Reinventing Organisations

What I learned:

Since starting my working life the overwhelming majority of workplaces I've experienced have sat firmly within what Frederic Laloux describes as the "Conformist Amber” or “Achievement Orange” organisation. These are characterised by fixed structures, top down command and control hierarchies, competition and profit driven motivations and accountability and meritocracy based behaviours. Each of these organisations would be classified as ’successful’, producing sound financial results for their shareholders on the whole. However, for some reason, I could never shake the feeling that there seemed to be so much untapped, wasted potential in the way they operated. 

• Over the last 5 - 10 years or so I’ve noticed a shift to a more Pluralistic - Green type organisation, where empowerment, values - driven cultures and purpose are more prominent. This is a huge step in the right direction in my view however the exciting developments lie with the newly emerging Evolutionary - Teal organisation. 
• There is a growing consciousness manifesting around us at the moment… albeit it’s sometimes hard to see or feel with so much chaos and negativity thrown at us daily in the media and world news. Even so, I’ve been highly aware of a movement toward self awareness, greater consciousness and inner wisdom that is emerging amongst the younger generation in particular. The Teal organisation responds to this by seeing itself as a living organism vs a fixed structure. This translates in self organising, self managing flat structures where the organisation acts as a network of skills, knowledge, qualities and experience morphing and connecting where necessary to achieve the organisation’s purpose and vision: understood and lived by all. It’s underpinned by a culture of complete ownership, openness, transparency and acceptance of each other as a complete and whole human being - not just a ‘work persona’, reinforcing the value and beauty of diversity in the workplace. 
• This type of organisation is still in its infancy. There is a lot of debate around its validity in large complex organisations, however some of the underlying principles are being tested and applied in many progressive and successful businesses today. Zappos, Netflix, Spotify and Transferwise are but a few playing with these concepts with varying degrees of success. The important thing to note is, things are shifting once again!

How it helped me as a leader:

We all know the world of work is changing ever so rapidly. As a people and culture specialist, it’s my duty to help my clients understand, adapt to and adopt these changes in order to stay ahead of the curve. Business environments that play to people's strengths, enable individuals to be true to themselves and step into their own power, and create flow within the organisation are proving to achieve the business results that so many leaders are chasing. I’m super excited to be playing in this space at this point in time and can’t wait to see what’s next!

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