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Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness
FROM THE BACKCOVERThe way we manage organizations seems increasingly out of date. Deep inside, we sense that more is possible. We long for soulful workplaces, for authenticity, community, passion, and purpose.In this groundbreaking book, the author shows that every time, in the past, when humanity has shifted to a new stage of consciousness, it has achieved extraordinary breakthroughs in collaboration. A new shift in consciousness is currently underway. Could it help us invent a more soulful and purposeful way to run our businesses and nonprofits, schools and hospitals?A few pioneers have already cracked the code and they show us, in practical detail, how it can be done. Leaders, founders, coaches, and consultants will find this work a joyful handbook, full of insights, examples, and inspiring stories.ADVANCE PRAISE"Congratulations on a spectacular treatise! This is truly pioneering work. In terms of integral sophistication, there is simply nothing like it out there."--Ken Wilber, from the Foreword"The most exciting book I've read in years on organization design and leadership models."--Jenny Wade, Ph.D., Author of Changes of Mind"A book like Reinventing Organizations only comes along once in a decade. Sweeping and brilliant in scope, it is the Good To Great for a more enlightened age. What it reveals about the organizational model of the future is exhilarating and deeply hopeful."--Norman Wolfe, Author of The Living Organization"A comprehensive, highly practical account of the emergent worldview in business. Everything you need to know about building a new paradigm organization!"--Richard Barrett, Chairman and Founder, Barrett Values Center"Frederic Laloux has done business people and professionals everywhere a signal service. He has discovered a better future for organizations by describing, in useful detail, the unusual best practices of today."--Bill Torbert, Author of Action Inquiry"As the rate of change escalates exponentially, the old ways of organizing and educating, which were designed for efficiency and repetition, are dying. Frederic Laloux is one of the few management leaders exploring what comes next. It's deeply different."--Bill Drayton, Founder, Innovators for the Public
382 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 9, 2014
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March 15, 2016
I’m not sure I’ve ever been so annoyed by a book that taught me so much. Frederic Laloux’s Reinventing Organizations is, in some ways, exactly what it claims to be––a guide for creating organizations with internal dynamics that radically diverge from prevailing models. But it’s also a highly repetitive text with a lot of fuzzy language. It was truly perplexing to read a book that exhibited a firm, clear vision in some sections, and that merely oozed schmaltz in others. But we have to mine value where we can, and the good news is that there appears to be quite a lot of genuine innovation and wisdom mixed in with the garbled, feel-goody gab.
The central claim here is the suggestion that the organizations of the future (what Laloux calls “Teal Organizations”) will look and operate not like machines, but like living systems:
"Life, in all its evolutionary wisdom, manages ecosystems of unfathomable beauty, ever evolving toward more wholeness, complexity, and consciousness. Change in nature happens everywhere, all the time, in a self-organizing urge that comes from every cell and every organism, with no need for central command and control to give orders or pull the levers.
The metaphor opens up new horizons. Imagine what organizations would be like if we stopped designing them like soulless, clunky machines. What could organizations achieve, and what would work feel like, if we treated them like living beings, if we let them be fueled by the evolutionary power of life itself?" (56)
This passage is useful not just as a summary of the book’s thesis, but also as a demonstration of the weird conceptual blurring that pervades the text. It’s certainly true that life appears to evolve into increasingly complex systems, many of which include vast networks of self-organizing structures. It also seems perfectly valid that we can learn from and model this dynamic when structuring human organizations. However, there is no evidence whatsoever that life uses “wisdom” to evolve toward “more wholeness” and “unfathomable beauty”; these are human constructs that only apply to nature when we observe it through an aesthetic lens. While the human brain is certainly not a command center in the traditional sense, it is definitely the primary seat of executive control for the human body, and contains many hierarchical structures. Also, I know of no company that has abandoned fossil fuels or renewable energy sources in favor of running its offices on “the evolutionary power of life itself”.
Snarkiness aside, there is actually a lot of great stuff here. The most important takeaway is the remarkable power organizations can harness by allowing members to self-organize. Laloux demonstrates that Teal Organizations are typically comprised of teams (usually 10-20 people) that eschew traditional pyramidal hierarchies in favor of systems where “no one holds power over anyone else, and yet, paradoxically, the organization as a whole ends up being considerably more powerful” (62). This might seem like a wild notion, but Laloux has plenty of evidence to back it up.
For his research, Laloux examined twelve organizations ranging from small (approx. 100 employees) to global (approx. 40,000 employees). These organizations varied widely in their products and missions, but shared a fundamental set of internal structures. The most critical of these was some version of the aforementioned self-managing teams. These teams, which function with almost full autonomy, obviate the need for most or all middle management, allowing organizations to make decisions and pursue goals without constantly running requests and directives up and down a chain of command.
Most Teal Organizations do not put time and energy into developing targets for production or streamlined plans that apply to the organization as a whole. Instead, they leverage the power of distributed intelligence, trusting that teams will act responsibly and make the right decisions. Teams are responsible for HR activities and other processing responsibilities that are usually handled by middle management, in addition to production. Each team has the freedom to decide how to tackle any particular need, whether to hire or fire a member, or what the budget for the next quarter might be. All of this might sound like a recipe for disaster in a competitive world demanding ever more quantification and efficiency, but all of the companies Laloux studied have remarkable records of success (with the exception of one or two that have recently forsaken the Teal model, and consequently languished).
If you’re after information about how the Teal model works and advice about how to implement it, I recommend Appendices 3 and 4, as well as Sections 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3. Those are the only sections I recommend. The rest of the book, in my estimation, is neither necessary nor enlightening. Laloux’s tone becomes increasingly saccharine as he describes ad nauseam the various “beautiful” practices of Teal Organizations. A handful of these practices seem great, but most come off as weird habits that will certainly work for some individuals and organizations, but that also run contrary to what most people look for in a “professional” environment. Here are a couple examples:
"As people operating from Evolutionary-Teal in general become quite comfortable with and interested in transrational ways of knowing, I believe it’s a reasonable assumption that such techniques might one day find their way into organizational settings." (204)
"Sounds True has built a variation of the empty chair method into a New Year’s ritual, where colleagues at the beginning of the year bless the office building for the year to come. At the end of the ritual, colleagues sit together in silence and listen in to what Sounds True, the organization, wants from them for the year to come." (205)
I immediately balk when anyone throws out a word like “transrational” without even bothering to define it; despite the murkiness of the term, I have a strong feeling that I should not be clamoring for coworkers who are steeped in “transrational” thought. And, honestly, I think I’d be creeped out if my coworkers wanted me to bless an office building and “listen in” on the “wants” of an organization. I desire a workplace that is fun and exciting, but this sort of behavior seems more laughable than anything else.
I agree with Laloux that we need to take a hard look at the idea of professionalism and revise it for the 21st century. People should feel relaxed enough to be themselves at work, and I fully support many of Laloux’s proposed methods for conflict resolution and inclusion. But I’m also skeptical of the idea that my job should be responsible for nurturing my “soul”––something I don’t even believe in. I, like everyone else, crave work that is meaningful, but I also don’t want my job to be my sole, or even primary, source of meaning. That may seem like a merely semantic distinction, but to me it’s a critical one.
Overall, this was an informative and frustrating read. I’m grateful for how Laloux helped me think about the importance of autonomy and self-management within complex organizations, but I also have no trouble seeing why his ideas haven’t become mainstream.
This review was originally published on my blog, words&dirt.
The central claim here is the suggestion that the organizations of the future (what Laloux calls “Teal Organizations”) will look and operate not like machines, but like living systems:
"Life, in all its evolutionary wisdom, manages ecosystems of unfathomable beauty, ever evolving toward more wholeness, complexity, and consciousness. Change in nature happens everywhere, all the time, in a self-organizing urge that comes from every cell and every organism, with no need for central command and control to give orders or pull the levers.
The metaphor opens up new horizons. Imagine what organizations would be like if we stopped designing them like soulless, clunky machines. What could organizations achieve, and what would work feel like, if we treated them like living beings, if we let them be fueled by the evolutionary power of life itself?" (56)
This passage is useful not just as a summary of the book’s thesis, but also as a demonstration of the weird conceptual blurring that pervades the text. It’s certainly true that life appears to evolve into increasingly complex systems, many of which include vast networks of self-organizing structures. It also seems perfectly valid that we can learn from and model this dynamic when structuring human organizations. However, there is no evidence whatsoever that life uses “wisdom” to evolve toward “more wholeness” and “unfathomable beauty”; these are human constructs that only apply to nature when we observe it through an aesthetic lens. While the human brain is certainly not a command center in the traditional sense, it is definitely the primary seat of executive control for the human body, and contains many hierarchical structures. Also, I know of no company that has abandoned fossil fuels or renewable energy sources in favor of running its offices on “the evolutionary power of life itself”.
Snarkiness aside, there is actually a lot of great stuff here. The most important takeaway is the remarkable power organizations can harness by allowing members to self-organize. Laloux demonstrates that Teal Organizations are typically comprised of teams (usually 10-20 people) that eschew traditional pyramidal hierarchies in favor of systems where “no one holds power over anyone else, and yet, paradoxically, the organization as a whole ends up being considerably more powerful” (62). This might seem like a wild notion, but Laloux has plenty of evidence to back it up.
For his research, Laloux examined twelve organizations ranging from small (approx. 100 employees) to global (approx. 40,000 employees). These organizations varied widely in their products and missions, but shared a fundamental set of internal structures. The most critical of these was some version of the aforementioned self-managing teams. These teams, which function with almost full autonomy, obviate the need for most or all middle management, allowing organizations to make decisions and pursue goals without constantly running requests and directives up and down a chain of command.
Most Teal Organizations do not put time and energy into developing targets for production or streamlined plans that apply to the organization as a whole. Instead, they leverage the power of distributed intelligence, trusting that teams will act responsibly and make the right decisions. Teams are responsible for HR activities and other processing responsibilities that are usually handled by middle management, in addition to production. Each team has the freedom to decide how to tackle any particular need, whether to hire or fire a member, or what the budget for the next quarter might be. All of this might sound like a recipe for disaster in a competitive world demanding ever more quantification and efficiency, but all of the companies Laloux studied have remarkable records of success (with the exception of one or two that have recently forsaken the Teal model, and consequently languished).
If you’re after information about how the Teal model works and advice about how to implement it, I recommend Appendices 3 and 4, as well as Sections 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3. Those are the only sections I recommend. The rest of the book, in my estimation, is neither necessary nor enlightening. Laloux’s tone becomes increasingly saccharine as he describes ad nauseam the various “beautiful” practices of Teal Organizations. A handful of these practices seem great, but most come off as weird habits that will certainly work for some individuals and organizations, but that also run contrary to what most people look for in a “professional” environment. Here are a couple examples:
"As people operating from Evolutionary-Teal in general become quite comfortable with and interested in transrational ways of knowing, I believe it’s a reasonable assumption that such techniques might one day find their way into organizational settings." (204)
"Sounds True has built a variation of the empty chair method into a New Year’s ritual, where colleagues at the beginning of the year bless the office building for the year to come. At the end of the ritual, colleagues sit together in silence and listen in to what Sounds True, the organization, wants from them for the year to come." (205)
I immediately balk when anyone throws out a word like “transrational” without even bothering to define it; despite the murkiness of the term, I have a strong feeling that I should not be clamoring for coworkers who are steeped in “transrational” thought. And, honestly, I think I’d be creeped out if my coworkers wanted me to bless an office building and “listen in” on the “wants” of an organization. I desire a workplace that is fun and exciting, but this sort of behavior seems more laughable than anything else.
I agree with Laloux that we need to take a hard look at the idea of professionalism and revise it for the 21st century. People should feel relaxed enough to be themselves at work, and I fully support many of Laloux’s proposed methods for conflict resolution and inclusion. But I’m also skeptical of the idea that my job should be responsible for nurturing my “soul”––something I don’t even believe in. I, like everyone else, crave work that is meaningful, but I also don’t want my job to be my sole, or even primary, source of meaning. That may seem like a merely semantic distinction, but to me it’s a critical one.
Overall, this was an informative and frustrating read. I’m grateful for how Laloux helped me think about the importance of autonomy and self-management within complex organizations, but I also have no trouble seeing why his ideas haven’t become mainstream.
This review was originally published on my blog, words&dirt.
May 16, 2017
Very thought provoking.
Let me highlight few ideas from the book:
If we start treating people as adults and allow them to express their whole selves, they will be able to realise much more of their potential. Their contribution to the company through their work will be far bigger than it would be otherwise. Also, maybe we should stop looking at companies as machines that we can build part by part and tweak to every smallest detail. Maybe we should look at companies as living beings and let them grow and evolve naturally by themselves.
These ideas obviously sound like a recipe for chaos and anarchy. But it turns out that when both responsibility and control are well distributed, fluid and self-adaptive order is created.
Many examples in this book show that companies led with this approach are more performant than traditionally managed companies. They also have more positive effect on their employees, customers, cooperants and wider communities they operate in. Some of the companies mentioned count their employees in thousands. Some of them are decades old. Definitely not examples that can be easily dismissed.
If these ideas spark your interest, there are plenty of references and recommended further readings at the end of the book. The author really did a remarkable job with his research.
This book is a well worth reading and pondering on.
Let me highlight few ideas from the book:
If we start treating people as adults and allow them to express their whole selves, they will be able to realise much more of their potential. Their contribution to the company through their work will be far bigger than it would be otherwise. Also, maybe we should stop looking at companies as machines that we can build part by part and tweak to every smallest detail. Maybe we should look at companies as living beings and let them grow and evolve naturally by themselves.
These ideas obviously sound like a recipe for chaos and anarchy. But it turns out that when both responsibility and control are well distributed, fluid and self-adaptive order is created.
Many examples in this book show that companies led with this approach are more performant than traditionally managed companies. They also have more positive effect on their employees, customers, cooperants and wider communities they operate in. Some of the companies mentioned count their employees in thousands. Some of them are decades old. Definitely not examples that can be easily dismissed.
