Teal organizations break stereotypes in the field of personnel management. HR tried to figure out how they differ from typical companies.

From the article you will learn:

Useful tools for HR

What are turquoise organizations

Turquoise companies are living organizations or firms of the future, in which everything is different from the usual Russian companies. They practice not a rigid leadership style, but coaching and self-management, instead of KPIs, values ​​\u200b\u200band goals are used.

In turquoise organizations, there is no place for lazy and non-executive employees who work exclusively under duress. As a rule, their staff includes creative specialists who are inspired not by the social package, but by interesting tasks and unlimited opportunities for development.

Some HRs believe that such an approach to the management system comes from unwillingness to delve into processes and waste time on employees, others are sure that the idea is utopian, because, in their opinion, employees, in principle, cannot work well without proper management control. However, such organizations are successfully functioning, developing, and their number is gradually increasing.

Principles of the turquoise organization

The principles of the turquoise organization still cause heated debate among skeptics.

To understand why some are ironic about the companies of the future, we need to consider the basic principles on which relationships are based within. We can distinguish "three pillars" - evolutionary purpose, integrity and self-government.

evolutionary goal

The evolutionary goal is manifested in the fact that the company does not work on tasks that are not necessary to achieve specific results, even if it can generate income. The actions of employees and management are aimed solely at achieving the goal, which was the basis for the creation of the organization. If an employee appears in the company who does not share common ideas, he does not take root in it, because he does not find support from his colleagues.

Integrity

Every employee in a teal organization is seen as an individual, not as a means to an end. His desires, aspirations, emotions are taken into account. Companies often do not adhere to schedules, plans, do not separate personal life and work. In them, a person is important, and not a "cog" in the system, with which you can increase profitability. Colleagues are always ready to help if someone has problems, whether work-related or family-related.

Self management

Employees have the right to make a decision without discussing it with colleagues, managers. They know that they will have to take responsibility for it. Despite this, punishments in turquoise organizations are excluded, but more often employees blame themselves for mistakes, so they try not to make mistakes.

Self-management tools in a turquoise organization

Teal organizations adhere to the Agile ideology, which reflects the company's culture, value system, principles and way of thinking. According to her, a clear work schedule from idea to result is less effective than the ability to change the algorithm and generate ideas in the process of solving problems.

The increased flexibility of the control system allows:

• achieve freedom from corporate values - people work more than give time to formalities;
• instill a desire to develop- employees feel their importance, so they try to grow professionally;
• enhance team spirit- strong teams are formed within the team, whose members can share experiences, problems, ideas;
• choose the optimal amount of work- The Agile ideology does not accept rush jobs, so employees are not assigned more tasks than they can perform.

To put the Agile philosophy into practice, Teal companies use Scrum, Kanban, and other tools that explain how to work. At the same time, business owners and managers do not try to write an algorithm of actions, but only make up rough plan which each employee is free to understand in his own way.

Scrum

Scrum (framework) is a template that allows you to independently choose ways to achieve your goals, change the rules in order to release and improve products based on market needs. The focus is on cross-functionality. A classical firm has functional departments: marketing, legal department, sales, personnel service, IT, etc. As part of a team, representatives of departments create a product from start to finish, practically do not work with documentation.

Important! In turquoise organizations, there are no bosses as such, or rather, they do not interfere in the work processes and relationships of colleagues. They are leaders, mentors, who at any moment are ready to start performing tasks on an equal basis with the rest.

Kanban

Kanban is a method of work by which the entire workflow is visualized and improved. Kanban is not a flexible tool, but it allows you to use it in new ways. labor force. There are no strict rules, there are only basic principles: time frames, Lean, task reduction, and visualization.

In turquoise organizations that practice kanban, a big goal is divided into global tasks and milestones, which are recorded on sticky notes and placed in a given order on a wall or a special board. Employees finish one thing and only then proceed to another.

Holacracy

The basis of holacracy is a branched organization structure, consisting of nested and indirectly adjoining circles. If in a classical company structural units are required to coordinate actions with higher management, in a holacracy everyone has the right to make decisions and manage the budget within the framework of their goal.

