Revolutionize Your Workplace: Eliminate Middle Managers and Boost Productivity!

Hello and welcome to Working It.

You won’t find many people at the FT office on Fridays, and the City of London is pretty empty. Latest US data from castle, which tracks the use of security passes at workplaces, had an office occupancy Friday of just 28 percent. And I have a hunch that on summer Fridays, the practice of ending the weekend at lunchtime on a few creative jobs (sadly, not ours), is thriving, whether employers have sanctioned it or not.

We will return to this phenomenon. Let me know your Friday experiences working (or not).

Read on for a peek into the secretive world of managerless workplaces, and I at Office Therapy advise someone tormented by their bosses’ love of loud music 🎧

Teal – It’s a way of working life (not just a tasteful kitchen color)

This week I’ve been down a relaxing rabbit hole. It revolves around another meaning of “teal,” beyond the ubiquitous Farrow & Ball paint color (Vardo 288). The management version is an organization management model based on shared purpose, individual responsibility, and no line managers.

There is very little official online presence for Teal. He feels a bit edgy and underground (🆒, even). The FT has made a mention about it, in a 2015 column by Andrew Hill about online retailer Zappos and his experiment with flat hierarchies.

Teal’s creator is Frederic Laloux, a former McKinsey consultant. he himself published Reinventing Organizations in 2014 and has since sold over 1 million copies. As the founding text of the Teal movement, it suggests that new organizational models emerge at critical moments in history. We are, Laloux suggests, in one of those moments now.

Why Teal? Laloux’s versions of management practices over the centuries are given colors — Many people reading this, for example, will work for organizations that are in the “orange” category, characterized by innovation, meritocracy, and accountability. The next stage is Teal, which is about “self-management, integrity, and evolutionary purpose.”

That’s a bit theoretical, but in fact this is a practical and constantly evolving grassroots movement. There is a wiki and a Newsletter. (buurtzorgthe nurse-led community care group in the Netherlands is probably the best-known example of a Teal organization).

So what does Teal mean in practice? I contacted longtime advocate Vicky Ferrier for more information. Vicky is a commercial and people director at Konsileo, a commercial insurance broker co-founded in 2018 by John Warburton, who was inspired by Laloux’s work. It has about 100 brokers who work independently on a Teal system. Vicky’s work supports brokers, but there is no human resources department.

It all works on a peer-to-peer system, with coach-runners working with colleagues and then feeding back to the core executive team. Vicky told me, “I just got off a two-hour call, the training review meeting, we looked at performance, well-being, confidence, how well people are working in relationships with each other.”

There are challenges. While most people thrive, some “may love the idea of ​​self-management, but can’t put the PlayStation down.” And Konsileo is new: It’s harder to fit Teal into existing organizations: too many egos, too much structure.

But talking to Vicky made me think about how positive it would be to implement a little bit of this thinking in all organizations. “Since Teal taps into people’s intrinsic self-motivation, we don’t find people choosing to be unproductive,” she says.

Happiness + autonomy = productivity.

Do you have experience in Teal organizations to share? Or any other self-management advice? Email me at isabel.berwick@ft.com.

This week on the Working It podcast

Every day brings doom-laden artificial intelligence predictions, but there are still plenty of people optimistic about the possibilities of technology to transform our jobs. One of them is Jeff Wong, head of the innovation team at EY, the professional services firm. Jeff tells me in this week’s episode of Working that generative AI could free up knowledge workers to spend more time on human activities: thinking, building relationships with customers, etc.

The FT’s Madhumita Murgia also gives me a very clear explanation of AI and its potential impacts on our work and lives. So if you feel like the AI ​​debate is moving on and you’re racing to catch up, this is the 16 minute primer you need 🏃🏻‍♂️

office therapy

The problem: I work in a small company. The office is open plan and music is played all day. The bosses don’t understand how anyone can concentrate without it. I can’t concentrate with him, and my concerns have been ignored. My noise canceling headphones don’t block it out completely. My work involves a lot of concentration. I am not allowed to work from home very often. I just have to deal with it?

