In the last installment, we explored how management has gone through big evolutionary changes since its inception. Using Laloux’s colour categorisations: Red, Amber, Orange, Green and Teal to describe the shifts in time, we looked at how these organisations are structured, what inspired their transition to the next evolution as well as what the general culture is like. You can read more about those points here.
In this instalment, we will explore why it is important to evolve with the times, resources to reach out to when going Teal, and some problems that may arise on the way there
Change
Having studied psychology alongside business, I tend to think about problems through two lenses. The first being The Big Three structured frameworks that universities like Ivey, Bocconi, SGH engrain in their students, and the second is a psychological lens drawing on my roughly 7 years of study in the field. Sometimes, and especially when it comes to ambiguous business concepts like change, psychology is extremely useful.
It has come to my attention that whenever the word ‘change’ gets brought up in an organisation, the common response is panic or anger. The word tends to carry some sort of heavy weight, as if someone is purposely about to make your life harder or implying that behaviours need to change because they are bad. But this is very often not the case. So why does it feel so terrible?
Interestingly enough, it’s in our DNA. Neuroscience tells us that we are hard wired to despise, and do whatever we can to resist, change. According to an experiment run by Berker et al (2016), our level of stress is at its highest when the level of uncertainty (predictability ~50%) is at its highest. Meaning that, we psychologically suffer the most when we have no idea what’s about to happen. And it turns out, we suffer even more when we have no idea about what is going to happen than if we are told that something extremely negative is about to happen. This is because there’s a part of our brain called the Striatum which can predict the odds of a positive or negative result. And it expresses itself violently in the form of stress and fear when those odds approach the 50% mark.
That is why when change is happening, clear communication is imperative if you want to preserve the mental well-being of the people around you. Anything less is bad practice.
Embracing Change
Similar to the way you continue to switch up your workout program to strengthen a new muscle group, or travel to a new country to expand your worldview (both positive examples of change), employees and clients can largely benefit from change. What is required is an open mind and trust that you’re being led in the right direction. Positive psychologist Carol Dweck calls it the “growth mindset” and Teal evangelist Jean Francois Zobrist calls it “figuring it out”.
Transformation, Reinvention, Jean Francois Zobrist
When a business is falling behind in its evolutionary journey towards adopting a Teal management style, it has two main options: transformation or reinvention. Some change management consultants prepare organisations to transform the way they do things in order to become more efficient and effective versions of themselves – for example, Agile Coaches and Lean Consultants. Others prepare organisations to reinvent themselves entirely – for example, investing in innovation through corporate accelerators (e.g. Disney Accelerator) or acquiring innovative start-ups through corporate venture capital (e.g. Google Ventures or Intel Capital).
Or, you take the advice of Jean Francois Zobrist, the CEO who assisted FAVI to adopt self-management, and “you figure it out.” What this means is that there is no exact guideline for Teal management, it will look different in every organisation. However, you are smart and you are resourceful, and if you believe enough in it, you can find your own path and lead the way towards it.
Relevance of the Teal management philosophy
If the concept of ‘figuring it out yourself’ speaks to you, and you are interested in the Teal Management philosophy, here are its main driving principles:
- Self-Management – The ability to operate by yourself, to be responsible for creating partnerships and showcasing credibility through your work. As your relationships strengthen, there should be no need for hierarchy or consensus driven choices.
- Wholeness – The encouragement to be the person you are outside of work, at work as well. As your relationships strengthen, there should be no need to worry about only showing your professional side.
- Evolutionary Purpose – The freedom to set a direction for the organisation based on your perception of the opportunities and threats in the external environment. And not only relying on the direction to come from above.
In a fast-changing environment, Teal is important because it has the potential to attract, engage and retain the best talent, a key ingredient for productivity and continued business success. After conducting a focus group of high potential dual master degree business graduates, the result was clear: the overwhelming majority would prefer to work for an organisation that follows the Teal management style.
What challenges do organisations face?
If people overwhelmingly prefer organisations that follow the Teal management style, then why doesn’t every organisation transition to it?
One obvious challenge is that Teal requires a shift in the organisational structure but more significantly Teal requires a shift in mindset; the openness to accept new ways of doing things and the ability to self-correct quickly.
To self-correct quickly, three items are needed:
- An understanding of what’s considered healthy in work relationships and a unified understanding of the business focus for a set time frame.
- Consensus on the minimum amount of data that is needed to make a decision and how that will be shared transparently throughout the organisation.
- Courage to voice the need for corrective action and a place where this can be discussed and initiated.
Without a shift to the open minded, self-correcting spirit of Teal, the three driving principles are unlikely to be realised and may end up looking something like this:
- Self-Management – Prior to being able to establish credibility through your work, someone from management hints at who should be staffed on your project. Since management has power to control your progression throughout the company, you abide, and don’t give the opportunity to the person who would likely be a better fit for the work.
- Wholeness – After you say no to drinks for the xth time because you don’t drink, you realise that this part of your individuality is labeled as ‘lame’ rather than someone who has different habits than others.
- Evolutionary Purpose – You try to contribute to the overall purpose of the organisation, but due to hierarchy and micromanagement your contribution ceases to matter. Some of your best ideas get plagiarised by your direct supervisor.
As you can see, this is a complicated and very ambiguous playing ground, which is why change consultants are often the right move during a transition. Just make sure they are well researched and can understand how to lead your people forward rather than stirring up additional problems.
Conclusion
In this blog post, we looked at change, the need for an overall mindset shift, the relevance of Teal management, and some of the potential challenges.
In the next installment, we will take a closer look at communication patterns and how we can spot a shift in management style.
Aneta Kosinska is a Polish – Canadian, MSc + CEMS MIM alumni. With management consulting, analytics and startup/entrepreneurial experience, she aspires to contribute to the knowledge sharing economy.
Image: Pexels
References
- Berker,A., Rutledge,R., Mathys,C., Marshall.L., Cross,G., Dolan,R., Bestmann,S. (2016) Computations of Uncertainty Mediate Acute Stress Responses in Humans
- Joo, Baek-Kyoo & Lee, Insuk. (2016). Workplace happiness: Work engagement, career satisfaction, and subjective well-being. Evidence-based HRM. 5. 206-221. 10.1108/EBHRM-04-2015-0011.
- Laloux, F. (2014). Reinventing Organisations
- Lewis, M. (2016). Why we’re hardwired to hate uncertainty. The Guardian.
- https://riter.co/blog/moving-toward-teal-company-s-workflow