If these ideas spark your interest, there are plenty of references and recommended further readings at the end of the book. The author really did a remarkable job with his research.
This book is a well worth reading and pondering on.
October 17, 2014
Wonderful book, full of inspirational stories. Pity it is full of "soulfull", "wholesome" and "spiritual" language.
September 19, 2014
Informative, repetitive, thorough, overly long, and at times, weird.
FRederic Laloux's Reinventing Organizations is an in depth survey into the evolution of organisational theory. He describes how organisations have evolved,over time, from the street gang, mafia type, impulsive, organisations, which he refers to as Red organisations, through conformist organisations, with strong rules, structure and a rigid hierarchy, which he calls Amber; then on to Orange, green and finally teal. He describes Orange as typified by companies such as Walmart, Nike and Coca-Cola where individual and collective greed seem to dominate as does a small circle of CEOs granting themselves higher salaries, lobbying governments and gaining more and more power. Here strategy and execution are king. As cultures have evolved, so some organisational structures have evolved into “Green” organisations, typified by Southwest Airlines, Ben and Jerry's and The Container Store. Unlike Orange, where materialistic obsession dominate, and there is social inequality and a loss of community, green seeks fairness, equality, harmony, cooperation, consensus and community involvement. A simple description is, Red - wolfpack, Amber – army type organisations, Orange – a machine and green - a family.
The strength of the book is in the investigations into so called Teal organisations, that Laloux sees as the new evolutionary state. He has spent considerable time interviewing and examining several organisations, how they work, their strengths and the applicability of the teal structure to existing organisations. In simple terms, a Teal organisation is one that pushes authority downwards, and is run by the decisions made by the workforce. The reality is more complex as are the difficulties. Laloux feels that a founder of a Teal organisation should see such an organisation as having a life and purpose of its own, distinct from his own wishes and desires. His supporting examples make for fascinating study.
This is not a book that one would pick up to get a general feel for the evolution of organisational theory as it appears to be aimed at the text book market where it makes few assumptions about its readers. Therefore it gives considerable background to the theories. Unfortunately this tends to make the book long and, at times, repetitive.
It's major weakness is the incorporation of the writers personal prejudices as he seems to have embraced New Age and Gaia philosophies. “We need the consciousness of Green and Teal organizations to start healing the world of the wounds of modernity” seems reasonable as does “Teal organizations make peace with a complex world” but describing “The Evolutionary Teal” organisation “no longer as property, not even shared property in service of its different stakeholders. The organization is viewed as an energy field, emerging potential, a form of life that transcends its stakeholders, pursuing its own unique evolutionary purpose.” seems to be stretching language a bit far. He takes us further though with “Spiritual Re-enchantment” when he describes Teal people as seeking “unity and transcendence through personal experience and practices. This offers the perspective of teal societies that heal previous religious divisions and re-enchant the materialistic world of modernity through non-religious spirituality.” Laloux then goes on to promote something that he calls “Transcendent consciousness” whereby people seek “wholeness, to integrate all parts of the self, big and small. Sometimes, through meditative practices, or sheer luck, they have a peak experience beyond even the big self; they merge an become one with the absolute, with nature, with God. … People who transition to transcendent consciousness start to actively seek such experiences. … [personal development techniques] help to access non-ordinary states of consciousness – to experience, beyond separateness, beyond time and space, the oneness with all of manifestation.” He then describes some Buddhist types of transcendent consciousness leading to “oneness with nature, divinity, and the Absolute.” He proposes creating organisational “practices that work directly with the world of energy and spirit to help manifest an organization's evolutionary purpose with less effort and more grace.” Anyone who is captivated by this needs to contact the SCP (Spiritual Counterfeits Project) straight away.
This book is a “Curate's Egg”. The good is very good, but the bad seriously detracts from that good. Don't be put off. Just don't read it through rose tinted spectacles (to mix my metaphors.)
FRederic Laloux's Reinventing Organizations is an in depth survey into the evolution of organisational theory. He describes how organisations have evolved,over time, from the street gang, mafia type, impulsive, organisations, which he refers to as Red organisations, through conformist organisations, with strong rules, structure and a rigid hierarchy, which he calls Amber; then on to Orange, green and finally teal. He describes Orange as typified by companies such as Walmart, Nike and Coca-Cola where individual and collective greed seem to dominate as does a small circle of CEOs granting themselves higher salaries, lobbying governments and gaining more and more power. Here strategy and execution are king. As cultures have evolved, so some organisational structures have evolved into “Green” organisations, typified by Southwest Airlines, Ben and Jerry's and The Container Store. Unlike Orange, where materialistic obsession dominate, and there is social inequality and a loss of community, green seeks fairness, equality, harmony, cooperation, consensus and community involvement. A simple description is, Red - wolfpack, Amber – army type organisations, Orange – a machine and green - a family.
The strength of the book is in the investigations into so called Teal organisations, that Laloux sees as the new evolutionary state. He has spent considerable time interviewing and examining several organisations, how they work, their strengths and the applicability of the teal structure to existing organisations. In simple terms, a Teal organisation is one that pushes authority downwards, and is run by the decisions made by the workforce. The reality is more complex as are the difficulties. Laloux feels that a founder of a Teal organisation should see such an organisation as having a life and purpose of its own, distinct from his own wishes and desires. His supporting examples make for fascinating study.
This is not a book that one would pick up to get a general feel for the evolution of organisational theory as it appears to be aimed at the text book market where it makes few assumptions about its readers. Therefore it gives considerable background to the theories. Unfortunately this tends to make the book long and, at times, repetitive.
It's major weakness is the incorporation of the writers personal prejudices as he seems to have embraced New Age and Gaia philosophies. “We need the consciousness of Green and Teal organizations to start healing the world of the wounds of modernity” seems reasonable as does “Teal organizations make peace with a complex world” but describing “The Evolutionary Teal” organisation “no longer as property, not even shared property in service of its different stakeholders. The organization is viewed as an energy field, emerging potential, a form of life that transcends its stakeholders, pursuing its own unique evolutionary purpose.” seems to be stretching language a bit far. He takes us further though with “Spiritual Re-enchantment” when he describes Teal people as seeking “unity and transcendence through personal experience and practices. This offers the perspective of teal societies that heal previous religious divisions and re-enchant the materialistic world of modernity through non-religious spirituality.” Laloux then goes on to promote something that he calls “Transcendent consciousness” whereby people seek “wholeness, to integrate all parts of the self, big and small. Sometimes, through meditative practices, or sheer luck, they have a peak experience beyond even the big self; they merge an become one with the absolute, with nature, with God. … People who transition to transcendent consciousness start to actively seek such experiences. … [personal development techniques] help to access non-ordinary states of consciousness – to experience, beyond separateness, beyond time and space, the oneness with all of manifestation.” He then describes some Buddhist types of transcendent consciousness leading to “oneness with nature, divinity, and the Absolute.” He proposes creating organisational “practices that work directly with the world of energy and spirit to help manifest an organization's evolutionary purpose with less effort and more grace.” Anyone who is captivated by this needs to contact the SCP (Spiritual Counterfeits Project) straight away.
This book is a “Curate's Egg”. The good is very good, but the bad seriously detracts from that good. Don't be put off. Just don't read it through rose tinted spectacles (to mix my metaphors.)
May 7, 2017
TL;DR: Interesting framework, crappy ideas.
This is the most intellectually lazy book I've ever read.
It starts with a metaphor, tying historical changes in human society with organizational structures. Laloux argues that organizational history recapitulates human history. While obviously simplistics and invalid it does provide a useful framework for sorting and classifying different organizational operating models.
Parts of this book does resonate. Sure, who want to work in an organisation where employees are empowered, motivated, independent and mission driven? Something less material? Who wouldn't want to avoid soul-crushing workplace ruled though fear and MBO?
And that's where he should have stopped, because after the first 100 pages this book a) becomes super tedious and b) goes totally off the rails. Laloux is so infatuated by the idea that he's discovered something DEEP and PROFOUND that he gets swept away by his own idea.
While Googling reviews will provide many contradictions and inconsistencies pointed out buy others (just Google), let's just look at the shape of his argument
At the start of the book, he claims different structures suit different purposes. Therefore we shouldn't think about structures as 'better' or 'worse'. By the end, he is using full normative language, and "Orange" structures are the epitome of all that is frustrating and soulless in the world. Anything 'Good' a company does is 'Teal' by definition. Anything that undervalues employees is 'Orange'. Ergo, Teal is the best and Laloux is a genius! I am not joking, this is the rationalization used by the book.
"Teal" structures (aka anything he likes) are subtitled as EVOLUTIONARY, in case you weren't aware how forward thinking he was.
But even putting aside his complete lack of consistency, logic, or attempt to make a intellectually honest argument. I am completely unconvinced that Teal would work.
It's not like he's inventing anything new. You can run things the way he descries in small companies. No budgets, no central strategy, everyone does what they think is best. But when businesses grow you either need structure and guidance or the org dies. I've been in an organizations that would seem to fit as Teal - people pick their own projects, can spend their own money, entirely mission driven. It's hell. The company is stretched too thin. No one has direction. The organization doesn't work on the most important issues, but on what is most popular or fun. It's a total shitshow. People are empowered... and yet not any happier. There's a lack of visibility, direction, support and TONS of process to make anything work.
So maybe I had a bad experience, but Laloux does little to convince me otherwise. He provides no evidence for his claims beyond some cherry picked anecdotes. Example: If I heard a company lost 50% of new hires in the first year, that would be a giant red flag for a dysfunctional org. But for Laloux, it's just evidence that some people are so brainwashed by 'Orange' organizations that they can't adjust to the employee paradise that is 'Teal'. His bias is so transparent that I have trouble taking anything he says at face value. Could Teal work? He provides zero neutral evidence. Zappos, the only org I know that fully embodies what he advocates, is a mess that had 20% turnover last year.
This book is all pseudoscientific Age of Aquarius psychobabble. It's the Myth of Progress, false equivalence and total BS.
This book doesn't even deserve to be caused anecdotal evidence. With anecdotes, I expect something intended to be a generalizable example of something truth. This is just plain cherry picking.
Oh and the supporting anecdote about the person with fucking PSYCHIC POWERS? How does an editor just not burn a manuscript after that?
This rage-typed, unedited mess of a review is still more coherent than this nonsense.
As a manual for unleashing the potential of your employees, I award this book 1 star. Read Drive.
This is the most intellectually lazy book I've ever read.
It starts with a metaphor, tying historical changes in human society with organizational structures. Laloux argues that organizational history recapitulates human history. While obviously simplistics and invalid it does provide a useful framework for sorting and classifying different organizational operating models.
Parts of this book does resonate. Sure, who want to work in an organisation where employees are empowered, motivated, independent and mission driven? Something less material? Who wouldn't want to avoid soul-crushing workplace ruled though fear and MBO?
And that's where he should have stopped, because after the first 100 pages this book a) becomes super tedious and b) goes totally off the rails. Laloux is so infatuated by the idea that he's discovered something DEEP and PROFOUND that he gets swept away by his own idea.
While Googling reviews will provide many contradictions and inconsistencies pointed out buy others (just Google), let's just look at the shape of his argument
At the start of the book, he claims different structures suit different purposes. Therefore we shouldn't think about structures as 'better' or 'worse'. By the end, he is using full normative language, and "Orange" structures are the epitome of all that is frustrating and soulless in the world. Anything 'Good' a company does is 'Teal' by definition. Anything that undervalues employees is 'Orange'. Ergo, Teal is the best and Laloux is a genius! I am not joking, this is the rationalization used by the book.
"Teal" structures (aka anything he likes) are subtitled as EVOLUTIONARY, in case you weren't aware how forward thinking he was.
But even putting aside his complete lack of consistency, logic, or attempt to make a intellectually honest argument. I am completely unconvinced that Teal would work.
It's not like he's inventing anything new. You can run things the way he descries in small companies. No budgets, no central strategy, everyone does what they think is best. But when businesses grow you either need structure and guidance or the org dies. I've been in an organizations that would seem to fit as Teal - people pick their own projects, can spend their own money, entirely mission driven. It's hell. The company is stretched too thin. No one has direction. The organization doesn't work on the most important issues, but on what is most popular or fun. It's a total shitshow. People are empowered... and yet not any happier. There's a lack of visibility, direction, support and TONS of process to make anything work.
So maybe I had a bad experience, but Laloux does little to convince me otherwise. He provides no evidence for his claims beyond some cherry picked anecdotes. Example: If I heard a company lost 50% of new hires in the first year, that would be a giant red flag for a dysfunctional org. But for Laloux, it's just evidence that some people are so brainwashed by 'Orange' organizations that they can't adjust to the employee paradise that is 'Teal'. His bias is so transparent that I have trouble taking anything he says at face value. Could Teal work? He provides zero neutral evidence. Zappos, the only org I know that fully embodies what he advocates, is a mess that had 20% turnover last year.
This book is all pseudoscientific Age of Aquarius psychobabble. It's the Myth of Progress, false equivalence and total BS.
This book doesn't even deserve to be caused anecdotal evidence. With anecdotes, I expect something intended to be a generalizable example of something truth. This is just plain cherry picking.
Oh and the supporting anecdote about the person with fucking PSYCHIC POWERS? How does an editor just not burn a manuscript after that?
This rage-typed, unedited mess of a review is still more coherent than this nonsense.
As a manual for unleashing the potential of your employees, I award this book 1 star. Read Drive.
October 14, 2014
This book is a brilliant collection of patterns and practices in self-managing organizations - both for-profit and non-profits.
I consider it a must-read for anyone interested in high performance, motivation based organizations.
Laloux ties his observations together with Ken Wilbers 'Integral Theory', and the idea that human consciousness evolves in stages. Self-managing organizations being a manifestation of a new level of consciousness just now emerging which the author labels 'Teal'
While this claim does indeed allow for some fascinating insights and observations, Laloux takes the idea way too far in my opinion. At certain points, the book becomes decidedly mystic. I fear that this will be a turn-off for many who would otherwise benefit greatly from reading the book.
