tough flower

The INDEX: organization is designed like a flower.

Kigge Hvid, CEO of INDEX:, says, "In founding INDEX: we knew that traditional organizational design based on old-fashioned top-down power wouldn't work for an organization that should advocate a whole new design area, namely Design to Improve Life."

So we had to design a whole new organizational form, and that's where the flower came in. The INDEX: flower accommodates the new organization and facilitates the work we do."

"Each petal holds one of the so-called INDEX: lounges," Kigge says. "And each lounge has a specific function or task. The reason we call each team a lounge," she continues, "is that we want to signal that we expect people to work together in a relaxed, friendly and nice atmosphere in ‘lounges' that can be created or allowed to die out according to the task of the lounge."

Some lounges fulfill all-year-round tasks, such as the Strategic Lounge, which exercises the tasks of a board of directors, or the Jury Lounge or the Operational Lounge that secures daily running.

Other lounges work in relation to specific events or tasks such as our Granny Lounge, which handles the INDEX: exhibitions in Denmark, and the School Lounge, which gathers the design schools. And there's a Nomination Lounge, which scouts for nominations for the INDEX:Award.

If a well-defined and big project is to be carried out, INDEX: just creates a new flower that's related to the main flower as an offshoot.

Kigge concludes, "The beauty of this organization lies in its flexibility and the fact that power is not a constant, but moves and always lies with the people who at a given time are the best to move the INDEX: vision forward. This has been decisive in developing INDEX: from a small organization solely based in Copenhagen, Denmark, to an organization with a widespread network in 78 countries."

Download "The Power Flower"

INDEX: DESIGN TO IMPROVE LIFE – ORGANIZATION
WHAT:	INDEX: is a global network organization originating in Copenhagen, Denmark.
HOW:	INDEX: has an organizational design inspired by a flower, making it entirely different from traditioanl top-down old-power management systems.
WHY:	This novel organizational design enables new ways of working and thinking, and accommodates needed flexibility in an organization that meets an unprecedented challenge – raising awareness of Design to Improve Life.