Teal Organizations
Frederic Laloux published his book, Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness, in 2014. The author evaluated the types of organizations based on the method of their use of power and the redistribution of responsibility between the "bottom" and the "top" of the organization. He then divided organizations into red (authoritarian closed structures), orange (classic competitive machines), and green (pluralistic families working for a specific mission). Whereas red and orange organizations achieve efficiency without taking the feeling and of opinions of their employees into account, green organizations on the contrary are mainly engaged in the mission without attaching importance to the profit. However, there is another type of organization that is similar to the green one by following the highest goal and at the same time preserving the effectiveness of its activities - teal organizations.
Teal organizations combine employee care and responsible execution of tasks. Their mission is to create a comfortable workplace and safe working environment, engage in meaningful work and transfer decision-making power to the employees, allowing teams to track results and adjust actions themselves.
Teal organizations combine employee care and responsible execution of tasks. Their mission is to create a comfortable workplace and safe working environment, engage in meaningful work and transfer decision-making power to the employees, allowing teams to track results and adjust actions themselves.
Universal Problem
Contemporary organizations are much better than those at the beginning of the 20th century. An employee today has paid leave and sick leave, with a working day of no more than 8 hours. However in reality, even these 8 hours in one place cause people to accept the tedious job of consistently performing the same tasks. Naturally, this leads to physical and emotional burnout. The callousness of companies in the current way of doing business and their authoritarianism in decision-making create a toxic environment, where the employee is alienated from the product of labor.
Solution
Teal organizations involve a new organizational paradigm within companies which ensures employee autonomy, their growth along with the evolution of the organization, and the rejection of direct supervision. In such organizations, a new hire is initially trusted to plan their own time and tasks, focusing on the common goals.
Target Image
There is a living evolutionary structure of activities, which is based on the self-organization of employees. To create a living organization, it is important for employees to understand the integrity of the community, to perceive all employees as individuals, and to use corporate mission as a strategic direction of activity. When all is said and done, these teal organizations wish for a rich, sustainable world. All elements in that world – from business, government, civil society, people, and the environment – coexist and develop in harmony.
Experiment Framework
A number of foreign companies implement the principles of teal organizations in their daily activities. They perceive their employees as professionals who follow the goals of the organization, and at the same time, create trusting, warm relationships in teams. Naturally, this produces the desired results. teal companies create conditions for spreading innovation from the bottom up and engage employees through the significance of their activities and following the mission.
Tools and Technologies
Among the tools that teal organizations apply to increase awareness, an environment for mutual trust and a safe atmosphere is the main one. A mission helps employees fixate on the objective. Instead of traditional KPIs and strict time tracking, employees are given more freedom and flexibility, thus allowing them to determine the path to achieving the company's mission independently or in a team. Management tasks are distributed within the team, and the team self-monitors.
Scaling Plans
The paradigm of teal organizations is just beginning to be applied. The main condition for the paradigm to be spread is that the Company leaders and owners should be ready to manage in accordance with the principles of teal organizations while having an integrated worldview. Only by doing this will the paradigm spread! Even when managing a small team, one can practice the principles of "tealness". By introducing self-management and asking team members to determine their own goals to find the best solution for themselves, they will achieve this.
Standards and Values
- Employee engagement in the organization activities
- Employee satisfaction with work, with implementation of creativity in work.
- Authenticity
- Integrity
- Care
- Training
According to the paradigm of teal organizations, the very concept of competition does not make sense, thus one of their goals is to share knowledge on how to positively change the world and organizations .
One of the metaphors that encapsulates teal organizations is to think like farmers: look 20 years ahead and to plan only for the next day.
Communities and Leaders
Frederic Laloux is the author of the term "teal organizations". He founded The Reinventing Organizations, then a community of consultants, Future Considerations, was created to help organizations to become teal. Inspired by Frederic Laloux's book, an Enlivening Edge community was created on the basis of Future Considerations under the leadership of a scientist George Pór.
Allies
The Campus-Evolve community is an educational organization that implements the principles of teal organizations.
Organizations which share the principles of "tealness":
Organizations which share the principles of "tealness":
- Patagonia – an American company manufacturing clothes
- Buurtzorg – a pioneering healthcare organization with a model of integrated nursing-led care
- Valve – a company which produces game
- Vkusvil (rus. ВкусВилл) – Russian retail chain of supermarkets and a brand of products
- Ascona – a network of healthy sleep shops
What you can do to join the practice of teal organizations now:
- Read Frederic Laloux's book Reinventing Organizations;
- Improve your self-management and time management skills;
- Realize your goals for transforming the world and think about what you need to do to put them into practice;
- Get a job in a company that builds its activities on the principle of teal management or start your own.