Towards the end, Laloux get's carried completely away, speculating about how the future might unfold as this new 'Teal' level of consciousness grows more widespread. In this part, I think that Laloux commits some significant logical blunders.
For instance it appears that Laloux equates the concept of economical growth with physical resource consumption - thus neglecting the entire service sector which contributes most of today's economic growth. Indeed the worlds most modern societies - in Scandinavia and the US west cost - are today year over year reducing material resource consumption per capita, but at the same time enjoying significant economic growth.
Laloux believes that the future will be characterized by zero or even negative economic growth, and celebrates this fact. This makes no sense, since the only way self-managing (or Teal) organizations can bring about lower economic growth is if they are less efficient than the organizational model it replaces.
Nonetheless - I highly recommend reading the book. It's undoubtedly the book that has inspired me the most in recent years.
Now I'll move on to the source and read some of what Ken Wilber really has to say about this 'Integral' thing.
I consider it a must-read for anyone interested in high performance, motivation based organizations.
Laloux ties his observations together with Ken Wilbers 'Integral Theory', and the idea that human consciousness evolves in stages. Self-managing organizations being a manifestation of a new level of consciousness just now emerging which the author labels 'Teal'
While this claim does indeed allow for some fascinating insights and observations, Laloux takes the idea way too far in my opinion. At certain points, the book becomes decidedly mystic. I fear that this will be a turn-off for many who would otherwise benefit greatly from reading the book.
Towards the end, Laloux get's carried completely away, speculating about how the future might unfold as this new 'Teal' level of consciousness grows more widespread. In this part, I think that Laloux commits some significant logical blunders.
For instance it appears that Laloux equates the concept of economical growth with physical resource consumption - thus neglecting the entire service sector which contributes most of today's economic growth. Indeed the worlds most modern societies - in Scandinavia and the US west cost - are today year over year reducing material resource consumption per capita, but at the same time enjoying significant economic growth.
Laloux believes that the future will be characterized by zero or even negative economic growth, and celebrates this fact. This makes no sense, since the only way self-managing (or Teal) organizations can bring about lower economic growth is if they are less efficient than the organizational model it replaces.
Nonetheless - I highly recommend reading the book. It's undoubtedly the book that has inspired me the most in recent years.
Now I'll move on to the source and read some of what Ken Wilber really has to say about this 'Integral' thing.
June 18, 2015
IN SHORT: This is an amazing book for anyone interested in newer styles of organizations. Be warned that the author makes you work harder than necessary because of his heavy bent toward mysticism. But the great parts are TOTALLY worth the effort.
MORE DETAIL: This is an amazing book, and has many aspects based on research. Yet there is clearly a huge amount of subjectivity. For those who want to learn, have provoking ideas and solid concepts to customize and apply to an organization, the drawbacks (e.g. mystic bent, subjective areas) are small prices to pay.
THE CRITERIA FOR APPRECIATING THIS BOOK: likely includes: 1. Interested in organizations, 2. Open to giving up authority for higher agile behavior (a solid believer in traditional hierarchical authority will likely find this book to be ridiculous… just being honest), and 3. You either like mystic type wording or can (like me) easily distill it into what the author is likely trying to convey.
Frederic first discusses the stages of development, and makes clear how these are in lock-step with the development of humans (first humans begin experiencing a new way of seeing things, then organizations follow via their influence). It is a valuable backdrop to discussing details of organizations and structures, purpose, etc. The author rightly talks about the overlapping changes (which an observer of organizations will clearly see, and recall examples in her past). I personally think that the Pluralistic Green was not as much of a separate stage as it is a messy transition from Achievement Orange to Evolutionary Teal, but that’s a minor quibble to a great and orderly set of observations. Classifying will always draw such criticisms and cannot be perfect. Frederic does a great job.
Awesome parts follow… Structures and Practices, and Emergence of Evolutionary Teal. These not only give concepts, but reference several organizations that have methodically developed solid processes that facilitate these types of structures (preventing what would likely be a combination of chaos and reverting to hierarchical authority) and specifically facilitating conflict resolution, and advice for wise but independent decisions, etc. This is the gold within the book. The types of practices that are referenced in Gary Hamel’s The Future of Management
If you are starting an organization, or are at all open to converting your own organization, I positively encourage you to consume this book (and a few others). If you are a manager in an organization and you want to adopt this in your area, like the author, I’m skeptical except for scattered pieces that you can do. For those, I’d consider the book Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work… concepts there are much easier to implement within traditional organizations. But I still recommend this book… just realize that full Evolutionary Teal concepts are either threatening to others AND/OR will endanger your credibility. Yes… some truths are best not worn on your sleeve.
Mystic influence on wording is very common and reached irritating levels to me, yet I could almost always succeed at distilling his words to a more direct concept. In this paragraph, I risk appearing to overly criticize on a simple aspect, but Frederic does this so much, I feel compelled to warn you… Frederic at times endangers his credibility needlessly, because many will not be able to see the gems within the mystic wording. One example is the frequent insistence on the idea of sensing what the organization wants (or wants to become). While I get it, there are much more direct ways of wording that concept (e.g. leveraging the more direct collective will and needs of both employees and community, etc.) At times, I had to re-read a passage because of the needlessly vague wording (e.g. “... act from deep integrity and align with what we feel called to do, the universe conspires to support us.”). Clearly the author has strong perceptions based in mysticism that influence his verbiage, so I glean the valuable concepts. It just made it more work than necessary to distill his words into more solid concepts.
At the end (in an appendix) the author has what I call interesting brain candy about what is beyond evolutionary teal. It was mostly a fun read, yet with another mystic section. I enjoyed toying with “what might be.”
Thanks Frederic, for an amazing book. This is one of my favorite books about organizations of all time.
MORE DETAIL: This is an amazing book, and has many aspects based on research. Yet there is clearly a huge amount of subjectivity. For those who want to learn, have provoking ideas and solid concepts to customize and apply to an organization, the drawbacks (e.g. mystic bent, subjective areas) are small prices to pay.
THE CRITERIA FOR APPRECIATING THIS BOOK: likely includes: 1. Interested in organizations, 2. Open to giving up authority for higher agile behavior (a solid believer in traditional hierarchical authority will likely find this book to be ridiculous… just being honest), and 3. You either like mystic type wording or can (like me) easily distill it into what the author is likely trying to convey.
Frederic first discusses the stages of development, and makes clear how these are in lock-step with the development of humans (first humans begin experiencing a new way of seeing things, then organizations follow via their influence). It is a valuable backdrop to discussing details of organizations and structures, purpose, etc. The author rightly talks about the overlapping changes (which an observer of organizations will clearly see, and recall examples in her past). I personally think that the Pluralistic Green was not as much of a separate stage as it is a messy transition from Achievement Orange to Evolutionary Teal, but that’s a minor quibble to a great and orderly set of observations. Classifying will always draw such criticisms and cannot be perfect. Frederic does a great job.
Awesome parts follow… Structures and Practices, and Emergence of Evolutionary Teal. These not only give concepts, but reference several organizations that have methodically developed solid processes that facilitate these types of structures (preventing what would likely be a combination of chaos and reverting to hierarchical authority) and specifically facilitating conflict resolution, and advice for wise but independent decisions, etc. This is the gold within the book. The types of practices that are referenced in Gary Hamel’s The Future of Management
If you are starting an organization, or are at all open to converting your own organization, I positively encourage you to consume this book (and a few others). If you are a manager in an organization and you want to adopt this in your area, like the author, I’m skeptical except for scattered pieces that you can do. For those, I’d consider the book Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work… concepts there are much easier to implement within traditional organizations. But I still recommend this book… just realize that full Evolutionary Teal concepts are either threatening to others AND/OR will endanger your credibility. Yes… some truths are best not worn on your sleeve.
Mystic influence on wording is very common and reached irritating levels to me, yet I could almost always succeed at distilling his words to a more direct concept. In this paragraph, I risk appearing to overly criticize on a simple aspect, but Frederic does this so much, I feel compelled to warn you… Frederic at times endangers his credibility needlessly, because many will not be able to see the gems within the mystic wording. One example is the frequent insistence on the idea of sensing what the organization wants (or wants to become). While I get it, there are much more direct ways of wording that concept (e.g. leveraging the more direct collective will and needs of both employees and community, etc.) At times, I had to re-read a passage because of the needlessly vague wording (e.g. “... act from deep integrity and align with what we feel called to do, the universe conspires to support us.”). Clearly the author has strong perceptions based in mysticism that influence his verbiage, so I glean the valuable concepts. It just made it more work than necessary to distill his words into more solid concepts.
At the end (in an appendix) the author has what I call interesting brain candy about what is beyond evolutionary teal. It was mostly a fun read, yet with another mystic section. I enjoyed toying with “what might be.”
Thanks Frederic, for an amazing book. This is one of my favorite books about organizations of all time.
June 11, 2015
Reinventing Organizations could have been a great book if it was not full of spirituality and and if the author would have been less superficial.
When I read this book, I went through a whole bunch of different feelings. First excitement because I like the idea of self-managed teams. Then disappointment when I realized, that it is sometimes a bit flat and superficial. Then interested again when I read about all the companies having employed self-management, from most of which I have not heard before. This interest resulted in research in the internet which resulted in anger. I had to realize, that the author at best has a selective perception, at worst is not sincere with the reader, because things depicted in the book are in a way which underpins his (spiritual) way of thinking. If you read other sources things get another, less spiritual (and we all love each other because we are good and we only want the the best for the world therefore sacrificing our-self) flavor.
At the end it just was a torture to get finished.
If someone is really interested in self-management and self-organizing teams and wants to know what to do to get closer to this ideal (apart from believing in the good of men and blaming management to subdue employees) this book does not help very much.
When I read this book, I went through a whole bunch of different feelings. First excitement because I like the idea of self-managed teams. Then disappointment when I realized, that it is sometimes a bit flat and superficial. Then interested again when I read about all the companies having employed self-management, from most of which I have not heard before. This interest resulted in research in the internet which resulted in anger. I had to realize, that the author at best has a selective perception, at worst is not sincere with the reader, because things depicted in the book are in a way which underpins his (spiritual) way of thinking. If you read other sources things get another, less spiritual (and we all love each other because we are good and we only want the the best for the world therefore sacrificing our-self) flavor.
At the end it just was a torture to get finished.
If someone is really interested in self-management and self-organizing teams and wants to know what to do to get closer to this ideal (apart from believing in the good of men and blaming management to subdue employees) this book does not help very much.
February 15, 2022
To say that organizations are soul-sucking bastions of bureaucracy is to reference a trope, but one that has its foundations in truth. Can we do better? In this book Frederic Laloux explores the idea of Evolutionary-Teal organizations as a way to create organizations which effectively achieve a meaningful purpose while being fulfilling for the individuals working there.
Laloux looks at multiple organizations that have figured out a way of working that seems better at dealing with the complexities of modern problems. The variety of organizations that he looks at is both a strength and a weakness. It is a strength because we get to see how similar practices play out in different ways across organizations. It is a weakness because the overall model is something of a collage. It's hard to get an idea of what any one of these organizations is really like. In a way, this book presents an organizational model that is an archetypical ideal. Like all archetypes, taking it too literally as an ideal will make you blind to the challenges associated with achieving that ideal. (Archetypes are better north stars than blueprints.) That said, it is still useful as a proof of concept that organizations can operate differently, in ways that are more flexible, adaptable, resilient, and meaningful. How generalizable this is, how much this scales, and whether or not these current organizations are a stable species or an intermediate species on the way to something else is unclear.
For those familiar with adult development theories or other similar theories of development of individuals or groups, you'll quickly recognize Laloux's use of developmental stages. The basic idea behind these stages is that the world can be approached with different postures. Each posture creates new problems that cannot be solved from that posture and so requires new ways of thinking. More complex postures are not better; they are just fit for more complex circumstances. As a concrete example, being focused on individual wholeness is a death sentence in war zone, be it literal or figurative. On the other hand, focusing on zero-sum win/lose logic when the goal is innovation leads to stale ideas.
Laloux maps a generalized notion of these development stages onto organizational structures. He primarily focuses on three: Achievement-Orange, Pluralistic-Green, and Evolutionary-Teal (yes, the colors are kind of annoying; that's all it's worth saying about it). Achievement-Orange is the paradigm of today's standard successful business organization: objective and achievement oriented, focused on growth, profit, and worldly success. Pluralistic-Green focuses on culture, equity, individual empowerment, intrinsic motivation, and multiple stakeholders. Evolutionary-Teal is characterized by a focus on wholeness. Individuals are less attached to their own ideas and able to see how seemingly disparate ideas integrate. Learning and creating shared worldviews are valued.
One of my frustrations with this book is that the Evolutionary-Teal model is primarily compared to the Achievement-Orange paradigm. In some ways this is fair: Achievement-Orange is the dominant business paradigm. In another way it is unfair: I suspect many of the advantages that Evolutionary-Teal has over Achievement-Orange are also shared by Pluralistic-Green. Thus, comparing to Achievement-Orange makes it harder to truly understand the differentiating advantages Evolutionary-Teal over Pluralistic-Green.
After introductory chapters which lay out some of the fundamental concepts above, the bulk of the book is spent discussing the three fundamental practices of Evolutionary-Teal organizations: self-management at scale, a focus on individual wholeness within organizations, and a evolutionary sense of purpose where the direction of the organization depends on the signals that the organization itself provides.
The chapters on self-management are the most extensive. Self-management is a set of interlocking practices that need to work together for the practice to be effective. Self-management is, roughly, exactly what it sounds like. Instead of individuals being slotted into a hierarchical authority structure, they are in more egalitarian structures where they act as teams or individuals who have high level of autonomy to achieve their purpose. The best structure depends on how the organization realizes value (there's a nice appendix to that effect). Distilling the key elements to their essence, there are three key practices for self-management.
