The book is about how organisations in the future will evolve as humans have evolved. The old patterns of running organisations will not work in the new consciousness. The organisations are classified into Red, Amber, Orange, Green and evolving to Teal!
Red organisations are the older style where the chief holds all the power and the organisation is fear-driven. It runs on division of labour and command authority. A symbol that explains it is that of a wolf pack.
Amber organisations are the next stage of evolution where people have formal roles and there is a hierarchical pyramid which is driven top down. The idea is to control and keep it stable. The breakthroughs at this stage are of formal roles and processes. The metaphor is of an army.
Orange organisations are those which look to beat competition and have focus on profit and growth. They use Management by Objectives, control the what and how. The breakthroughs here are about Innovation, accountability and meritocracy. The metaphor is of a machine.
Green organasitions are those which form a culture within the pyramid and focus on empowerment to achieve employee motivation. Breakthrough themes are empowerment, is value driven and is stakeholder focused. Metaphor is family.
As organisations evolve to Teal organisations, ego becomes more of a variable. One starts taming the fears of the ego. They strive for wholeness. Organisations are seen as living systems that evolve on their own.
We see three breakthroughs in Teal Organisations
1) Self management
2) Wholeness
3) Evolutionary Purpose
The author has studied organisations across various sectors to drive home the point about where organisations are headed. Companies such as AES, BSO, Buurtzorg, FAVI, Morning Star, Being True and others have been studied extensively.
Self Management
In these organisations there are no bosses, no middle management. The group of 12 decides what to do. Any external help comes in the form of coaching and not managing. The principle is that the team will struggle and learn - and the management supports them. Coaches let the team make their own choices. The meetings are conducted where coaches ask insightful questions, mirror what they see. For self management one looks for enthusiasm, strengths and existing capabilities.
The organisation has bare minimum staff functions - team members sign up for staff functions. There is no organisation chart, no job description, no job title.
Decision making is a process where there is no need for consensus.
These organisations believe that 1) people are good 2) they do not perform without happiness 3) value is created on the shop floor
Roles - members write out a personalised mission statement where they spell out the roles they commit to (25-30 roles). They specify whats to be done, outline what they need, performance indicators, improvements they hope to make.
When people have the decision making power and the resources to work towards a meaningful purpose they don't need pep talks or stretch targets. They do a round of self-evaluation and seek feedback. Concepts such as peer based processes and self-set salaries are not uncommon.
Striving for Wholeness
Showing up whole feels risky. We need spaces where we feel safe if we are to shares with others our deeper self, our gifts, our longings and our concerns.
Ideas and practices such as creation of Safe work places, reflective spaces (individual and group), Team supervision (external coaches), Peer coaching, Story telling are used to bring wholeness into these organisations.
A lovely line
" A bad hire is someone who is a chronic complainer, who is not happy, who blames others, who doesn't take responsibility, who's not honest and who doesn't trust other people. Someone who needs specific direction and waits until he is told what to do. Someone who is not flexible and says 'it's not my job."
Onboarding employees to such cultures need a long induction, training which includes training on personal responsibility common training programs for all. Many times employees become trainers.
Feedback and Performance Management
What has gone well this year that we might celebrate?
What has been learned?
What didn't go well?
What was exciting for you?
What concerns you most?
What changes would you suggest in your function?
How can we help?
What specific goals will guide you?
Appraisal - 4 step process
State one admirable feature about the employee
Ask what contributions they made
Ask what contributions they would like to make
How can we help
Purposeful Mood Management - all organisations are about energy and this can be controlled purposefully. Some initiatives are
1) Start every meeting with a story of someone's achievement
2) Day off - person is given some money to spend
3) Praise meetings - where people come to praise one another
Cultural Traits of Teal Organisations
Self Management - Trust (freedom and accountability), Information and decision making, Responsibility and accountability
Wholeness - equal worth, safe and caring work place, overcoming separation, learning focus, relationships and conflict
Purpose - collective purpose, individual purpose, planning for the future
Teal practices -
Organisation structure - self organising teams, no boss, coaches when needed
Staff functions - performed by teams themselves
Coordination - ad hoc team meetings on need-basis
Projects - radically simplified project management, organic prioritisation
Job titles, JDs - fluid and granular roles
Decision making - fully decentralised based on advise process
Crisis management - transparent information sharing, collective intelligence
Purchasing and investments - anyone can spend any amount provided advise process is respected, peers can challenge
Information flow - all information available in real - time to all, including about company financials and compensation
Role allocation - no promotions, fluid rearrangement of roles based on peer agreement, responsbility to speak up about issues outside of one's scope of authority
Compensation - self-set salaries with peer calibration, equal profit sharing
Dismissal - last step
...
I found many wonderful pointers in this book and am happy to know that I am on the right track with my thinking. Such cultures of ownership can create wonders. One of the most important things in this book is that description of a bad hire - most companies probably need to define that.
The classification of organisations and their characteristics and breakthroughs are shown clearly. It's written in a slightly clunky way which is a put off in the beginning but it does have a point and makes sense. Definitely recommended.
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