Category: Authenticity

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The future of management is teal

Hands holding a number of colored balls, including ones with wholeness, purpose, trust and soulful written on them.

“Teal organizations operate effectively, even at a large scale, with a system based on peer relationships. They set up structures and practices in which people have high autonomy in their domain, and are accountable for coordinating with others. Power and control are deeply embedded throughout the organizations, no longer tied to the specific positions of a few top leaders…. Whereas [other] organizations encourage people to show only their narrow “professional” selves, Teal organizations invite people to reclaim their inner wholeness. They create an environment wherein people feel free to fully express themselves, bringing unprecedented levels of energy, passion, and creativity to work…Teal organizations base their strategies on what they sense the world is asking from them. Agile practices that sense and respond replace the machinery of plans, budgets, targets, and incentives. Paradoxically, by focusing less on the bottom line and shareholder value, they generate financial results that outpace those of competitors.” Frederic Laloux, Strategy+Business, 2015.

This firm’s name takes inspiration from Frederic Laloux’s work on organizational innovation and development. It is a heterodox approach compared to the Jack Welch model embraced by so many business schools and corporations.

It is an empowering, dynamic approach that helps organizations do what they do best — address the wants and needs of the clients they serve effectively. It prioritizes the engine behind organizations: the people. It recognizes when people can bring their whole selves to work– and when they are supported as they level up their skills and knowledge– it changes what is possible. It is focused on process and how individuals and teams can make intentional choices that help the organization evolve and get better over time.

Working with Teal Executives is an invitation to explore what else is possible when we focus on the people, systems, processes and decision making that underlies organizational success, and to keep leveling up.

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Work is Love Made Visible

A hand kneading dough on a floured work table

“And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.
It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.
It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.
It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,
And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching….

Work is love made visible.
And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work.” from Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet (Knopf, 1923).

While this passage is from a hundred years ago, but just as relevant to work today. While the way we work and what we produce may be radically different today, it still matters if we are working with love.

It makes all the difference for those you serve, and those you employ. We are social creatures and can tell the difference when work is infused with care, attention, and intention.

If you are feeling a little lost or want to reconnect with your passion, consider working with a coach. We can help you find your way back to meaningful and impactful work.