An advice process requires that all decisions be made by asking for and seriously taking into consideration advice from all people affected by the decision. There are different formats for the advice process, but a common feature is that they do not require consensus but they do require addressing all substantial objections. People don't have to vote yes, but they can vote no.
The next key piece is a conflict resolution mechanism. Conflict will occur and some amount of conflict is good for the organization — as long as it's based on conviction, not ego. Conflict resolution processes can vary. Their common core is to try to resolve problems as autonomously as possible. Even when others are brought in, they are considered to be giving advice, not dictating a resolution to the conflict. The other key element of the conflict resolution process is that resolving conflict becomes the responsibility of everyone in the organization.
The final key practice is peer based evaluation and salary processes. People need to be evaluating each other to ensure that they are getting developmental feedback and, to be more blunt than the book was about it, to handle slackers. Peer based salary processes promote equity. They also ensure that people understand whether or not the work they are doing is valued by their peers.
One thing that was hiding between the lines throughout the book is that self-management requires people to be __tough__. Laloux uses the term responsibility a lot. I don't think that term is incorrect. However, it doesn't quite capture how on-the-ball people need to be to make self-management as described work. Individuals need to be masters of what Kim Scott calls Radical Candor: the ability to care personally while also challenging directly. This is hard to do, and expecting everyone in an organization to be able to do this is a high bar to set. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it does make me wonder what a variation of self-management that could scale to a broader population would look like.
Another related concern I have is that because self-management depends on people acting with good intent, it feels prone to sabotage from the inside. There is always bias that makes it harder to be valued if you are productive but uncongenial and bias that makes it easier to be a friendly slacker. However, I do wonder if these biases might be magnified even more in a self-managing organization where there's more flexibility and less clear lines of accountability.
The professional mask that we wear often leads to work being exhausting and limiting rather than helping it be part of what helps us have a meaningful life. The next key pattern of teal organizations is finding ways to encourage wholeness in the workplace. This entails letting people find a way to bring their humanity to work rather than expecting them to conform to an artificially constrained sense of what is acceptable.
Key wholeness practices include clear and explicit ground rules for creating psychological safety. These rules come with the expectation that everyone is responsible for following these rules and raising concerns when the rules are violated. Beyond just psychological safety, practices which help to encourage showing humanity at work, such as check-ins and storytelling, can help to make work a more meaningful and welcoming place.
Concrete things that can be done to encourage bringing one's humanity include having a physical space which reflects the humanity, purpose, and individual personality of the organization — one which is neither corporately sterile nor designed by outsiders who create an artificial sense of quirkiness. The onboarding process needs to take time to thoroughly introduce new hires to the organization's principles — especially since those principles are likely to be unfamiliar. Meeting practices need to invite wholeness and promote psychological safety to avoid getting focused on individual ego.
Unlike the self-management or wholeness, the idea of introducing organizational purpose is probably the easiest to get support for. It's standard organizational practice these days to want to have a sense of purpose the organization is trying to achieve. However, a sense of evolutionary purpose goes beyond often empty, often bland corporate statements of purpose.
A sense of evolutionary purpose acknowledges that the organization itself emergently defines its purpose. Authentic purpose cannot be imposed from above. Organizations need to listen for this purpose and listen for the ways it is changing. They also need to articulate the purpose frequently so that it becomes a living part of the organization's decision making process, including creating space to listen at each meeting for whether or not the meeting is upholding the organization's purpose. Alignment with the organization's purpose should be a key part of the hiring process.
In addition to deep diving into all of these areas with details and examples, the book discusses how to create or pivot organizations to be more teal. It also briefly discusses how these ideas might apply beyond organizations.
Overall, I think Laloux's perspective on organizational development is valuable if you take it as an exploration of an archetype rather than as a guidebook. I do believe that we can create organizations where people have more autonomy, more room for humanity, and a deeper sense of individual and organization purpose than is typical today. Does it look exactly like this? I don't know. Does it look more like this than the Achievement-Orange paradigm? Quite possibly.
On a personal note, while I have never worked in an Evolutionary-Teal organization, I have worked in a organization where for some roles, at some times, the world was nearly Evolutionary-Teal: there were high levels of autonomy and flexibility in what work to do (within the given role), there were official organizational programs which encouraged wholeness and being more than just your professional mask. This didn't last. It depended on the organization having high revenue growth which allowed for slop at the margins. It depended on an organizational culture which didn't realize that hiring for a particular conception of the "best" selected for a narrow, homogenous culture. Given both the good and bad of this experience, I approach the idea of a sustainable, equitable, diverse Evolutionary-Teal organization with some trepidation. Yet I can enthusiastically speak the feelings of meaning, purpose, joy, and intrinsic motivation that come when the conditions do point in an Evolutionary-Teal direction.
Laloux looks at multiple organizations that have figured out a way of working that seems better at dealing with the complexities of modern problems. The variety of organizations that he looks at is both a strength and a weakness. It is a strength because we get to see how similar practices play out in different ways across organizations. It is a weakness because the overall model is something of a collage. It's hard to get an idea of what any one of these organizations is really like. In a way, this book presents an organizational model that is an archetypical ideal. Like all archetypes, taking it too literally as an ideal will make you blind to the challenges associated with achieving that ideal. (Archetypes are better north stars than blueprints.) That said, it is still useful as a proof of concept that organizations can operate differently, in ways that are more flexible, adaptable, resilient, and meaningful. How generalizable this is, how much this scales, and whether or not these current organizations are a stable species or an intermediate species on the way to something else is unclear.
For those familiar with adult development theories or other similar theories of development of individuals or groups, you'll quickly recognize Laloux's use of developmental stages. The basic idea behind these stages is that the world can be approached with different postures. Each posture creates new problems that cannot be solved from that posture and so requires new ways of thinking. More complex postures are not better; they are just fit for more complex circumstances. As a concrete example, being focused on individual wholeness is a death sentence in war zone, be it literal or figurative. On the other hand, focusing on zero-sum win/lose logic when the goal is innovation leads to stale ideas.
Laloux maps a generalized notion of these development stages onto organizational structures. He primarily focuses on three: Achievement-Orange, Pluralistic-Green, and Evolutionary-Teal (yes, the colors are kind of annoying; that's all it's worth saying about it). Achievement-Orange is the paradigm of today's standard successful business organization: objective and achievement oriented, focused on growth, profit, and worldly success. Pluralistic-Green focuses on culture, equity, individual empowerment, intrinsic motivation, and multiple stakeholders. Evolutionary-Teal is characterized by a focus on wholeness. Individuals are less attached to their own ideas and able to see how seemingly disparate ideas integrate. Learning and creating shared worldviews are valued.
One of my frustrations with this book is that the Evolutionary-Teal model is primarily compared to the Achievement-Orange paradigm. In some ways this is fair: Achievement-Orange is the dominant business paradigm. In another way it is unfair: I suspect many of the advantages that Evolutionary-Teal has over Achievement-Orange are also shared by Pluralistic-Green. Thus, comparing to Achievement-Orange makes it harder to truly understand the differentiating advantages Evolutionary-Teal over Pluralistic-Green.
After introductory chapters which lay out some of the fundamental concepts above, the bulk of the book is spent discussing the three fundamental practices of Evolutionary-Teal organizations: self-management at scale, a focus on individual wholeness within organizations, and a evolutionary sense of purpose where the direction of the organization depends on the signals that the organization itself provides.
The chapters on self-management are the most extensive. Self-management is a set of interlocking practices that need to work together for the practice to be effective. Self-management is, roughly, exactly what it sounds like. Instead of individuals being slotted into a hierarchical authority structure, they are in more egalitarian structures where they act as teams or individuals who have high level of autonomy to achieve their purpose. The best structure depends on how the organization realizes value (there's a nice appendix to that effect). Distilling the key elements to their essence, there are three key practices for self-management.
An advice process requires that all decisions be made by asking for and seriously taking into consideration advice from all people affected by the decision. There are different formats for the advice process, but a common feature is that they do not require consensus but they do require addressing all substantial objections. People don't have to vote yes, but they can vote no.
The next key piece is a conflict resolution mechanism. Conflict will occur and some amount of conflict is good for the organization — as long as it's based on conviction, not ego. Conflict resolution processes can vary. Their common core is to try to resolve problems as autonomously as possible. Even when others are brought in, they are considered to be giving advice, not dictating a resolution to the conflict. The other key element of the conflict resolution process is that resolving conflict becomes the responsibility of everyone in the organization.
The final key practice is peer based evaluation and salary processes. People need to be evaluating each other to ensure that they are getting developmental feedback and, to be more blunt than the book was about it, to handle slackers. Peer based salary processes promote equity. They also ensure that people understand whether or not the work they are doing is valued by their peers.
One thing that was hiding between the lines throughout the book is that self-management requires people to be __tough__. Laloux uses the term responsibility a lot. I don't think that term is incorrect. However, it doesn't quite capture how on-the-ball people need to be to make self-management as described work. Individuals need to be masters of what Kim Scott calls Radical Candor: the ability to care personally while also challenging directly. This is hard to do, and expecting everyone in an organization to be able to do this is a high bar to set. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it does make me wonder what a variation of self-management that could scale to a broader population would look like.
Another related concern I have is that because self-management depends on people acting with good intent, it feels prone to sabotage from the inside. There is always bias that makes it harder to be valued if you are productive but uncongenial and bias that makes it easier to be a friendly slacker. However, I do wonder if these biases might be magnified even more in a self-managing organization where there's more flexibility and less clear lines of accountability.
The professional mask that we wear often leads to work being exhausting and limiting rather than helping it be part of what helps us have a meaningful life. The next key pattern of teal organizations is finding ways to encourage wholeness in the workplace. This entails letting people find a way to bring their humanity to work rather than expecting them to conform to an artificially constrained sense of what is acceptable.
Key wholeness practices include clear and explicit ground rules for creating psychological safety. These rules come with the expectation that everyone is responsible for following these rules and raising concerns when the rules are violated. Beyond just psychological safety, practices which help to encourage showing humanity at work, such as check-ins and storytelling, can help to make work a more meaningful and welcoming place.
Concrete things that can be done to encourage bringing one's humanity include having a physical space which reflects the humanity, purpose, and individual personality of the organization — one which is neither corporately sterile nor designed by outsiders who create an artificial sense of quirkiness. The onboarding process needs to take time to thoroughly introduce new hires to the organization's principles — especially since those principles are likely to be unfamiliar. Meeting practices need to invite wholeness and promote psychological safety to avoid getting focused on individual ego.
Unlike the self-management or wholeness, the idea of introducing organizational purpose is probably the easiest to get support for. It's standard organizational practice these days to want to have a sense of purpose the organization is trying to achieve. However, a sense of evolutionary purpose goes beyond often empty, often bland corporate statements of purpose.
A sense of evolutionary purpose acknowledges that the organization itself emergently defines its purpose. Authentic purpose cannot be imposed from above. Organizations need to listen for this purpose and listen for the ways it is changing. They also need to articulate the purpose frequently so that it becomes a living part of the organization's decision making process, including creating space to listen at each meeting for whether or not the meeting is upholding the organization's purpose. Alignment with the organization's purpose should be a key part of the hiring process.
In addition to deep diving into all of these areas with details and examples, the book discusses how to create or pivot organizations to be more teal. It also briefly discusses how these ideas might apply beyond organizations.
Overall, I think Laloux's perspective on organizational development is valuable if you take it as an exploration of an archetype rather than as a guidebook. I do believe that we can create organizations where people have more autonomy, more room for humanity, and a deeper sense of individual and organization purpose than is typical today. Does it look exactly like this? I don't know. Does it look more like this than the Achievement-Orange paradigm? Quite possibly.
On a personal note, while I have never worked in an Evolutionary-Teal organization, I have worked in a organization where for some roles, at some times, the world was nearly Evolutionary-Teal: there were high levels of autonomy and flexibility in what work to do (within the given role), there were official organizational programs which encouraged wholeness and being more than just your professional mask. This didn't last. It depended on the organization having high revenue growth which allowed for slop at the margins. It depended on an organizational culture which didn't realize that hiring for a particular conception of the "best" selected for a narrow, homogenous culture. Given both the good and bad of this experience, I approach the idea of a sustainable, equitable, diverse Evolutionary-Teal organization with some trepidation. Yet I can enthusiastically speak the feelings of meaning, purpose, joy, and intrinsic motivation that come when the conditions do point in an Evolutionary-Teal direction.
February 6, 2017
I DID IT! I FINISHED THIS BOOK!
итак, организации будущего, или "от скучного к бесячему туда и обратно"
о скучном: примерно к последней трети книги не осталось ни одной мысли, которая уже не была обмусолена ранее. по-хорошему, книгу можно без потери смысла сократить вдвое, а то и больше - по правде говоря, она мало что прибавила к той паре статей, которые я читала про бирюзовые организации раньше
о бесячем: обмусоливание одних и тех же идей, безусловно, бесит, но не так, как слово "трансцендентальный" без тени сарказма. это как раз то, что статьи аккуратно обходят - что краеугольный камень всей этой бирюзовой эволюционности лежит в области эзотерики. сотрудники бирюзовых организаций на совместных медитативных, простите, стратегических сессиях пытаются вслушаться в голос организации и понять, куда она хочет идти. в одной компании есть практика - оставлять пустой стул на собрании, кто угодно может сесть на этот стул и начать транслировать, чего хочет организация. другие процессы тоже работают на этом уровне - скажем, в этой же компании на перфоманс ревью сначала оцениваемый и оцениватели пытаются настроиться на одну сердечную волну, потом на оцениваемого изливается свет и любовь, и в финале он плачет в катарсисе
в принципе, уже одного этого достаточно, чтобы понять, что я недостаточно просветлена для бирюзовой организации, но на самом деле есть еще кое-что очень важное. вся концепция самоуправления держится на одном основополагающем принципе:голосом Метатрона - непогрешимости Бога на том, что все люди ответственные, и им можно доверять. ты берешь человека в команду, он варится в бирюзовом котле, и понемногу у него вылупляется sense of ownership, и он сразу становится за мир во всем мире. и вот этому постулату противоречит вся моя жизнь от и до, поэтому я не поверю, что так бывает, пока не увижу своими глазами.
