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In 1980, Douglas Adams, the creator of The Hitchhiker’s Information to the Galaxy, wrote a few planet that shot all their center managers into area. Two-thirds of the planet invented a narrative a few pending apocalypse, satisfied all their middlemen to get on a spaceship, and stated they’d catch up later— nevertheless it was only a ploy to rid themselves of center administration and different allegedly “ineffective” jobs.
Life appears to be imitating artwork. Many firms are additionally ejecting their very own center administration, though they’re utilizing redundancy and restructuring as a substitute of a spaceship, to jettison these staff. Known as “The Nice Flattening,” this pattern has seen the elimination of 1000’s of administration roles, with total tiers of center administration vanishing at main firms like Citi, Amazon, and Meta.
The explanations given for the flattening are much like these in Hitchhiker’s Information — these organizations don’t assume center administration is helpful. Mark Zuckerberg referred to the lower positions at Meta as “simply managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who find themselves doing the work.” At Bayer, executives plan to do away with company forms and let staff handle themselves.
“The Nice Flattening” is greater than only a short-term elimination of center administration positions — the positions themselves aren’t coming again. Hiring for administration is down. There have been 42% fewer open center administration roles on the finish of 2024 than in 2022. This pattern seems to be a change in the way in which firms are structured, and that’s more likely to have implications for office studying.
What’s ‘The Nice Flattening’?
“The Nice Flattening” (or “The Nice Unbossing”) is used to explain the way in which some organizations have began eradicating layers of administration, which successfully “flattens” the hierarchy within the office.
Historically, office hierarchies resembled pyramids: a small group of executives on the prime made strategic choices, center managers executed them, and the majority of staff carried out the day-to-day work. However up to now few years, the pyramid has began to break down.
Like so many different tendencies, “The Nice Flattening” could be traced again to the pandemic and the next “The Nice Resignation.” When staff left their roles in droves in 2021, firms over-hired. In 2024, many staff weren’t quitting in any respect, contributing to “The Nice Keep.” “The Nice Flattening” is a response to those shifts within the office, in addition to the automation and agility led to by AI instruments.
Different elements additionally contributed to this pattern:
- Distant and hybrid work have made bodily hierarchies irrelevant.
- Cross-functional groups are actually the norm, not the exception.
- Youthful generations need autonomy, flexibility, and which means from work, and don’t worth forms. Particularly, many Gen Z staff don’t wish to be center managers — a latest survey discovered that 52% of Gen-Z professionals aren’t interested by these roles, as a result of they’re thought of “too high-stress and low-reward.”
In consequence, energy, decision-making, and experience are being redistributed. Everybody in a corporation is predicted to assume critically, collaborate throughout features, and repeatedly adapt. Nonetheless, this will likely have some unintended penalties for studying within the office, particularly since managers usually play an lively position in growth.
How flattened hierarchies influence office studying
Studying with out managers will definitely look totally different than what we’re used to.
Regardless of the frenzy to do away with center managers, supervisors play a crucial position in office studying. Studying & Growth (L&D) might direct studying technique and decide studying targets, however managers are the entrance line with regards to reinforcing studying. A staff would possibly obtain a coaching module about customer support, nevertheless it’s the supervisor’s job to strengthen the teachings discovered in that coaching, to evaluate efficiency, and to offer suggestions to staff members. The truth is, many staff anticipate and worth that form of teaching from their boss.
So what would possibly studying with out bosses appear to be?
‘Unbossing’ places peer studying and abilities entrance and middle
In some instances, the Nice Flattening goals to create organizations with as few as two layers: the highest brass and the remainder of the staff. Nonetheless, in bigger firms, it’s unlikely that the C-suite will likely be dropping by everybody’s desks to supply up individualized suggestions. Studying must change.
- Studying will likely be everybody’s job. In a flat group, everybody —f rom entry-level staff to executives — must be each learner and trainer. Peer-to-peer studying turns into far more vital in a flattened atmosphere, with staff searching for out friends who’ve the information they want. L&D departments can facilitate this by constructing ecosystems that allow information sharing.
- Agile organizations will want agile studying. Microlearning and just-in-time studying are crucial instruments when staff want solutions on the job. They want solutions within the stream of labor. This implies workplaces are investing in instruments that supply studying within the stream of labor, comparable to embedded studying instruments that can be utilized with different platforms, and AI-powered search features.
- Abilities will change into extra vital than job descriptions. Organizations are already shifting away from job titles and roles and focusing extra on abilities, shaping work across the abilities and pursuits of particular person staff. This evolution will proceed to empower staff members to tackle duties which may have beforehand fallen exterior their roles. It can additionally permit organizations to coach staff members with an curiosity in or aptitude for that ability. Nonetheless, for this strategy to work, a corporation has to know who has which abilities in addition to which core abilities are wanted — and solely 10% of firms at present have these insights. Coaching Trade’s 2025 Traits Report listed abilities transparency initiatives as a significant L&D pattern going into the following 12 months.
- Teaching and mentoring will change. Even in “unbossed” organizations, staff nonetheless want coaches. Teaching is an individualized strategy to studying which shapes staff whereas taking their targets into consideration. The Worldwide Teaching Federation discovered that staff at each stage admire teaching, with excessive approval from senior executives (78%) and staff (73%). With fewer managers, L&D departments might must take a skills-based strategy to teaching, pairing staff with friends who’ve particular skillsets to share. Groups can also undertake rotating mentorship roles, comparable to staff coach or suggestions facilitator.
- Suggestions will come from totally different sources. With no supervisor, the place would possibly suggestions come from? L&D might want to faucet different sources of enter with regards to coaching. This would possibly imply utilizing staff and peer suggestions, utilizing AI, or embracing a tradition of self-reflection.
Studying in a leaderless panorama
The Nice Flattening isn’t only a reorganization, it’s a reinvention of the office. As firms shed layers of administration, they’re additionally altering long-held assumptions about how management, studying, and progress ought to occur. Whereas the lack of center managers might really feel just like the lack of important assist for worker growth, it additionally presents a daring alternative: to democratize studying, rethink suggestions, and create organizations the place information flows laterally, not simply from the highest down.
On this new panorama, studying isn’t a operate of hierarchy,it’s a operate of tradition. Organizations that thrive in a flattened world will likely be those who put money into clear ability programs, foster peer-led studying ecosystems, and empower each worker to be each a learner and a trainer.
We might not be capturing our center managers into area, however we’re sending our outdated concepts about hierarchy and growth out the airlock. The problem now’s to construct one thing higher of their place.
