Reinventing Organizations

As with any new paradigm, the more light it shines, the more shadow it can cast. One of Orange's shadows is "innovation gone mad." With most of our basic needs taken care of, businesses increasingly try to create needs, feeding the illusion that more stuff we don't really need-more possessions, the latest fashion, a more youthful body-will make us happy and whole. We increasingly come to see that much of this economy based on fabricated needs is unsustainable from a financial and ecological perspective. We have reached a stage where we often pursue growth for growth's sake, a condition that in medical terminology would simply be called cancer.

If the notion of trusting the collective intelligence of a system seems risky or outright foolish, think about this: the idea that a country's economy would best be run by the heavy hand of central planning committees in Soviet style has been totally discredited. We all know that a free-market system where a myriad of players pick up on signals, make decisions, and coordinate among themselves works much better. Yet for some strange reason, inside organizations, we still trust the equivalent of central planning committees

People are systematically considered to be good. (Reliable, self-motivated, trustworthy, intelligent) There is no performance without happiness. (To be happy, we need to be motivated. To be motivated, we need to be responsible. To be responsible we must understand why and for whom we work, and be free to decide how) Value is created on the shop floor. (Shop floor operators craft the products; the CEO and staff at best serve to support them, at worst are costly distractions)

It's considered unacceptable to say, "Somebody should do something about this problem,” and leave it at that; if you see a problem or an opportunity, you have an obligation to do something about it, and most often that "something" is to go and talk about it with the colleague whose role relates to the topic.

In self-managing organizations that have no managers to keep up the pressure, what prevents teams from getting complacent? The short answer: intrinsic motivation, calibrated by peer emulation and market demands.

If we approach appraisal discussions from a different mindset, we can turn them into moments where our contributions are celebrated and recognized, where, without judgment, we inquire truthfully into what isn't going so well: places where our knowledge, experience, talent, or attitude fall short of what our roles require. And we can inquire into even deeper questions: What do we truly long to do? What is our offer to the world? What are our unique gifts? What holds us back? What could help us step more boldly into the life that wants to be lived through us?

The right size of a workforce is equal to the number of people needed to make the workplace fun.

In comparison, Teal Organizations' approach to marketing is almost simplistic. The organizations simply listen in to what feels like the right offering. There are no customer surveys and no focus groups. Essentially, marketing boils down to this statement : This is our offer. At this moment, we feel this is the best we can possibly do. We hope you will like it. In a strange paradox, Teal Organizations go about filling a need of the world not by tuning in to the noise of the world (the surveys, the focus groups, the customer segmentation), but by listening within. What product would we be really proud of? What product would fill a genuine need in the world?

When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty... but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong. Richard Buckminster Fuller

Predictions are valuable in a complicated world, but they lose all relevance in a complex world.