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Increased self-organization leads to greater engagement

What is it like to work in a workplace without hierarchy and managers? Without titles, where you take initiatives and decisions together with others and set your own salary? Where you are the pilot of your own future?

Fredrik Stodne has received the title of Sitevision Most Valuable Professional three years in a row and now he is visiting the blog with a post about the organizational form Teal.

17 March 2023

Fredrik Stodne

Soleilare at Soleil

En illustrerad buss med Soleils logotyp på och ett gäng medarbetare som kikar ut genom fönstrerna.

Have you heard of Teal? Neither had I a few years ago when the book Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux External link. landed on my desk. The thesis of the book is that many of today's organizations are designed and managed according to outdated principles and beliefs. We are humans who think and feel. But times are changing and we all need to respond to that. We live in a complex world that we need to influence, relate and adapt to.

I like the freedom to shape my own workplace and work situation. I like the personal responsibility which is very personally developing. I like the counseling process where you take advantage of the skills of your colleagues. //Sara

It is of course difficult to make changes. But if you have been able to participate and influence it, it becomes both more fun and easier to do. This is precisely why we at Soleil have chosen to design and run our organization according to Teal – which actually allows for this. We equip ourselves for the changing world we live in, and make sure to have fun along the way.

The teal move is something that not many people have done. The road is quite unknown. We don't know the road we are walking on completely and we are learning all the time. That alone feels really cool. It's fun to be part of shaping a new type of organization! //Jonathan

Trust

The color Teal/Turquoise is used to symbolize this new way of organizing in relation to the classic cog-in-the-machine organizations symbolized by the color orange. Imagine working in an organization where it is not about everyone thinking alike, doing alike or being alike? Where interaction is what is important. Interaction that seeks its full potential for the good of the whole! Where you trust your colleagues and they trust you. Trust then becomes the light in everyday life so that we can see clearly! You don't have to be involved in everything, just the things that engage you most. Trust that every colleague wants the best for the organization. We usually symbolize Soleil with an empty chair that anyone can sit on. If I were Soleil how would I think and feel about this issue?

The issue of trust was what made the penny drop for me. It was a bit scary at first that mandates were flowing freely, until I realized that we have to trust everyone's ability to make wise decisions. //Jonathan

Rules of the game

But without managers, can anyone make decisions? Yes, in principle! We have an advisory process for decisions which means that you talk to those who have knowledge about the decision and those affected by the decision. There is also a framework, the rules of the game, which we decide together. Soleil has some simple principles that form the rules for the whole organization. Then each customer team has its own rules that can change over time.

Intranet and self-organization

So how are the digital workplace and self-organization related? When it is we ourselves who together make decisions about how, when and where we want to work, it is important that there are tools that support that collaboration. Being able to quickly and easily communicate with each other, share information and documents with each other facilitates transparency and participation. An intranet in Sitevision that all employees can access via computer or mobile app, where anyone can share information and knowledge such as starting video meetings, creating groups to interact in and working with structured document management. If you want to work in a more autonomous and self-organizing way, you need transparency. A good intranet where every employee has access to all information facilitates this.

The digital workplace is not just technology

It is easy to focus only on technology. That the platforms and AI should solve it for us when so much of what we do and experience is human and interpersonal. Without managers and hierarchies, there is an opportunity for everyone to take the leadership role, but also the security of trusting your colleagues and following the decisions made together. Culture becomes more important than strategy, and your actions and behaviors influence how you want the culture to be. Take the opportunity to get to know the individuals in your team, listen and try to ask open questions.

At Soleil, we have just started the process of setting each other's salaries. An incredibly exciting task that teaches us a lot about collaboration, communication and trust!

The journey

The word 'journey' is an inflationary term, but for Soleil, maybe the journey has only just begun or maybe we have come a long way? Our journey is the transition to a different organization than the classic "orange" one. Instead of goals, it is more of a direction. A direction that every individual at Soleil and our customers can influence.