Shapeshifters Group exists to make a certain type of work visible.
- If you’re wondering “Is this me?” – this section is where you might figure it out.
- If you’re thinking “this is intriguing!” - this section is where you get to geek out.
What we call ‘our model’ is an attempt at an ontology: a fancy way to say ‘naming and describing’ a form of work that exists in-between roles, systems, disciplines, organisations.
As a general introduction - or if you’re wondering ‘but what is this work-in-between business’, you can read this piece on Three Modes of Shapeshifter Work or Five ypes of in-between work.
Three Modes of Shapeshifter Work
Five Types of In-Between Work
To articulate our model, we use three different lenses:
Shapeshifting as a Function
- We use the verb ‘shapeshifting’ here rather than the noun ‘shapeshifter’ to refer to this kind of work: connecting, translating, integrating, bridging, and holding gaps. It is the core work of shapeshifters, but it’s also part of the work for many professionals: many product, program and data workers, as well as most executives, managers, partnership or procurement people who have to do some boundary crossing.
Shapeshifting as a Profession
- The function of shapeshifting is exerted through different roles, with different types of constraints, seniority, or mandates. The work can be done in-house or on-demand: embedded inside organisations, moving across teams and initiatives, or practiced fractionally, independently, or in entrepreneurial forms.
Shapeshifter as a Disposition and a Skillset
- The work requires a certain skillset and disposition. It comes generally with a certain kind of biography or associated traits. Based on the intrinsic difficulties of the role. Without solving the question of the chicken and the egg, we simply acknowledge that shapeshifters are a type of profession, who repeatedly find themselves doing this work again and again, as a core focus of their life, often across different roles, contexts, or careers.
In addition, we share a number of provocations on shapeshifters - field notes intended as thinking prompts to reflect on what a shapeshifter is and does, and why it matters.
Provocation: Change Requires Continuity