Elizabeth’s response: Your problem demonstrates why working for small businesses can be so difficult. This self-serving nonsense would make those of us who are drones in large corporations run to the human resources department, which do something.

For you to win this, some cunning is needed. Is there a coworker who feels the same way, so you both can ask to play the music? Persistent asking/complaining really annoys managers. Two of you can wear them down faster than one. Ideally, you should have the bosses play music through their own headphones. [Seems an obvious solution to me.]

Can you accept a doctor’s note about the impact on your mental health? Noise can cause serious discomfort. I forwarded your problem to Rachel Suff at CIPD, the body for HR professionals. some that are in a quiet area.” So you could remind bosses of this and seek more permission to work from home. What if things don’t get better? You may have to look for a new job.

Do you have a question, problem or dilemma for Office Therapy? Do you think you have better advice for our reader? Send it to me: isabel.berwick@ft.com. We anonymize everything. His boss, colleague or his subordinates will never know.

5 outstanding stories from the world of work

1. Culture wars test corporate America’s commitment to Pride month: After a decade of selling Pride merchandise through June with little pushback, right-wing activists are boycotting retailers and targeting other companies that openly support LGBTQ rights. Taylor Nicole Rogers of the FT investigates.

2. “We have to invest a lot more in our future.” In this sweeping and fascinating interview, economist Andrew Scott, co-author of the bestselling the life of 100 years talk to Sarah O’Connor about planning for longevity as it affects individuals, society, government and business. Best statistic: There is a 50 per cent chance that children born in the UK today will live to be 92 or 93.

3. Can a virtual PA boost your career? Some employers are starting to pay for staff to have virtual PAs on call to take care of their life management and free up time. Many successful people, especially mothers, also pay for this support service. Emma Jacobs tries it out for a month and is very pleasantly surprised.

4. Mental Health Apps: Therapist can’t see you right now. Money is being poured into mental health startups – around $8 billion as of the start of 2020. The FT Lex team reports that there are growing concerns that the automation and growth of AI-powered remote therapy is not coming. helping people on a large scale. It could even be dangerous. [Premium].

5. Every great company needs its own political director: Businesses need to intensify their attention to geopolitics, and all big business needs a foreign policy. FT columnist Camilla Cavendish makes a compelling case for appointing a political director and making boardrooms much more up to date with the pace of world events.

One more thing . . . read The Atlantic Profile by Chris Licht, executive director of the news channel CNN. Licht has since lost his job, adding to the “swagger” vibe of a leader who gave journalist Tim Alberta many hours of access, including during some very “alpha male” personal training sessions. Licht seems embarrassed: The reporter repeatedly told the now-former CEO what his own disgruntled employees were saying about him. He should have listened.

Every CEO and leader should read it 👀

A word from the Working It community: loneliness, networking, and unfair odds for men? 🚶🏼‍♂️

Last week’s article on men and loneliness brought more correspondence than I have had on any other Working It topic. This topic touched many of you. We’ll cover it soon on the podcast.

Some of you also mentioned that there are few opportunities for men to have the internal networking opportunities now given to women, and the social and professional bonding that comes with it. A reader who works in financial services wrote:

“There is strong support for women in my industry as they are underrepresented. Women receive much more attention and guidance from senior management, especially at the junior and mid levels. I work hard, I have great performance reviews, but as a mid-level employee, I haven’t had a single interaction with management outside of my product group. Women-only events tend to be smaller, more intimate, and attended by upper management.

“Yes, I know there is a gender pay gap and women are underrepresented in certain areas, but (perhaps an unpopular view) I think for mid to lower level positions, policies to try and rectify this are leaving men back. ”

Is this an unpopular view? What do you think is the fairest solution to help all the younger staff to socialize, network and advance internally?

let me know in isabel.berwick@ft.com or DM on LinkedIn. We respect your anonymity.