итого: читать стоит только если вам по какой-то причине надо ��ровь из носу иметь собственное мнение по поводу всей этой бирюзовой просветленности. лично же я хочу выпить и поорать, и потом еще чутка выпить
итак, организации будущего, или "от скучного к бесячему туда и обратно"
о скучном: примерно к последней трети книги не осталось ни одной мысли, которая уже не была обмусолена ранее. по-хорошему, книгу можно без потери смысла сократить вдвое, а то и больше - по правде говоря, она мало что прибавила к той паре статей, которые я читала про бирюзовые организации раньше
о бесячем: обмусоливание одних и тех же идей, безусловно, бесит, но не так, как слово "трансцендентальный" без тени сарказма. это как раз то, что статьи аккуратно обходят - что краеугольный камень всей этой бирюзовой эволюционности лежит в области эзотерики. сотрудники бирюзовых организаций на совместных медитативных, простите, стратегических сессиях пытаются вслушаться в голос организации и понять, куда она хочет идти. в одной компании есть практика - оставлять пустой стул на собрании, кто угодно может сесть на этот стул и начать транслировать, чего хочет организация. другие процессы тоже работают на этом уровне - скажем, в этой же компании на перфоманс ревью сначала оцениваемый и оцениватели пытаются настроиться на одну сердечную волну, потом на оцениваемого изливается свет и любовь, и в финале он плачет в катарсисе
в принципе, уже одного этого достаточно, чтобы понять, что я недостаточно просветлена для бирюзовой организации, но на самом деле есть еще кое-что очень важное. вся концепция самоуправления держится на одном основополагающем принципе:
итого: читать стоит только если вам по какой-то причине надо ��ровь из носу иметь собственное мнение по поводу всей этой бирюзовой просветленности. лично же я хочу выпить и поорать, и потом еще чутка выпить
December 19, 2015
Если кратко, то книга - про идеальный организационный дизайн, в котором и работа делается отлично, и сотрудники счастливы, и всему окружающему миру (включая клиентов) бизнес создаёт всевозможные блага :)).
Ключевое слово тут "идеальный" :), т.к. образ организации, представленный в книге - собирательный. Но если у кого-то всё же получится воплотить его полностью на практике - будет замечательно!
Этот идеальный орг.дизайн описан на основе модной ныне "спиральной динамики" - как бирюзовый уровень/этап в развитии организации. Как по мне, так это притянуто за уши :)). Автор просто пишет о нескольких направлениях и методах орг.развития, давно уже используемых практиками, только прикручивает всё это к спиральной динамике.
Но в целом книга получилась любопытная! Менеджерам и специалистам по орг.развитию читать рекомендую. Более развернутая рецензия в моем блоге: http://s-kalinin.blogspot.ru/2015/12/...
Ключевое слово тут "идеальный" :), т.к. образ организации, представленный в книге - собирательный. Но если у кого-то всё же получится воплотить его полностью на практике - будет замечательно!
Этот идеальный орг.дизайн описан на основе модной ныне "спиральной динамики" - как бирюзовый уровень/этап в развитии организации. Как по мне, так это притянуто за уши :)). Автор просто пишет о нескольких направлениях и методах орг.развития, давно уже используемых практиками, только прикручивает всё это к спиральной динамике.
Но в целом книга получилась любопытная! Менеджерам и специалистам по орг.развитию читать рекомендую. Более развернутая рецензия в моем блоге: http://s-kalinin.blogspot.ru/2015/12/...
October 1, 2022
"عالم ما قبل الكورونا ليس هو عالم ما بعد الكورونا"، هذه العبارة قد تكون قد أصبحت من العبارات المستهلكة حاليا ولكن سواء شئنا أم أبينا وجدت جميع الشركات والمنظمات والمؤسسات نفسها وجها لوجه أمام تحد وجودي فرض عليها التحول نحو شكل جديد من أشكال العمل وبأن تعيد اختراع نفسها من جديد، لذلك فهذا التحول لم يعد ضربا من ضروب الرفاهية أو الاختيار، بل بات يصب في خانة "أن نكون أو لا نكون".
هذا ليس كتاب إداري من فئة موضة العصر وآخر التقليعات في مجال الإدارة، بل هو كتاب في التطور الإنساني والارتقاء الفكري الذي مر به الإنسان العاقل ومازال، ففي كل مرحلة من مراحل التطور الإنساني كان هناك شكل معين من أشكال المنظمات والمؤسسات بدءا من مرحلة الوعي البسيط عندما كنا قبائل تضم بضع عشرات أو مئات من الأفراد مرورا بالمملكات الأولية فالأمبراطوريات الكبرى والأديان المنظمة فمرحلة الرأسمالية والاستعمار فالشركات الربحية ثم مرحلة ما بعد الحداثة ومرحلة ما بعد بعدالحداثة.
إضافة إلى التأصيل الفلسفي العميق، يضم الكتاب العديد من الممارسات التطبيقية التي يمكن لأي شركة توظيفها إن كانت جدية في التحول نحو أشكال أكثر رقيا في التعامل، ولا شك أننا في وقتنا هذا وقسم كبير مننا يعمل في المنزل لمس أهمية هذا التحول والذي أصبح ضرورة وليس خيارا.
هذا ليس كتاب إداري من فئة موضة العصر وآخر التقليعات في مجال الإدارة، بل هو كتاب في التطور الإنساني والارتقاء الفكري الذي مر به الإنسان العاقل ومازال، ففي كل مرحلة من مراحل التطور الإنساني كان هناك شكل معين من أشكال المنظمات والمؤسسات بدءا من مرحلة الوعي البسيط عندما كنا قبائل تضم بضع عشرات أو مئات من الأفراد مرورا بالمملكات الأولية فالأمبراطوريات الكبرى والأديان المنظمة فمرحلة الرأسمالية والاستعمار فالشركات الربحية ثم مرحلة ما بعد الحداثة ومرحلة ما بعد بعدالحداثة.
إضافة إلى التأصيل الفلسفي العميق، يضم الكتاب العديد من الممارسات التطبيقية التي يمكن لأي شركة توظيفها إن كانت جدية في التحول نحو أشكال أكثر رقيا في التعامل، ولا شك أننا في وقتنا هذا وقسم كبير مننا يعمل في المنزل لمس أهمية هذا التحول والذي أصبح ضرورة وليس خيارا.
May 11, 2019
Amazing. Really bad title though, makes it sound like a really dry, organizational development book. This is the latest book that I read that was a complete paradigm shifter. Absolutely recommend. Great, great book.
February 4, 2023
If you ever want to start and organization, please read this to set you on the right path. If I ever start one again I will demand all my earliest employees to read this!
August 2, 2020
TODOS os líderes, diretores, CEOs deveriam ler esse livro, e nem precisa ser o livro inteiro, mas pelo menos o segundo capítulo.
Percebi com esse livro que tudo o que eu sei e tento executar sobre gestão baseada em empoderamento nas pontas, autonomia e alinhamento são apenas fragmentos. Esse livro me ajudou a criar um racional mais linear, coerente e claro sobre gestão flat. Pra falar a verdade, eu ainda não acredito muito em formatos de gestão sem hierarquia, não porque eu ache que não funciona, mas por que aqui no Brasil, ainda, não temos maturidade pra isso. E a maturidade não existe em nenhum dos níveis da empresa, começando pelos funcionários e indo direto para os altos escalões.
Esse tipo de gestão orgânica, é uma resposta criadas contra exatamente ao modelo atual de gestão popular altamente hierarquizada, que gera diversos conflitos de interesse e é totalmente te descompassado com as emoções, psicologia e comportamento humano. O livro do Frederic Laloux simplesmente juntou em apenas um livro tudo o que eu tento praticar no dia a dia com times locais, em doses homeopáticas. E precisa ser em doses controladas, por que as pessoas não estão preparadas e nem sempre há autonomia necessária. Por isso é algo que não precisa ser feito 100%, mas você já consegue ver resultados positivos misturando os modelos: mantenha a hierarquia, mas delegue as decisões aos poucos para as pontas, até que todos aprenderam a usar autonomia e tenham segurança para praticar.
## Estamos presos no modelo tradicional
O tipo de gestão que é aplicado hoje nas empresas, inclusive nas startups de tecnologia que se dizem com times autônomos auto-organizados com pessoas empoderados, me parece ser bastante inconveniente, colocado ali apenas por que faz parte desse tipo de cultura “moderno descolado”. Todos tentam fazer só por que o manual manda e não para resolver realmente a forma que as pessoas se relacionam com o trabalho e consequentemente com os resultados da empresa. Eu sei que essa crítica pode ser bastante mal interpretado, mas eu nunca vi nenhuma empresa realmente tentar, de verdade, aplicar um tipo de gestão onde não houvesse um controle velado de uma hierarquia que nunca se desfez de verdade. E isso não é errado de forma alguma. Só se torna errado quando você diz que a cultura de gestão é uma, mas executa outra. Sou sortudo por ter trabalhado em empresas que tentavam mesclar uma gestão mais flexível, embora hierarquizada, onde todos tem alguma autonomia.
Quando definimos para nossa vida metas desconectadas da nossa individualidade mais profunda e quando vestimos os rostos de outras pessoas, não permanecemos na potência do nosso ser. Inevitavelmente, nos sentimos incapazes e investimos muita energia tentando superar nossas fraquezas ou culpando outros e nós mesmos por não sermos quem pensamos que deveríamos ser. — Laloux, Frederic. Reinventando as Organizações
O alto escalão de TODAS as empresas deveriam ler esse livro. Não para revolucionarem suas empresas atuais de forma imediata, mas pra mudarem (ou reforçarem) suas formas de gestão e então imbuirem seus negócios com uma cultura que realmente cause impacto nas pessoas ligadas às empresas.
Eu conhecia alguns dos cases mencionados no livro, como a Valve, por exemplo, mas os exemplos que começam a ser citados a partir do capítulo 2 explodiram minha cabeça. O livro não explica no detalhe como essas empresas se organizaram ou os passos táticos que os gestores e alta liderança trilharam para realizar os feitos. Acho que essa é uma enorme oportunidade pra autores como o Frederic Laloux.
Mudar é difícil por causa da forte influência da cultura tradicional, principalmente na vida pessoal
Manter e organizar empresas ou times no formato proposto e exemplificado no livro é difícil. Embora exista momentos em que o autor disse que é possível, a coisa não é fácil, sobretudo quando você tenta aplicar algumas práticas de auto-gestão em empresas que tem uma estrutura hierárquica tradicional forte. Por sorte, trabalho hoje em uma empresa que permite aplicar algumas das premissas e da pra ver que o desconhecimento e a desconfiança das pessoas afeta bastante o processo. Escrevi um artigo chamado Sobre receber e dar autonomia, que mostra como é difícil alguém aprender a usar e a receber autonomia da sua liderança. As pessoas estão tão acostumadas a uma estrutura de comando e controle que elas se perdem com tanto poder (no sentido de poder realizar algo). E isso não acontece apenas na sua profissional, mas também na pessoal: igreja, família, amigos, Colegio… em todos esses pontos da vida, há uma hierarquia, com regras exclusivas e rígidas que precisam ser seguidas sob o olhar de alguém acima de você.
## Tudo baseado na confiança
Acho que a confiança é quesito mais importante para criar organizações baseadas nos princípios de auto-gestão.
Você precisa delegar não só algumas, mas todas as decisões para todas as pessoas. O CEO não toma decisão alguma sobre qualquer coisa. Obviamente há restrições a seguir: ninguém pode simplesmente tomar uma decisão, sem antes se aconselhar com todas as partes impactadas. Veja bem:
Se a ideia for boa, todas as partes irão aceitar e seguir a ideia sem problemas algum, por viram valor maquilou;
Se a ideia for ruim, as partes irão dissuadir a pessoa de não aplicar a ideia, por que ainda há pontos a resolver ou discutir;
Se mesmo assim a pessoa (ou grupo) decidir aplicar a ideia sem consultar ou tentando forçar uma adoção, as partes podem simplesmente não adotar a proposta e a ideia morre por inanição;
Você tem o direito de tentar sugerir e aplicar qualquer coisa que queira, e o grupo tem o direito de ajudá-lo ou não.
> quanto mais complexa nossa visão de mundo e nossa cognição, maior é a efetividade para lidarmos com os problemas que se apresentam. — Laloux, Frederic. Reinventando as Organizações
Um exemplo no livro de uma empresa de peças industriais, sobretudo automotivas, chamada FAVI, onde um dos integrantes dos time, chamado Frank, entendeu que a empresa poderia ser mais inovadora se eles explorassem novas máquinas, processos e novos materiais. Então, ele queria assumir a responsabilidade de sair pelo mundo procurando novas tecnologias e processos para melhorar a fabricação. Ele falou (pediu conselho) para o CEO, Zobrist, que achou que ele tinha um ótimo perfil pra isso e motivou a fazê-lo.
> Atrás da fachada e da bravata, a vida de um líder corporativo poderoso também é um sofrimento silencioso. Sua atividade frenética é muitas vezes a cobertura perversa de um profundo senso de vazio interior. — Laloux, Frederic. Reinventando as Organizações
Contudo, nesse caso, não era Zobrist que decidiria sobre o papel dele, então Frank deveria provar que esse papel tem valor pra empresa e para os times. Então ele começou a viajar o mundo procurando o que a fábrica pudesse usar e melhorar seus processos. Uma sexta-feira por mês, Frank fazia uma apresentação, aberta, para quem quisesse assistir. Ele informava o assunto que seria abordado na descrição do compromisso e então áreas e pessoas que estivessem interessadas estavam livres para comparecer. Como funcionaria:
Se os colegas vissem valor nessa responsabilidade e comparecesse nas reuniões, haveria um indicativo de que essa responsabilidade estava entregando valor para o time.