Features of working with personnel in turquoise organizations

Recruitment and selection of personnel

In building teams, the values ​​​​of employees matter, and only then professional quality. Managers and ordinary employees pay increased attention to matching the values ​​of applicants company values at the stage of selection, in the process of adaptation and work.

Adaptation and training of personnel

In turquoise organizations, each new employee adapts to the culture. During this period, HR is trying to understand how its values ​​correlate with the values ​​of the company. The specialist is trained, including management methods: scrum, kanban, holacracy or others. The main adaptation takes place in the team that is interested in it.

Grade labor activity employees

A non-standard scoring system is used. Teams discuss the workflow at regular meetings, where everyone gets feedback, recognizes growth zones. The performance of employees is not assessed with the help of periodic certification - this is done by a team of 5-9 people daily. If an employee is inefficient, it is immediately noticeable.

Relocation of employees

The self-organization of people in turquoise companies is manifested in the management of the composition of the team that recruits and fires workers. Often, HR functions are completely transferred to ordinary specialists. If an employee wants to join another team, he agrees on this with interested parties.

Rules for the relationship of managers and subordinates in turquoise organizations

Agile companies have no place for conflicts and intrigues. In them, no one and no one swears. Managers practically do not interfere in the work of subordinates, but only gently guide employees if they notice that they are having difficulty completing tasks.

If something needs to be regulated, the manager draws up a set of rules and norms, deviation from which is not regarded as disobedience and is not punished by the head. Everyone is free to act as he sees fit. The main thing is that the employee achieves the goal and does not violate corporate culture and psychological climate.

As a rule, ardent aggressors who do not share goals and values, act in their own interests, are quickly forgiven. If a person does not want to leave the teal organization, the leader can offer "compensation" to avoid conflicts.

In Agile, there is no competition for a position or a higher salary, so there is no intrigue aimed at the survival of workers. Usually, employees themselves are not interested in being in a team that they no longer correspond to. Labor Relations are terminated by agreement of the parties or at the initiative of the employee.

Read the HR magazine. Based on the 7 principles of relationships, you will be able to understand which line of behavior to choose and how to get along with subordinates.

In some branches of our largest bank, the authorities were removed. And not only him, but also sales plans. From the word "absolutely". All business matters, including official duties, hiring, distribution of bonuses and everything else - are decided collectively.

Someone will say that this is nonsense, a "holiday of disobedience" and anarchy. Well, yes, many of us are ready to be cogs, regularly shifting pieces of paper from bell to bell. Without accepting any responsibility for the final result. However, it was not for nothing that anarchy was once called the mother of order. Because this joke is only part of the joke.

In fact, the principles of building the organization of the future were described in his work by Frederic Lalu relatively recently. However, some organizations have already adopted the so-called "turquoise organization" into service. Sberbank was no exception. Everyone knows that German Oskarovich is one of the followers of many innovative ideas.

So, what is the main idea of ​​turquoise?

We start with the fact that everyone in the work team has equal rights. There is no boss. All organizational issues, as I said, are resolved collectively. Accordingly, everyone is responsible. For successes and jambs.

But most importantly, in a turquoise organization, employees should be happy. Rather, even so - HAPPY.
And they must carry and convey their happiness to their customers. Share without being stingy.

As you understand, profit in this case is a by-product. It arises by itself, by causality, a happy client will not only come again, but will also bring all his friends.

It is clear that there are no sales plans either.

Such a principle of turquoise organization was introduced almost a year ago in five SMEs of the Sredne-Russian Bank of Sberbank of Russia. All of them are located in the city of Balashikha near Moscow and outwardly differ little from ordinary branches of Sberbank.
It's all about the stuffing.

For example, how is the hiring process.
In the former office of the head of the department (who moved into the category of coaches), a meeting room was made. This is where the applicant comes in. And any team members can (and should) take part in the interview.

We were shown on our own skin how it is done. A couple of stress interviews, in which even I happened to take part.
To be honest, it wasn't easy.

But this is not the end. The most successful applicants are invited to the general meeting (takes place once a week) and communicate with them. After that, they see off and within the team decide which of the candidates is most suitable, with whom it will be most comfortable and pleasant to work side by side.
Do not forget about the main thing - work should bring happiness!

Or distribution of bonuses. If the standard KPI system simply counts, for example, who made more calls, who sold more, or who received more positive feedback in the book of complaints and suggestions.

