Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage in Human Consciousness

Leaders of Teal Organizations therefore must embrace trust twice: they must trust that they can give up a sure thing (economies of scale) for something less certain but probably much more beneficial (unbridled motivation).

Trying to avoid or limit staff functions is something I encountered not only in Buurtzorg, but in all self-managing organizations in this research. The absence of rules and procedures imposed by headquarters functions creates a huge sense of freedom and responsibility throughout the organization.

Teal Organizations, in contrast, keep staff functions to an absolute bare minimum. They understand that the economies of scale and skill resulting from staff functions are often outweighed by the diseconomies of motivation produced. As a result, there are very, very few people working in staff functions in Teal Organizations. And those that do typi

Buurtzorg teams use a very precise and efficient method for joint problem solving and decision-making. The group first chooses a facilitator for the meeting. The agenda of topics to be discussed is put together on the spot, based on what is present for team members at that moment in time. The facilitator is not to make any statements, suggestions,

To begin with, all newly formed teams and all new recruits to existing teams take a training course called “Solution-Driven Methods of Interaction,”31 learning a coherent set of skills and techniques for healthy and efficient group decision-making. Within the training, team members deepen their knowledge in some of the most basic (and ironically of

Often, rekindling our relationship with life and nature causes us to pursue a simpler life, less cluttered by possessions we thought we needed until we understood that we are rich not through the things we own, but through the relationships that nourish our soul.

Teal is happy to tap into all the domains of knowing. There are insights to be gained from analytical approaches. There is also wisdom to be found in emotions if we learn to inquire into their significance: Why am I angry, fearful, ambitious, or excited? What does this reveal about me or about the situation that is unfolding? Wisdom can be found in

Teal Organizations have found the key to operate effectively, even at a large scale, with a system based on peer relationships, without the need for either hierarchy or consensus.

What determines which stage an organization operates from? It is the stage through which its leadership tends to look at the world. Consciously or unconsciously, leaders put in place organizational structures, practices, and cultures that make sense to them, that correspond to their way of dealing with the world.