Se as pessoas aplicassem as ideias trazidas e realizassem mudanças sugeridas, sua responsabilidade de solitária poderia se tornar um time, aumentando a potência do trabalho já feito (um time de Research e Inovação, por exemplo).
Se as pessoas não comparecessem, provavelmente ninguém estaria vendo valor naquilo, e ele deveria encontrar uma nova responsabilidade ou iniciativa na fábrica.
> Foi um sucesso! Frank tem viajado o mundo, procurando novas tecnologias e novos fornecedores. Ele trabalha sem um orçamento e sem alvos, como todos os outros na FAVI. Ele é confiável para ser sensato em suas despesas de viagem e hotel. Cerca de uma vez por mês, ele volta à fábrica numa manhã de sexta-feira e realiza uma conferência para compartilhar suas descobertas. O tema determina quem dentre os operadores ou engenheiros aparece na conferência. Se as pessoas escolherem participar da reunião e captar suas ideias é prova de que seu papel é valioso. Se, em algum momento, os colegas pararem de ir às reuniões das manhãs de sexta-feira, seu papel naturalmente deixará de existir. Nesse caso, Frank precisaria encontrar um novo papel para si próprio, possivelmente juntando-se a uma equipe como operador de máquina. — Página 100, Reinventando Organizações
Esse tipo de confiança deve ser construída. Como eu disse antes: estamos tão acostumados a sermos direcionados, a não lidarmos com autonomia, a não tomarmos decisões difíceis na empresa por medo ou receio das consequências que cenários de alta liberdade como o exemplo acima estão totalmente fora do nosso radar.
## Concluindo
Achei o início do livro muito “esotérico”. Ele se refere a empresas que tem uma gestão flat, onde as pessoas tem um altíssimo poder de decisão nas pontas, onde não há hierarquia quase nenhuma e os funcionários não tem um cargo específico, como empresas que contribuem para uma nova consciência humana. Achei muito mítico e utópico a forma como ele aborda o assunto. Parece que o autor tira a carga técnica que vemos em livros comuns de gestão e negócios e coloca no lugar um sentimento mais espiritual pra coisa.
Contudo, ignorando o “esoterismo” e se apegando ao foco de gestão e estruturas organizacionais, o livro é ótimo. Eu realmente quero começar a aplicar ideias e atitudes de auto-gestão em meus times e fundamentar mais a minha atitude de dar mais autonomia e alinhamento para os times tomarem decisões. Eu mesmo tenho muito a aprender nesse quesito de “direcionar” sem ser “diretivo”. Sutilezas que mudam tudo.
Referências:
REINVENTING ORGANIZATIONS - Home
Reinventing Organizations - YouTube
FAVI: How Zobrist Broke Down FAVI’s Command-and-Control Structures
http://www.favi.com/management/
Holacracy - Evolve Your Organization
Holacracia Brasil | Holocracia | Holacracy
Percebi com esse livro que tudo o que eu sei e tento executar sobre gestão baseada em empoderamento nas pontas, autonomia e alinhamento são apenas fragmentos. Esse livro me ajudou a criar um racional mais linear, coerente e claro sobre gestão flat. Pra falar a verdade, eu ainda não acredito muito em formatos de gestão sem hierarquia, não porque eu ache que não funciona, mas por que aqui no Brasil, ainda, não temos maturidade pra isso. E a maturidade não existe em nenhum dos níveis da empresa, começando pelos funcionários e indo direto para os altos escalões.
Esse tipo de gestão orgânica, é uma resposta criadas contra exatamente ao modelo atual de gestão popular altamente hierarquizada, que gera diversos conflitos de interesse e é totalmente te descompassado com as emoções, psicologia e comportamento humano. O livro do Frederic Laloux simplesmente juntou em apenas um livro tudo o que eu tento praticar no dia a dia com times locais, em doses homeopáticas. E precisa ser em doses controladas, por que as pessoas não estão preparadas e nem sempre há autonomia necessária. Por isso é algo que não precisa ser feito 100%, mas você já consegue ver resultados positivos misturando os modelos: mantenha a hierarquia, mas delegue as decisões aos poucos para as pontas, até que todos aprenderam a usar autonomia e tenham segurança para praticar.
## Estamos presos no modelo tradicional
O tipo de gestão que é aplicado hoje nas empresas, inclusive nas startups de tecnologia que se dizem com times autônomos auto-organizados com pessoas empoderados, me parece ser bastante inconveniente, colocado ali apenas por que faz parte desse tipo de cultura “moderno descolado”. Todos tentam fazer só por que o manual manda e não para resolver realmente a forma que as pessoas se relacionam com o trabalho e consequentemente com os resultados da empresa. Eu sei que essa crítica pode ser bastante mal interpretado, mas eu nunca vi nenhuma empresa realmente tentar, de verdade, aplicar um tipo de gestão onde não houvesse um controle velado de uma hierarquia que nunca se desfez de verdade. E isso não é errado de forma alguma. Só se torna errado quando você diz que a cultura de gestão é uma, mas executa outra. Sou sortudo por ter trabalhado em empresas que tentavam mesclar uma gestão mais flexível, embora hierarquizada, onde todos tem alguma autonomia.
Quando definimos para nossa vida metas desconectadas da nossa individualidade mais profunda e quando vestimos os rostos de outras pessoas, não permanecemos na potência do nosso ser. Inevitavelmente, nos sentimos incapazes e investimos muita energia tentando superar nossas fraquezas ou culpando outros e nós mesmos por não sermos quem pensamos que deveríamos ser. — Laloux, Frederic. Reinventando as Organizações
O alto escalão de TODAS as empresas deveriam ler esse livro. Não para revolucionarem suas empresas atuais de forma imediata, mas pra mudarem (ou reforçarem) suas formas de gestão e então imbuirem seus negócios com uma cultura que realmente cause impacto nas pessoas ligadas às empresas.
Eu conhecia alguns dos cases mencionados no livro, como a Valve, por exemplo, mas os exemplos que começam a ser citados a partir do capítulo 2 explodiram minha cabeça. O livro não explica no detalhe como essas empresas se organizaram ou os passos táticos que os gestores e alta liderança trilharam para realizar os feitos. Acho que essa é uma enorme oportunidade pra autores como o Frederic Laloux.
Mudar é difícil por causa da forte influência da cultura tradicional, principalmente na vida pessoal
Manter e organizar empresas ou times no formato proposto e exemplificado no livro é difícil. Embora exista momentos em que o autor disse que é possível, a coisa não é fácil, sobretudo quando você tenta aplicar algumas práticas de auto-gestão em empresas que tem uma estrutura hierárquica tradicional forte. Por sorte, trabalho hoje em uma empresa que permite aplicar algumas das premissas e da pra ver que o desconhecimento e a desconfiança das pessoas afeta bastante o processo. Escrevi um artigo chamado Sobre receber e dar autonomia, que mostra como é difícil alguém aprender a usar e a receber autonomia da sua liderança. As pessoas estão tão acostumadas a uma estrutura de comando e controle que elas se perdem com tanto poder (no sentido de poder realizar algo). E isso não acontece apenas na sua profissional, mas também na pessoal: igreja, família, amigos, Colegio… em todos esses pontos da vida, há uma hierarquia, com regras exclusivas e rígidas que precisam ser seguidas sob o olhar de alguém acima de você.
## Tudo baseado na confiança
Acho que a confiança é quesito mais importante para criar organizações baseadas nos princípios de auto-gestão.
Você precisa delegar não só algumas, mas todas as decisões para todas as pessoas. O CEO não toma decisão alguma sobre qualquer coisa. Obviamente há restrições a seguir: ninguém pode simplesmente tomar uma decisão, sem antes se aconselhar com todas as partes impactadas. Veja bem:
Se a ideia for boa, todas as partes irão aceitar e seguir a ideia sem problemas algum, por viram valor maquilou;
Se a ideia for ruim, as partes irão dissuadir a pessoa de não aplicar a ideia, por que ainda há pontos a resolver ou discutir;
Se mesmo assim a pessoa (ou grupo) decidir aplicar a ideia sem consultar ou tentando forçar uma adoção, as partes podem simplesmente não adotar a proposta e a ideia morre por inanição;
Você tem o direito de tentar sugerir e aplicar qualquer coisa que queira, e o grupo tem o direito de ajudá-lo ou não.
> quanto mais complexa nossa visão de mundo e nossa cognição, maior é a efetividade para lidarmos com os problemas que se apresentam. — Laloux, Frederic. Reinventando as Organizações
Um exemplo no livro de uma empresa de peças industriais, sobretudo automotivas, chamada FAVI, onde um dos integrantes dos time, chamado Frank, entendeu que a empresa poderia ser mais inovadora se eles explorassem novas máquinas, processos e novos materiais. Então, ele queria assumir a responsabilidade de sair pelo mundo procurando novas tecnologias e processos para melhorar a fabricação. Ele falou (pediu conselho) para o CEO, Zobrist, que achou que ele tinha um ótimo perfil pra isso e motivou a fazê-lo.
> Atrás da fachada e da bravata, a vida de um líder corporativo poderoso também é um sofrimento silencioso. Sua atividade frenética é muitas vezes a cobertura perversa de um profundo senso de vazio interior. — Laloux, Frederic. Reinventando as Organizações
Contudo, nesse caso, não era Zobrist que decidiria sobre o papel dele, então Frank deveria provar que esse papel tem valor pra empresa e para os times. Então ele começou a viajar o mundo procurando o que a fábrica pudesse usar e melhorar seus processos. Uma sexta-feira por mês, Frank fazia uma apresentação, aberta, para quem quisesse assistir. Ele informava o assunto que seria abordado na descrição do compromisso e então áreas e pessoas que estivessem interessadas estavam livres para comparecer. Como funcionaria:
Se os colegas vissem valor nessa responsabilidade e comparecesse nas reuniões, haveria um indicativo de que essa responsabilidade estava entregando valor para o time.
Se as pessoas aplicassem as ideias trazidas e realizassem mudanças sugeridas, sua responsabilidade de solitária poderia se tornar um time, aumentando a potência do trabalho já feito (um time de Research e Inovação, por exemplo).
Se as pessoas não comparecessem, provavelmente ninguém estaria vendo valor naquilo, e ele deveria encontrar uma nova responsabilidade ou iniciativa na fábrica.
> Foi um sucesso! Frank tem viajado o mundo, procurando novas tecnologias e novos fornecedores. Ele trabalha sem um orçamento e sem alvos, como todos os outros na FAVI. Ele é confiável para ser sensato em suas despesas de viagem e hotel. Cerca de uma vez por mês, ele volta à fábrica numa manhã de sexta-feira e realiza uma conferência para compartilhar suas descobertas. O tema determina quem dentre os operadores ou engenheiros aparece na conferência. Se as pessoas escolherem participar da reunião e captar suas ideias é prova de que seu papel é valioso. Se, em algum momento, os colegas pararem de ir às reuniões das manhãs de sexta-feira, seu papel naturalmente deixará de existir. Nesse caso, Frank precisaria encontrar um novo papel para si próprio, possivelmente juntando-se a uma equipe como operador de máquina. — Página 100, Reinventando Organizações
Esse tipo de confiança deve ser construída. Como eu disse antes: estamos tão acostumados a sermos direcionados, a não lidarmos com autonomia, a não tomarmos decisões difíceis na empresa por medo ou receio das consequências que cenários de alta liberdade como o exemplo acima estão totalmente fora do nosso radar.
## Concluindo
Achei o início do livro muito “esotérico”. Ele se refere a empresas que tem uma gestão flat, onde as pessoas tem um altíssimo poder de decisão nas pontas, onde não há hierarquia quase nenhuma e os funcionários não tem um cargo específico, como empresas que contribuem para uma nova consciência humana. Achei muito mítico e utópico a forma como ele aborda o assunto. Parece que o autor tira a carga técnica que vemos em livros comuns de gestão e negócios e coloca no lugar um sentimento mais espiritual pra coisa.
Contudo, ignorando o “esoterismo” e se apegando ao foco de gestão e estruturas organizacionais, o livro é ótimo. Eu realmente quero começar a aplicar ideias e atitudes de auto-gestão em meus times e fundamentar mais a minha atitude de dar mais autonomia e alinhamento para os times tomarem decisões. Eu mesmo tenho muito a aprender nesse quesito de “direcionar” sem ser “diretivo”. Sutilezas que mudam tudo.
Referências:
REINVENTING ORGANIZATIONS - Home
Reinventing Organizations - YouTube
FAVI: How Zobrist Broke Down FAVI’s Command-and-Control Structures
http://www.favi.com/management/
Holacracy - Evolve Your Organization
Holacracia Brasil | Holocracia | Holacracy
April 20, 2018
من أمتع ما قرأت في التنظيم، والكاتب فريدريك لالوكس صاحب القلب الطيّب والفطرة السليمة، كنت أقرأ الكتاب وكأني أستمع لقراءة عبدالباسط، بعد كل فقرة أصيح «الله عليك!».
بعد قرائتي كتاب «The Starfish and the Spider»، وهو كتاب جميل يستعرض بعض مبادئ اللامركزيّة، لم يشفي غليل السؤال، فقد اعتبرت الكتاب وكأنه بيان رسمي manifesto لانطلاق فكرة جديدة في تاريخ الإنسانية، وأدعوا لمن أحب بداية القراءة في عالم الإدارة الشبكية أن يبدأ في هذا الكتاب.
