I recommended Laloux’s book “Reinventing Organizations” to a business owner friend. She was excited about Teal. Two months later I asked her: “Will you implement Teal in your company?” She said: “I would like to but I don’t think my team is ready yet. And I heard this cool thing called Holacracy, I will implement that instead.” Her answer puzzled me, so I probed: “What’s the difference between Holacracy and Teal to you?” “I’m not sure, but Holacracy is more real.” was her answer.
Apparently, Teal principles touched many people’s hearts yet remain abstract. People are left with the question: where do I start? With Holacracy being the most well-known ready-made option available, it becomes the obvious starting point, which is perfectly fine. However, it remains a starting point.
Self-Management, Wholeness, and Purpose-Driven are the three pillars of Teal. None is sustainable without the support of other two. For example, for Self-Management to be effective, individuals in the organization must feel safe to speak up, to take risks and to take responsibilities. Those are qualities developed as a result of practicing Wholeness. Without Wholeness and Purpose, Self-Management is only an empty shell.
Self-Management structure is like computer hardware and Wholeness is the software. The purpose is the overarching goal of using this computer (or the existence of business). The ideal self-management structure is one tailor-made for the organization and its people. This requires the leader to think with Teal mindset as in the case of pioneer Teal CEOs.
As an alternative, a Teal inspired company can borrow and modify tested structures to suit their needs. One important implication of Teal is that the best version of oneself is never a copy of someone else. Cookie cutting, mass production, and standard procedure as a way to manage people is a concept from the industrial economy.
As more and more companies adopt Teal, there will be infinite versions of self-management structures emerge. Laloux’s book summarized several existing ones: parallel teams, individual contracts and nested circles (e.g. Socioaracy 3.0). Nested- circles are most capable of meeting the needs of large companies with deep value chains, such as pharmaceutical or automotive companies.
Holocracy is one version of nested circle structure. It is the most well documented and commercialized method on the market as of today. While not synonymous with Self-Management, Holacracy as a company has done a fabulous job raising awareness about it.
For companies want to go Teal, if possible, the best structure is always the one customized for their specific needs without reinventing wheels. Most importantly, trust the people. They have the answers.
