This article is to summarize the book of "Teal" and introduces theories relevant to it.

1. Summary of
“Teal Organization”
Naomasa Waragai

2. Aim of This Article
● Summarize* the book of “Reinventing Organizations: An Illustrated Invitation
to Join the Conversation on Next-Stage Organizations,Frederic Laloux ”
● Introduce the relevant theories to the concept of Teal.
*The summary includes my interpretation.

3. Aim of the book
● Explain “What” and “How” of Teal Organization.
Teal OrganizationTraditional Organization
1. What is this?
2. How to transform?

4. Agenda
1. What?
○ Management paradigm shift
○ Definition of “Teal”
○ Pillars of “Teal”
i. Self-management
ii. Wholeness
iii. Evolutionary purpose
2. How?
○ Cultural change
○ Top level change
○ Local level change

5. 1. What - Management Paradigm Shift
Impulsive Comformist Achievement Pluralistic
Evolutionary
Teal
Power Process
Structure
Innovation
Accountability
Meritcracy
in the complex worldEmpowerment
Value-driven cultue
Stakeholder value

6. 1. What - Complex?
● The world becomes more complex than ever.
○ Why? - globalization, technological advancement accelerate this phenomenon.
● Snowden *1 explains the phenomenal changes as follows:
○ Simple context - one right answer exists and clear cause-and-effect.
○ Complicated context - multi-answers exist, but clear cause-and-effect.
○ Complex context - No right answer. <- we are facing this!

7. 1. What - Definition
“Teal” is the condition where a team or an organization are fulfilled with…
So the team/organization can work like “Living system”.
Autonomy Power Honesty

8. 1. What - Pillars of Teal
Followings consist of Teal,
Self-
management
Wholeness
Evolutionary
Purpose

9. 1. What - i. Self-management
● Objective
○ Make people powerful, not equal.
● How?
○ Structure - flexible role in a team.
○ Decision making - Advice process, ask and give opinion.
○ Performance management
○ Incentives
so forth...
Self-
management
Wholeness
Evolutionary
Purpose

10. 1. What - ii. Wholeness
● Objective
○ Help people drop off masks and reclaim their inner wholeness.
● How?
○ Safe space - being psychologically safe accelerates “Team learning”, so the team can raise
their performance. *2
○ Story telling
○ Reflective space
so forth...
Self-
management
Wholeness
Evolutionary
Purpose

11. 1. What - ii. Evolutionary Purpose
● Objective
○ Work self-management by showing what to be, NOT direction or command.
● How?
○ Make people sensor to the world - the following steps are the explained in the article. *3
i. Establish a sense of urgency - letting people know the urgency of adapting to changes.
ii. Forming a powerful guiding coalition.
iii. Creating a vision.
iv. Communication the vision with people.
v. Empowering the others to act on the vision.
vi. Planning and creating short-term wins.
vii. Consolidating improvements and producing more changes
viii. Institutionalizing new approaches.
Self-
management
Wholeness
Evolutionary
Purpose

12. 2. How to Transform - items
Cultural
change
Top level
change
Local level
change

13. 2. How to Transform - Cultural Change
● Change the management style from “Predict-and-Command” to “Sense-and-
Response”
● According to “Cynefin framework” *3, in the complex world it is necessary to
probe, sense and response.
Culture
Top level
change
Local
level
change
source: https://www.cdacollaborative.org/blog/big-shift-police-justice-
professionals-need-make-fragile-states/attachment/cynefin-framework/

14. 2. How to Transform - Top level
● Being public face.
● Being sensor of the organization to see where they want to go.
● Holding the space to immerse the organization into Teal.
● Role modeling of the pillars, self-management, wholeness and evolutionary
purpose.
○ According to “The five practices of exemplary leadership model” *4, to model the way is one of
the important roles for leaders.
Culture
Top level
change
Local
level
change

15. 2. How to Transform - Local level
● Self-correct
○ No rules, but individuals lead ownself to right way.
○ How to foster the correction?
i. Share “what is healthy”.
ii. Raise transparency.
iii. Have forum for conversation in a team to trigger the correction.
● Middle manager
○ “Opening the shit umbrella” - Even if the organization is typical pyramid, but managers can
hold the team in Teal.
Culture
Top level
change
Local
level
change

16. Citation
*1 Snowden, D. J., & Boone, M. E. (2007). A leader's framework for decision making. harvard business review, 85(11), 68.
*1 Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative science quarterly, 44(2), 350-383.
*2 Kotter, John P. "Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail." (1995): 59-67.
*4 http://www.leadershipchallenge.com/about-section-our-approach.aspx