بعد خيبة أمل كبيرة بالواقع، وبحث مستمر، عثرت على كتاب «Reinventing Organization»، ولأول مرة أقرأ كتاب أسلوبه يسير وأفكاره عميقة، يدعو لالوكس أن نتخذ من الكون مثلًا في إدارة منظامتنا، ويذكر أن الهرمية هي منتج الكبر الإنساني، وأنّ المنظمات قديمًا وللآن تتشكل حسب الوعي الإنساني تجاه الكون، وأننا نعيش الآن في زمن بزوخ وعي جديد وأنماط جديد للمنظمات- يصنفها تحت اللون الفيروزي-، رصد لالولكس عشرات المنظمات التي تعمل وفقًا لمبادئ المنظمات الفيروزية، ووضع تجاربهم في سياقات متعددة منها فكرية وأخرى عملية، الثلاث مبادئ الرئيسية لهكذا منظمات هي: الإدارة الذاتية Self-Management، الكمَال Wholeness ، الغاية الثوريّة Evolutionary Purpose، ولكل مبدأ تطبيقاته وهياكله.
بعض الشطحات أثناء قراءة الكتاب: تذكرت طه عبدالرحمن ونظريته الإئتمانية، ومجتمع المدينة المنورة والقيادة النبوية. تيقنت أنّ النموذج الديمقراطي الغربي الذي يتغنى به الشرقيّون شكل آخر من التسيد الإنساني.تأملت بالكون وتذكرت الآية الكريمة «لا الشمس ينبغي لها أن تدرك القمر ولا الليل سابق النهار وكل في فلك يسبحون»، أي أنّ الشمس والقمر مدركان لوظيفتهما في هذا النسق الكوني الشبكي البديع، ويعملان ليل نهار بلا كِبرٍ أو ملل.
وتسآلت: ماذا لو كانت الشمس تجلس على عرش السلطة والكواكب متمثلة بأمرها؟ لتسيّدت الشمس، وثارت الكواكب على النظام، وحدثت الفوضى، وانتقلت السلطة لكوكب آخر، وتسيّد، وثارت عليه الكواكب، ونسيت - كما نسيّ الإنسان- الكواكب والشمس السؤال الوجودي الأصيل: لماذا خلقنا الله؟ وما هو دورنا في رحلة الحياة؟
ملاحظة: الكتاب هو كتابٌ في التنظيم وطرحه عملي جدًا جدًا، وله جوانب أخرى كثيرة، تصوف وأسئلة وجودية، علم نفس واجتماع وسياسة، وأظن أنك بعد أن تنهي الكتاب ونجحت في أن لا تنحاز لفكرة تقليدية، ستبدأ الأسئلة بالإنهمار، النظريات الإقتصادية والإجتماعية بكل ما فيها، فالكتاب يتكلم عن منظومة تستبدل الخوف بالثقة كمحرك أساسي للعلاقات الإنسانية، ويستبدل العقلانية بالحكمة كقلب للمنظمات الفيروزية.
لدي أفكار مجنونة بعد قراءة هذا الكتاب، وأبحث عن من يشاركني هذا الجنون!
بعد قرائتي كتاب «The Starfish and the Spider»، وهو كتاب جميل يستعرض بعض مبادئ اللامركزيّة، لم يشفي غليل السؤال، فقد اعتبرت الكتاب وكأنه بيان رسمي manifesto لانطلاق فكرة جديدة في تاريخ الإنسانية، وأدعوا لمن أحب بداية القراءة في عالم الإدارة الشبكية أن يبدأ في هذا الكتاب.
بعد خيبة أمل كبيرة بالواقع، وبحث مستمر، عثرت على كتاب «Reinventing Organization»، ولأول مرة أقرأ كتاب أسلوبه يسير وأفكاره عميقة، يدعو لالوكس أن نتخذ من الكون مثلًا في إدارة منظامتنا، ويذكر أن الهرمية هي منتج الكبر الإنساني، وأنّ المنظمات قديمًا وللآن تتشكل حسب الوعي الإنساني تجاه الكون، وأننا نعيش الآن في زمن بزوخ وعي جديد وأنماط جديد للمنظمات- يصنفها تحت اللون الفيروزي-، رصد لالولكس عشرات المنظمات التي تعمل وفقًا لمبادئ المنظمات الفيروزية، ووضع تجاربهم في سياقات متعددة منها فكرية وأخرى عملية، الثلاث مبادئ الرئيسية لهكذا منظمات هي: الإدارة الذاتية Self-Management، الكمَال Wholeness ، الغاية الثوريّة Evolutionary Purpose، ولكل مبدأ تطبيقاته وهياكله.
بعض الشطحات أثناء قراءة الكتاب: تذكرت طه عبدالرحمن ونظريته الإئتمانية، ومجتمع المدينة المنورة والقيادة النبوية. تيقنت أنّ النموذج الديمقراطي الغربي الذي يتغنى به الشرقيّون شكل آخر من التسيد الإنساني.تأملت بالكون وتذكرت الآية الكريمة «لا الشمس ينبغي لها أن تدرك القمر ولا الليل سابق النهار وكل في فلك يسبحون»، أي أنّ الشمس والقمر مدركان لوظيفتهما في هذا النسق الكوني الشبكي البديع، ويعملان ليل نهار بلا كِبرٍ أو ملل.
وتسآلت: ماذا لو كانت الشمس تجلس على عرش السلطة والكواكب متمثلة بأمرها؟ لتسيّدت الشمس، وثارت الكواكب على النظام، وحدثت الفوضى، وانتقلت السلطة لكوكب آخر، وتسيّد، وثارت عليه الكواكب، ونسيت - كما نسيّ الإنسان- الكواكب والشمس السؤال الوجودي الأصيل: لماذا خلقنا الله؟ وما هو دورنا في رحلة الحياة؟
ملاحظة: الكتاب هو كتابٌ في التنظيم وطرحه عملي جدًا جدًا، وله جوانب أخرى كثيرة، تصوف وأسئلة وجودية، علم نفس واجتماع وسياسة، وأظن أنك بعد أن تنهي الكتاب ونجحت في أن لا تنحاز لفكرة تقليدية، ستبدأ الأسئلة بالإنهمار، النظريات الإقتصادية والإجتماعية بكل ما فيها، فالكتاب يتكلم عن منظومة تستبدل الخوف بالثقة كمحرك أساسي للعلاقات الإنسانية، ويستبدل العقلانية بالحكمة كقلب للمنظمات الفيروزية.
لدي أفكار مجنونة بعد قراءة هذا الكتاب، وأبحث عن من يشاركني هذا الجنون!
December 21, 2015
This book is a gift for anyone who can attest to how self-management can enable businesses to serve from the inside out.
When I first became a manager, I started to introduce styles of self-management into my work. First, out of respect for the team of engineers with whom I used to work alongside. Then, out of practicality. Given the number of projects I oversaw, the amount of stakeholders I needed to keep updated, I knew that I could no longer go deep into a problem to make informed decisions on my own.
While I didn't have any precedence nor a MBA to show me the way, as someone fresh out of the team, it just "made sense". Having been on the receiving end of layers of management, I knew exactly how I (and those in the team) didn't want to be led. I knew that there was a lot of knowledge and real care for customers within the teams. I also knew that there was an unnecessary, yet growing gap between management and the team, which led to a lot of mistrust, scapegoating and political intrigues.
Eight years later, I've been able to set up conclaves of self-managing styled teams within Amber-Orange styled organizations. It's not an easy spiel to keep up, yet the success rate is baffling.
For those of us, who truly believe that the future of work needs to be more human, more considerate, more authentic. Thanks to Frederic Laloux, we now have the language, the case studies and community to move this agenda forward!
When I first became a manager, I started to introduce styles of self-management into my work. First, out of respect for the team of engineers with whom I used to work alongside. Then, out of practicality. Given the number of projects I oversaw, the amount of stakeholders I needed to keep updated, I knew that I could no longer go deep into a problem to make informed decisions on my own.
While I didn't have any precedence nor a MBA to show me the way, as someone fresh out of the team, it just "made sense". Having been on the receiving end of layers of management, I knew exactly how I (and those in the team) didn't want to be led. I knew that there was a lot of knowledge and real care for customers within the teams. I also knew that there was an unnecessary, yet growing gap between management and the team, which led to a lot of mistrust, scapegoating and political intrigues.
Eight years later, I've been able to set up conclaves of self-managing styled teams within Amber-Orange styled organizations. It's not an easy spiel to keep up, yet the success rate is baffling.
For those of us, who truly believe that the future of work needs to be more human, more considerate, more authentic. Thanks to Frederic Laloux, we now have the language, the case studies and community to move this agenda forward!
February 1, 2017
Фредерик Лалу описал свое видение эволюции моделей организаций и сосредотачивает свое внимание на модели, за которой будущее по мнению Фредерика, - Бирюзовой. Очень популярная концепция, которой увлечены многие из знакомых мне предпринимателей.
Книга основана на собственном исследовании Лалу, проведенном в 12 организациях. Из неё можно почерпнуть несколько полезных концепций, подходов, практик, которые позволяют сделать организацию такой, чтобы работа в ней способствовала самореализации человека, была наполнена смыслом. Особенно рекомендую к прочтению тем, кто все ещё считает работу или дело неизбежным злом, которое не может приносить удовольствия, только деньги.
Книге добавило бы ценности (и звезд), если ли бы Лалу уделил внимание неудачным кейсам. Когда попытка построить "бирюзовую" организацию оборачивалась крахом компании. Также было бы полезно уделить внимание тонким вопросам, возникающим при реализации описанных практик. Иногда складывается ощущение, что автор описывает "бирюзовый" подход в слишком "розовых" тонах.
Книга основана на собственном исследовании Лалу, проведенном в 12 организациях. Из неё можно почерпнуть несколько полезных концепций, подходов, практик, которые позволяют сделать организацию такой, чтобы работа в ней способствовала самореализации человека, была наполнена смыслом. Особенно рекомендую к прочтению тем, кто все ещё считает работу или дело неизбежным злом, которое не может приносить удовольствия, только деньги.
Книге добавило бы ценности (и звезд), если ли бы Лалу уделил внимание неудачным кейсам. Когда попытка построить "бирюзовую" организацию оборачивалась крахом компании. Также было бы полезно уделить внимание тонким вопросам, возникающим при реализации описанных практик. Иногда складывается ощущение, что автор описывает "бирюзовый" подход в слишком "розовых" тонах.
October 7, 2019
من الكتب المؤثرة فعلاً والتي تدفعك لتغيير طريقة تفكيرك بشكل جذري حول مجال ما..
بل يتلاعب حتى في قناعاتك تجاه الآخرين.. وينسف الخوف غير المبرر في بناء العلاقات مع الموظفين على عدم الثقة..
بل يتلاعب حتى في قناعاتك تجاه الآخرين.. وينسف الخوف غير المبرر في بناء العلاقات مع الموظفين على عدم الثقة..
May 13, 2022
O belga Frederic Laloux, que foi consultor da McKinsey por 10 anos antes de publicar o livro (2016), parte do princípio de que algo está quebrado nas empresas. De algum modo, muitos sentem que a forma como as organizações são administradas não funciona mais e que o sistema foi esticado além de seus limites.
Os sinais que confirmam isso são vários, entre os quais podemos citar: o desengajamento de funcionários, os líderes exaustos e a confiança dos clientes em baixa. Tudo isso em meio aos desafios sociais e ambientes que crescem em meio à emergência climática.
Um novo estágio evolutivo para as organizações
Laloux acredita que se há muita dor no mundo hoje, é em parte porque nossas formas atuais de estar no mundo parecem cada vez mais desatualizadas e incapazes de lidar com os desafios que enfrentamos. "Acontece que estamos em um desses períodos de transição em que o antigo está começando a desmoronar, mas o novo ainda não tomou forma. Nestes tempos confusos, algumas pessoas redobram suas perspectivas e crenças existentes, tentando aplicar soluções desatualizadas, cada vez mais freneticamente. Outras, em número crescente, dão o salto para uma nova perspectiva, que lhes permite buscar soluções que antes não estavam disponíveis".
As organizações Teal (Evolutivas) representam esse novo paradigma de gestão, que tende a ser questionado inicialmente, pois as premissas que o movem fazem pouco sentido a partir da perspectiva dominante.
A metáfora empregada pelas Evolutivas é a organização como um organismo vivo. A ideia vem de um questionamento sobre como seriam as organizações se fossem tratadas como seres vivos alimentados pelo poder evolutivo da própria vida. "A mudança na natureza acontece em todos os lugares, o tempo todo, em um impulso de auto-organização que vem de cada célula e de cada organismo, sem necessidade de comando e controle central", diz.
Os sinais que confirmam isso são vários, entre os quais podemos citar: o desengajamento de funcionários, os líderes exaustos e a confiança dos clientes em baixa. Tudo isso em meio aos desafios sociais e ambientes que crescem em meio à emergência climática.
Um novo estágio evolutivo para as organizações
Laloux acredita que se há muita dor no mundo hoje, é em parte porque nossas formas atuais de estar no mundo parecem cada vez mais desatualizadas e incapazes de lidar com os desafios que enfrentamos. "Acontece que estamos em um desses períodos de transição em que o antigo está começando a desmoronar, mas o novo ainda não tomou forma. Nestes tempos confusos, algumas pessoas redobram suas perspectivas e crenças existentes, tentando aplicar soluções desatualizadas, cada vez mais freneticamente. Outras, em número crescente, dão o salto para uma nova perspectiva, que lhes permite buscar soluções que antes não estavam disponíveis".
As organizações Teal (Evolutivas) representam esse novo paradigma de gestão, que tende a ser questionado inicialmente, pois as premissas que o movem fazem pouco sentido a partir da perspectiva dominante.
A metáfora empregada pelas Evolutivas é a organização como um organismo vivo. A ideia vem de um questionamento sobre como seriam as organizações se fossem tratadas como seres vivos alimentados pelo poder evolutivo da própria vida. "A mudança na natureza acontece em todos os lugares, o tempo todo, em um impulso de auto-organização que vem de cada célula e de cada organismo, sem necessidade de comando e controle central", diz.
October 2, 2017
Wonderful content with unfortunate packaging.
