Conventional organisational thinking and structures cannot even hope to answer those questions. Teal can. We have committed to a journey towards Teal.
A Teal organisation is one that’s free of micro-managers, an organisation of equals.
But, it’s not hippies smoking peace pipes, we’re positive change agents on a mission to make a difference in the world, to help people, to make things better. We are accountable to each other and the broader movement that we hope to inspire and nurture.
A ‘Teal organisation’ is a term coined by Frederic Laloux in his book “Reinventing Organisations.” Teal aims to break free from traditional leadership and’ management approaches and hierarchies to create more adaptive, self-organising, and purpose-driven workplaces. It is inspired by the ‘self-actualising’ stage of Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
“Self-management creates enormous motivation and energy. We stop working for a boss and start working to meet our inner standards, which tend to be much higher and more demanding”.
Reinventing Organisation
Teal can help us to be purposeful, as well as effective.
The traditional ways of running an organisation don’t make sense to us. It infringes on our values, our belief in the power of individual and collective agency, how people should treat and work with others, the purpose of work and life.
Teal helps us to practice what we teach others. It helps us to walk the talk. We want a workplace where we can be excited about delivering on our shared goals, have fun, with serious intent and strive to be better versions of ourself. Teal is the operating system needed for individual and collective flourishing at TTM.
“In bossless organisations, we need more leadership, not less.”
Corporate Rebels
We don’t believe in the myth of the hero leader, the single person who can save us or lead us to a better future. Leadership is a contribution, not a position in a hierarchy. Everyone can make leadership contributions.
For example – Martin Luther King would never have made his pivotal “I have a dream …” speech if it wasn’t for his friend Mahalia Jackson calling out from the crowd “Tell ‘em about the dream, Martin”. This was the encouragement he needed to move from a stumbling, rambling speech to one of the most famous speeches of all time, one that electrified the world.
Sometimes people don’t believe they have anything to offer. Sometimes leadership is hidden. Leadership contributions need to be encouraged, they need to be drawn out and the right culture created to allow them to flourish. We want to create a culture where leadership is distributed and multiplies, rather than residing in a few louder, confident or charismatic people. Positive change requires leadership contributions from all of us.
We’re on a journey towards Teal. And we’d love your support!