Not so in a turquoise organization. No one will count calls that did not bring results. Or rave reviews written by an employee's acquaintances by agreement. And everyone understands that in any case, the fact of sale is a combination of efforts of the entire team.
Therefore, the real contribution of each employee to the overall success is also determined collectively, and not privately.

Of course, not everyone is ready to go turquoise. Still, our mentality, upbringing, and training in rectangular classes often came down to the execution and observance of commands and instructions. Not everyone will be able to reorganize and take responsibility for their own business.
But I believe in our youth.

If we compare the usual corporate approach to building a team using commanders and turquoise, then this difference can be compared with a penguin. While he is trampling under the control of the chief on the shore, he is slow and clumsy. But as soon as he jumps into the water, he immediately gains freedom, agility and speed.

This approach allows each employee to feel part of the overall business. This is how the employees themselves made a children's corner with a soul.
It started with one of them bringing a rocking dog into the office. And the rest immediately supported the idea.

This phrase should have been included in the epigraph.

By the way, this design of the interior decoration of the office is allowed in Sberbank only for turquoise.

Would you like to work without a boss?

What are turquoise companies?

Why was there a need for them?

Prospects for creating turquoise companies in Russia.

office workers quit successful career and leave for Goa, teachers become private tutors, and welders become "husbands for an hour." The situation is not saved by impressive bonuses, an attractive social package, reorganization and team building trainings.

Remote work and flexible schedule are increasingly found in job descriptions. Only the promise of freedom can lure good people into the office. But leaders are not ready to give up total control.

Frédéric Laloux, former partner of McKinsey, in the book « » found the answer to the question of what the worker of the 21st century wants.

Evolution of organizations

The more opportunities, the more freedom in choosing a company. A person is not afraid to leave his familiar place and try something new. For the sake of this privilege, the younger generation is ready to sacrifice their salary: to leave for a company that pays less, but has a global goal.

Lalu identified seven stages that organizations around the world have gone through. The last five still exist.

Reactive, or infrared, stage. One hundred thousand years ago, people lived in small groups of several dozen people. Within the group there was no division of duties and hierarchy - everyone was engaged in gathering. The leader was not needed.

Intermediaries between spirits and people appeared in the tribes - shamans or leaders. They made decisions and could, with the help of rituals, save a person from the wrath of the spirits. The shamans had some degree of authority, but there was no organization at this stage yet—the shamans were not in charge of the division of labor within the tribe.

Impulsive, or red, stage. Ten thousand years ago, the tribes began to fight each other. There were leaders - the leaders of the group. Defeated and captured enemies became slaves - they were entrusted with duties that members of the victorious tribe did not want to perform. This is how the first division of labor appeared.

The strongest were chosen as leaders. If he showed weakness for a moment, he was immediately overthrown. The organization was built impulsively according to the principle: “I am stronger than you - I will take your food. If you resist, I will kill you."

The red stage of organizations still exists and is built around a leader: in prisons - a thief in law, in a war - a commander, in mafia structures - a gang leader.

Conformist or amber stage. Six thousand years ago, states and civilizations began to appear. Amber worldview is static: there are immutable laws, things are divided into right and wrong. During the lesson, children should sit at their desks - this is not discussed. Anyone who gets up without permission is punished.

Employees of the amber organization strictly follow orders without asking unnecessary questions. Despite the conservatism of the amber companies, it was in them that planning was born and stable organizational structures arose.

Typical amber organizations are the Catholic Church and the army. Strict subordination is emphasized by the uniform: you will never confuse a bishop with a priest, or a general with a private.

Competitive or orange stage. Orange organizations began during the Renaissance, began to gain strength two centuries ago, and after World War II dominated the Western world.

From the orange point of view, everyone has the right to achieve any goals: a janitor can become a CEO, a beggar can become a millionaire. The main thing is to win the competition: both internal between employees and external. The goal of the company is profit.

The structure has a clear hierarchy. Planning and implementation of plans are separated: thinking is at the top, execution is at the bottom. Decisions are made by the head, passes down to another level, and as a result, the task reaches the lower-level performer. The company has a set of internal rules.

Late for work - part of the salary will be withheld. If you are late again, you will be suspended from work for a day. Once again, fired.