5 stars for the content. 2,5 stars for the writing style and choice of terms. Workplace happiness would have clicked more with me than wholeness, soulfulness, et all.
Couldn't help to think sometimes "That sounds exactly like Star Trek utopia" or "wow that sounds pretty hippie". Might be because of my more achievement oriented up-bringing and the work environments I've witnessed in the last 15 years, though.
That being said, having worked the last 10 month in a fully self managed team I certainly can see the advantage of working that way. Especially flexible roles vs narrowly defined, fixed responsibilities is something that worked amazingly well for us. And guess what, every team member likes that setup a lot.
I'll definitely continue researching this topic space.
5 stars for the content. 2,5 stars for the writing style and choice of terms. Workplace happiness would have clicked more with me than wholeness, soulfulness, et all.
Couldn't help to think sometimes "That sounds exactly like Star Trek utopia" or "wow that sounds pretty hippie". Might be because of my more achievement oriented up-bringing and the work environments I've witnessed in the last 15 years, though.
That being said, having worked the last 10 month in a fully self managed team I certainly can see the advantage of working that way. Especially flexible roles vs narrowly defined, fixed responsibilities is something that worked amazingly well for us. And guess what, every team member likes that setup a lot.
I'll definitely continue researching this topic space.
July 11, 2024
Книга перегукується з іншими схожими виданнями як, наприклад, "Людинократія" Гемела, проте має свої особливості. Проведене дослідження зроблене скрупульозно та описує організації з різних аспектів їх діяльності.
Цікаво усвідомлювати, що багато з ідей, що описані у ній та стосуються Бірюзових компаній, дуже близькі до того, що практикується у власній роботі. З іншого ж боку, тяжко уявити, що цей підхід буде масштабований настільки, щоб зробити різницю. На жаль, видається, що більшість людей не готова брати на себе відповідальність за зміни і готова просто втримувати статус-кво.
Цікаво усвідомлювати, що багато з ідей, що описані у ній та стосуються Бірюзових компаній, дуже близькі до того, що практикується у власній роботі. З іншого ж боку, тяжко уявити, що цей підхід буде масштабований настільки, щоб зробити різницю. На жаль, видається, що більшість людей не готова брати на себе відповідальність за зміни і готова просто втримувати статус-кво.
July 17, 2023
This is one of the most forward thinking books I've read in a long time. The companies studied in this book are truly advanced and are pioneers in creating living and learning organisations. They give me hope that the future will be better. I think every leader should take the time to read this book, just to understand that there are better ways to run businesses, and self organisation is one way that yields phenomenal success.
June 5, 2021
I was so amazed by this book. It really brings a new perspective. I admire the author for being so courageous to write it fully authentically and not leaving out the spiritual dimension only because it is not popular in the business world. Both the content and how he brought himself forward gave me so much inspiration! The book is very well structured, great combination of practical examples and bird's eye perspective on the evolution of human development. I cannot recommend it more for everyone seeking for more conscious and meaningful organizations!
July 22, 2023
4.5 sao
Một cuốn sách tuyệt vời. Một cuốn sách mà mình sẽ chủ động giới thiệu cho người phù hợp.
Dưới đây là một số nhận xét mang tính chung chung, không tiết lộ quá nhiều nội dung sách.
Bản mình đọc lần này là phiên bản đầy đủ của cuốn sách.
Cuốn sách này có một cách tiếp cận và phân chia các dạng, hình thái của tổ chức khá là phù hợp, rất dễ hình dung và ánh xạ vào thực tế.
Không chỉ phân loại, nêu ra các điểm tốt/hạn chế của từng dạng thức, cuốn sách cũng chỉ ra cách để chúng ta sử dụng phù hợp cho từng dạng thức.
Với việc lựa chọn dạng thức "tiến hóa", tác giả cũng phân tích được tương đối đầy đủ các khía cạnh để có thể hình thành được tổ chức như vậy qua từng giai đoạn, không chỉ là xây mới mà còn là chuyển đổi từ các dạng thức khác. Các đặc điểm, các điều kiện đảm bảo, quá trình hình thành, các lưu ý về tổ chức "tiến hóa" được tác giả đưa ra khá trọn vẹn.
Phần phụ lục cuối sách, tác giả đúc kết lại ngắn gọn toàn bộ nội dung cuốn sách, rất tiện để có thể tra cứu, tìm kiếm nhanh về sau.
Tuy nhiên, cũng có một số điểm mình cho rằng tác giả có thể đầu tư hơn nữa. Cụ thể, phần về tâm linh và tôn giáo. Phần tâm linh thì khá ổn, nhưng phần tôn giáo thì có lẽ còn hơi phiến diện.
Một cuốn sách tuyệt vời. Một cuốn sách mà mình sẽ chủ động giới thiệu cho người phù hợp.
Dưới đây là một số nhận xét mang tính chung chung, không tiết lộ quá nhiều nội dung sách.
Bản mình đọc lần này là phiên bản đầy đủ của cuốn sách.
Cuốn sách này có một cách tiếp cận và phân chia các dạng, hình thái của tổ chức khá là phù hợp, rất dễ hình dung và ánh xạ vào thực tế.
Không chỉ phân loại, nêu ra các điểm tốt/hạn chế của từng dạng thức, cuốn sách cũng chỉ ra cách để chúng ta sử dụng phù hợp cho từng dạng thức.
Với việc lựa chọn dạng thức "tiến hóa", tác giả cũng phân tích được tương đối đầy đủ các khía cạnh để có thể hình thành được tổ chức như vậy qua từng giai đoạn, không chỉ là xây mới mà còn là chuyển đổi từ các dạng thức khác. Các đặc điểm, các điều kiện đảm bảo, quá trình hình thành, các lưu ý về tổ chức "tiến hóa" được tác giả đưa ra khá trọn vẹn.
Phần phụ lục cuối sách, tác giả đúc kết lại ngắn gọn toàn bộ nội dung cuốn sách, rất tiện để có thể tra cứu, tìm kiếm nhanh về sau.
Tuy nhiên, cũng có một số điểm mình cho rằng tác giả có thể đầu tư hơn nữa. Cụ thể, phần về tâm linh và tôn giáo. Phần tâm linh thì khá ổn, nhưng phần tôn giáo thì có lẽ còn hơi phiến diện.
May 29, 2023
⭐️ for Part 1 which is historical and biological nonsense (no, the human consciousness has not evolved over the last 50-100.000 years - our brains haven’t changed much in that period - so please stop claiming that).
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for the rest of the book which contains excellent case studies of organizations doing everything differently and thereby creating workplaces actually fit for human beings.
❤️ The last part of the book includes advice on how to create these so-called Teal organization. Go do, everyone, and make the world of work a better place.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for the rest of the book which contains excellent case studies of organizations doing everything differently and thereby creating workplaces actually fit for human beings.
❤️ The last part of the book includes advice on how to create these so-called Teal organization. Go do, everyone, and make the world of work a better place.
August 9, 2017
I found this book incredibly inspiring. I am certain this was one of the author's aims in writing it: to help inspire people create, lead and take part in human institutions driven by a purpose to do good; to help inspire people realise that we can only be truly happy and fulfilled if everyone with whom we interact also feel happy and fulfilled; to help inspire people view the world through the understanding that all of the resources of the world belong to no one nor even everyone, and that we are thus all stewards to everything around us, everything we touch, and everything exert an influence over; to help inspire people towards a natural caring and sharing through purpose and intent, relentlessly moving towards positive change on all levels.
In addition, the book is also very practical with many examples, many comparison tables to clarify differences and distinctions that need to be identified and known. There is throughout the book many references to companies that function under this paradigm of the Evolutionary Teal worldview, with many examples of specific situations, specific issues and how they were resolved, specific aspects of these companies ways of working and day to day activities to show us how evolutionary self-organised institutions actually work in the world.
I feel tremendously lucky to have read this book, but more importantly, I feel even more fortunate that this was the first book on management I've ever read. Starting with the freshest and most inspiring presentation of what our organisations and institutions can be like is amazingly empowering for someone who strives to make this world a better place. I hope that many people will read this important book, and will, through this reading, see the potential for improving, through the way we run our institutions, the ability to fulfill our most fundamental role as humans on this planet, our role as stewards of its wondrous and endless richness and beauty.
In addition, the book is also very practical with many examples, many comparison tables to clarify differences and distinctions that need to be identified and known. There is throughout the book many references to companies that function under this paradigm of the Evolutionary Teal worldview, with many examples of specific situations, specific issues and how they were resolved, specific aspects of these companies ways of working and day to day activities to show us how evolutionary self-organised institutions actually work in the world.
I feel tremendously lucky to have read this book, but more importantly, I feel even more fortunate that this was the first book on management I've ever read. Starting with the freshest and most inspiring presentation of what our organisations and institutions can be like is amazingly empowering for someone who strives to make this world a better place. I hope that many people will read this important book, and will, through this reading, see the potential for improving, through the way we run our institutions, the ability to fulfill our most fundamental role as humans on this planet, our role as stewards of its wondrous and endless richness and beauty.
February 13, 2017
Everything in this book just makes so much sense to me and yet most of the evolutionary teal practices described in this book are so uncommon in the workplace today. It's shocking what cruelty can a human being do to another human being in a modern workplace. Command and control management, performance reviews, bureaucratic processes, hierarchies – all look barbarian from the evolutionary teal perspective.
This book was very hard for me to read. Every page contrasting teal ways of work with those of the conventional amber and orange organizations would vividly revive my own post-traumatic reactions, increase my pulse and blood pressure. I almost dropped reading in the middle!
Unfortunately for suffering employees, the author comes to a conclusion that an organization can not transcend to evolutionary teal from a prior stage unless its CEO and the board (or whoever currently has the last say in everything) have reached the teal level of consciousness. Unfortunately for the readers, this book doesn't analyze how do individuals progress from one level to another or how this progression can be facilitated externally. So if your current workplace sucks life out of its employees, it's because its top management believes that doing so is fair in exchange for salary, and this book will not give you a secret power to easily change that. Still a must read though.
This book was very hard for me to read. Every page contrasting teal ways of work with those of the conventional amber and orange organizations would vividly revive my own post-traumatic reactions, increase my pulse and blood pressure. I almost dropped reading in the middle!
Unfortunately for suffering employees, the author comes to a conclusion that an organization can not transcend to evolutionary teal from a prior stage unless its CEO and the board (or whoever currently has the last say in everything) have reached the teal level of consciousness. Unfortunately for the readers, this book doesn't analyze how do individuals progress from one level to another or how this progression can be facilitated externally. So if your current workplace sucks life out of its employees, it's because its top management believes that doing so is fair in exchange for salary, and this book will not give you a secret power to easily change that. Still a must read though.
February 24, 2019
Widely discussed, frequently recommended, said to be thought-provoking & new standard-setting.
But is it for real?
I liked a lot of things about this book:
* its "color" classification is much deeper than some trivial black-or-white splits. I've especially appreciated clear borderline between green and teal kinds of organizations
* examples (real-life cases) are very interesting & truly inspiring; personally, I'd like to see more from tech or strictly commercial organizations
* references to holacracy & few other models were really helpful, so were the practical hints how you can build a teal organization either by starting from scratch or transforming something that's already in existence
All these pros were undermined by 1 single (yet very annoying) con - the language of this book is saturated with some much "spirituality" & "soulfulness" that it's barely bearable. I may be alone in this statement, but this scheme (which may be correct & appreciated for some organizations) is not a requirement - you can build teal organizations on the foundation of a different, more "feet-on-the-ground" culture. In fact, this way of conceptually presenting the topic may be deterrent for many readers, who'll not be able to treat this book seriously.
4-4.5 stars
But is it for real?
I liked a lot of things about this book:
* its "color" classification is much deeper than some trivial black-or-white splits. I've especially appreciated clear borderline between green and teal kinds of organizations
* examples (real-life cases) are very interesting & truly inspiring; personally, I'd like to see more from tech or strictly commercial organizations
* references to holacracy & few other models were really helpful, so were the practical hints how you can build a teal organization either by starting from scratch or transforming something that's already in existence
All these pros were undermined by 1 single (yet very annoying) con - the language of this book is saturated with some much "spirituality" & "soulfulness" that it's barely bearable. I may be alone in this statement, but this scheme (which may be correct & appreciated for some organizations) is not a requirement - you can build teal organizations on the foundation of a different, more "feet-on-the-ground" culture. In fact, this way of conceptually presenting the topic may be deterrent for many readers, who'll not be able to treat this book seriously.
4-4.5 stars
August 4, 2021
I'd recommend this to any manager in the world, no matter the company or industry - and especially to c-level management.
Frederic did a thorough case study of the human consciousness, and how it's evolution fit into different paradigms and organizational structures that have co-evolved with it. From red organizations who are oriented towards power, family and trickery, to orange success and goal driven companies of the modern age and green ones - where family is everything; every type of organized group with a purpose is covered.
And then comes Frederic's new way of structuring the organization - Teal Way. He covers almost every process, structure and department inside companies and proposes new ways of thinking about them. And all of these is supported with case studies of organizations who already did it, and guess what - it works!
Even if you don't plan to change structure or implement any of the Fredric's solutions - it is still a highly thought provoking book, that offers a completely new lenses when viewing management, structures, processes or generally - organizations.
Frederic did a thorough case study of the human consciousness, and how it's evolution fit into different paradigms and organizational structures that have co-evolved with it. From red organizations who are oriented towards power, family and trickery, to orange success and goal driven companies of the modern age and green ones - where family is everything; every type of organized group with a purpose is covered.
And then comes Frederic's new way of structuring the organization - Teal Way. He covers almost every process, structure and department inside companies and proposes new ways of thinking about them. And all of these is supported with case studies of organizations who already did it, and guess what - it works!
Even if you don't plan to change structure or implement any of the Fredric's solutions - it is still a highly thought provoking book, that offers a completely new lenses when viewing management, structures, processes or generally - organizations.
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