Biodegradable Organizations

Ian Miller | 03/24/2025

Structure is like a trellis. It is deadwood in and of itself, but when the vine is growing on it, it contributes to fruitfulness.

You put a trellis where you want the vine to grow. The trellis is to support the vine, not the other way around.

This is the same way with organizations. Organizations can be very beneficial when they support life and relationships. But when they reach the point that life and relationships are the means to support the organization, you have lost the entire purpose of the organization. 

This often happens when we ignore the reality of life (and death) cycles. Let me explain.

Life (and death) cycles

Visionaries see a need and come up with a solution (sometimes they have a solution and create a need that matches it :-)). Eventually they create a structure to deliver that solution. It is a good thing as long as it is contributing to life and relationships. But time goes on and needs change, and the structure starts to lose its usefulness. 

But you can’t just let something fall down and go away can you? So you start reinforcing the structure and adding support beams and maintaining a structure that is no longer life-giving. Now it is consuming life. 

Lifecycles imply that there are death cycles. Something needs to die so that new life can sprout in its place. Structures need to fall down so that new structures can be built, but when we become personally attached to those structures, it is painful to let them die.

Invention and expiration dates

It is said that vision has to be reinvented every 10 years. This recognizes the need that every generation has to discover, invent and own their own structures and solutions. Because there’s something life-giving in the entire process of dreaming and creating and building. 

What would happen if we would see structure for what it really is--a means to sustain life and relationships? 

What if we would start organizations and build structures with the idea that they will die and they should go away at some point in the future? 

What if we put “expiration dates” on our structures--a date at which everything must be reevaluated, reenvisioned, possibly even replaced? 

What if we would build structures and organizations to be biodegradable? 

It is harmful to our environment when materials outlive their usefulness. That’s why biodegradable materials are better for the environment. They are created to deteriorate so that they can contribute to future life. What if we built our organizations with more biodegradable structures? We just might have a healthier next generation.