2nd blog in the series
In the previous blog, we reviewed briefly the concept of TEAL Management. In this blog, we will focus on one of the 3 breakthroughs of TEAL Management - Self Organization.
In traditional concepts of management, there is a top-down hierarchy which holds the vision and the major decision making power of the organization. With TEAL organizations we see a transition to Self organization or Self Management.
The general idea is this: We collaborate together in order to fulfill the joint purpose, everything that we do aims to move us closer to that goal. We divide the work between us based on roles. Each person is responsible 100% to realize the responsibilities of the roles she/he manage and they have complete agency to decision making power in order to do so. Self -management works under the assumption of the distribution of power within the organization, so instead of a top-down management paradigm, we move to smaller-distributed hierarchies. A concept of partnership and power with people instead of power over people. People are referred to as "colleagues" and not employees.
Self organization isn't anarchy - there is order. There is a definition of purpose and roles, but there isn't so much managerial authority over one another. My colleagues will require from me what I am committed to. We are all responsible for the successes and to the failures. Mid-level management often doesn't exist (instead you can have professional mentors) and top management holds a different set of responsibilities 9other then making content related decisions).
Self organization often means that roles within one circle may recruit for new roles on their own, with an HR department of a manager's approval. It means that the evaluation and feedback process are different, since they come from other colleagues. In some organizations pay is completely transparent and can be self managed based on criteria. Actually all the organizational information is accessible to everyone, because there is no reason not to. Conflicts have to be management in a internal process and a certain level of inner work is needed in order to succeed.
Self organization provides agility, flexibility and resiliency. People will be organization in circles responsible over areas, domains or products and within those circles you will have roles. The circles and roles have a clear mandate to operate based on their perception of reality. Manning of roles is done based on skills and desire, which brings in passion. The following 2 videos will continue to inspire you: :)
The next blog will focus on the concept of Wholeness.