Most major international companies are still arranged according to the orange principle: Nike, Philippe Maurice, Coca-Cola.

Several metaphors

In the Competitive Orange paradigm, organizations are described as machines. Pluralistic Green Organizations use a different metaphor - the family. The founders of the Turquoise Organizations speak of a living organism. Life is always evolving towards greater integrity, complexity and intelligence. This metaphor opens up new horizons.

Pluralistic or green stage. Green organizations first made themselves known at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Then people tried to fight the inequality that arose after industrial revolution, and in the 1960s they built communes.

Green organizations are sensitive to feelings and respect different points of view. People strive for justice, equality, harmony, good neighborliness and consensus. For green organizations, personal relationships within the group are more valuable than the result, and the benefit to the planet and humanity is more important than personal gain.

The most successful green company is Southwest Airlines. The mission of the company is to help customers get to the right place at the lowest possible price. The employees of the ground divisions of the airline creatively solve the problems of passengers.
The company has one rule: solve the passenger's problem as quickly as possible by any means. Thanks to this approach, the company ranks second among all US airlines in terms of the number of passengers carried.

Evolutionary, or turquoise, stage. The first teal organizations appeared 30 years ago, when people got tired of the total control of the leadership and internal competition. Now there are more such companies.

Turquoise organizations have taken the best from orange and green. From the oranges got the desire to compete with external companies, from the greens - the desire to be a team.

Self management

In self-managing teams, the leader is not a Cerberus, but a mentor. He does not control the work, but teaches and gives recommendations. Instead of planning and budgeting, Teal teams practice internal consulting, in which the whole team is involved.

When people are doing meaningful work, when they have the power to make decisions and the resources to implement ideas, they don't need pep talks or a boss to motivate them.

Health workers themselves control duties: they keep a record of patients, plan work, vacation schedules and train newcomers. The company's employees spend 40% less time on patient care than other patronage organizations. At the same time, employees regularly drink coffee with patients and their relatives, which is prohibited in other companies. Bürtzorg patients recover twice as fast and have a third fewer emergency hospitalizations.

Teal organizations do not have job titles and, accordingly, job descriptions, and responsibilities are redistributed within the group in a working order. Another plus of turquoise organizations is the absence of long meetings.

Pursuit of Integrity

Employees in teal organizations open up, support each other within the company, and simultaneously perform external work towards the overall goal of the organization.

Sounds True, an American company based in Colorado, strives for integrity. It is engaged in the production and sale of esoteric literature, videos and online seminars.

At first, only the head of the company came to work with a dog. Today, no meeting is held without pets. The management believes that communication with four-legged friends pacifies and unites colleagues.

In turquoise organizations, it is customary to prescribe principles regarding a safe communication environment. Group meditations and training courses arranged by colleagues are practiced here. Employees themselves choose which seminar to participate in, which lecture to listen to.

Job interviews are conducted by prospective colleagues. They also help the newcomer to adapt in the team. At first, each employee considers it his duty to help the newcomer to cope with the tasks.

evolutionary goal

The evolutionary goal is to make the world a better place. As Jobs said. In turquoise companies, strategy emerges naturally, not imposed by superiors. Each employee understands what he is doing and why.

For management, profit is no longer a goal, but the result of good teamwork.

At Patagonia, an outdoor apparel company, they care more about the planet than they care about profits. Patagonia has implemented the Shared Idea Partnership program, which is based on the rule: reduce consumption, reuse, recycle.

The company makes clothes that can last longer. Damaged clothing can be returned to the store. The company will repair it and sell it on eBay. Each resold jacket should deprive the company of profits - why buy a new one if the old one is not worse in quality, but costs less. Paradox: Patagonia is showing fantastic growth rates. Buyers want to be part of a global goal.

Patagonia has abandoned the packaging of thermal underwear - it is thrown away, and it pollutes the planet. Management expected a 30% decline in profits, but sales increased by 25% - the product is better seen without packaging.

By trying to change the world rather than make more money, Teal organizations win, as absurd as it sounds. The purpose of the company arises from a personal need and coincides with the need of customers.

