Today on how teal companies differ from others, and which criteria must be met by organizations that aspire to become one.
Definition of the term
Teal is a set of principles of organization design. There were a lot of approaches to management in history – for example, red (absolute inflexibility, the value of life is practically equal to zero), administrative = orange (functions are even more important than personality, but the career elevator is already working). In recent decades, the corporate environment has come to a green approach, where every employee’s opinion is listened to, there is a culture of values, but hierarchy is preserved.
Each type reflected the progressive demands of its time. These days, we have come to the next stage, which reflects the trends of the future. It is named teal in honor of its complete transparency and openness.
How to identify whether a company is truly teal? Here are the principles that guide teal companies in their internal matters.
- Self-organization of the team and each of its members instead of hierarchy; reducing all relations to horizontal ones. Everyone is equal, everyone does their own piece of the overall work, which is divided into areas of personal responsibility. Privileges and status of individual employees, including owners and top managers, are eliminated. There should be no barriers to communication .
- Matching the overall goal of the team with the personal goal of each employee is essential. Only as long as they match, openness, strong internal motivation and harmony are possible. If the match is damaged, the person quickly leaves the team and there is a renewal of the team.
- Emotional honesty. People sincerely share their delight, experiences, and opinions. It is more beneficial and productive for everyone to share their emotions. In the case of positive feedback, you will express your support to your colleague. If it’s negative – problems will be solved more effectively if they are silently avoided.
- Trust. It means that everyone should be in the right position,have common goals, and e emotionally committed to each other. Therefore, employee control is minimized, no fines are applied, and there is no need for bureaucratic orders.
Teal organizations have certain peculiarities of being on the market. This is most clearly seen in the relationship with competitors and the market itself.
- The most significant difference from the usual business approach is that there are no competitors, only potential partners. In any relationship, a Win-Win strategy is possible. Even when playing on the same market, you can find such formats of interaction with former competitors,that. will bring. benefits out of cooperation.
- Being selective in partnerships. Teal companies are demanding of its partners. To the point that shared values and goals are more important than economic profit.
- The strategy of the whole company is formed from the strategy of internal teams/individuals. The individual has a better understanding of how they can improve the workflow. And what is best for the unit is best for the whole.
- The most important feature is that the company and every employee believes they exist to make the world a better place. It becomes unacceptable to make money from dissatisfied or cheated customers, or after knowingly false advertising campaigns, or double prices on the website, profits from fines, even ICOs.
However, it is impossible to be completely teal. There are issues (for example, some financial issues) where teal approach is inappropriate, and then in fact you have to depart from such principles. Teal means lively, unpredictable, evolutionary, even entrepreneurial. It is with the increasing uncertainty of the world around us that the need to move to a new kind of organization has arisen. Therefore, long-term planning is minimized, the role of situational response is growing. Any strategy becomes flexible, and planning horizons are reduced to a year at most.
So, would you call your organization innovative and teal now?