Turquoise guide

Turquoise organizations are doomed if investors and board members do not share an innovative vision. During periods of growth, they can put up with them, but are always ready to "protect" the organization with traditional methods of control.

Eckart Vinzen founded the small IT consulting company BBC in the Netherlands in 1973. Over the next two decades, it grew into a company of up to 10,000 employees, with outlets in 18 countries in Europe, Asia and South America.

Initially, the organization did not have a headquarters and central office, it consisted of self-governing teams. As soon as Philips acquired a controlling interest, the BBC became a traditional enterprise.

The head of a teal organization retains only one responsibility of a traditional boss—to represent the company to the outside world. Sometimes customers, suppliers and regulators want to communicate only with the “most important”.

At the same time, the head of the evolutionary organization has a new function - to create and maintain the possibility of applying evolutionary methods.

A drill has disappeared from the warehouse at the French copper foundry Favi. Instead of a padlock, they put up a notice: "It's stupid to steal a drill if every worker can take it home for the day." The drill was returned the next day.

The turquoise model is only gaining momentum. Therefore, you need to be prepared for the fact that others will consider the methods strange, even stupid. A friendly atmosphere will attract good specialists to the company and distinguish it from competitors in the market.
All the best

The turquoise organization looks utopian and not yet very convincing. It is impossible to say that it is her future. But companies of this type are increasingly appearing on the market and showing good results. It is more pleasant and efficient to work in a friendly team with a common goal, without a rigid hierarchy.

It is not necessary to reshape the company from amber or orange to turquoise if you do not like it. But you can take the advantages of the organization of the future and get closer to perfection.

Explain to employees what internal consultation is. Colleagues should realize that each of them can make a decision by consulting with stakeholders and those with experience and knowledge.

Discuss an acceptable conflict resolution mechanism. Speak in advance how to solve conflict situations in a team before a quarrel arises.

Formulate the rules for a safe communication environment. For disrespectful colleagues, gossip is a punishment.

Develop an onboarding process for newcomers. When a person comes to a new place, it is difficult for him. Even if he is a professional in his field, he will not be able to show his talents until he adapts to the team. Appoint a mentor guide. He will tell you who to turn to for help, where they are Required documents and talk about the rules of the company.

Skip the formalities. If you are not a bank or government agency, do not force employees to wear suits every day. Eliminate the rule of sitting hours in the workplace if the work is done. Avoid boring meetings. Spend them less often and let everyone have their say.

Remind the purpose of the company. The more often employees hear about the company's goal, the more they feel the need to follow it. The "Empty Chair" technique will help. At the end or during the meeting, someone sits in an empty chair representing evolutionary purpose and ponders the question, "Did this meeting serve the purpose of the organization?"

Important questions

Can we build organizations that are free from politicking, bureaucracy, and corporate infighting? Organizations where employees are not under constant stress, do not experience resentment or bitter apathy. Companies where "above" do not let themselves down important view, while the "below" work like hard labor. A lot depends on your answer!

Quote from the book

Where did turquoise companies come from?

Such an evolutionary paradigm appeared in response to the demands of society. People do not want to receive a simple product or service, they want to see added value behind them, additional meaning, they want to experience an emotion. The business of the 21st century creates this. A striking example is Starbucks, whose goal is not to sell coffee, but to be a platform for relationships between people. A pleasant drink is a subject around which communication is built.

It is important for companies to give additional meaning to both customers and employees, to build a corporate culture. Some have already understood this, others are at the stage of awareness, and others will come later.

True, not everyone can create a single living organism. Perhaps this story is about entrepreneurs, not about businessmen. The purpose of the latter is to make money. Here, now. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, strive to fill their own business with meaning, turn it from a separate unit into a part of society, influence the fate of people, allowing them to open up and change lives.

Three pillars: trust, responsibility and motivation

When creating such a system, responsibility is important. If a person is given freedom, he must be reliable and necessarily involved. It is necessary to convey the message to the employee: “I trust you. I know that you can do more. I want you to know more about your competence than I do. Do something cool so that all people win, all participants in the ecosystem around you: your clients, your deskmates, shareholders. The best that a company can give people is the opportunity to realize their intellectual and personal potential.

The team of the turquoise company - who are they?

For example, we in Adventum (explains Artem Agabekov, co-founder of the agency) get one person out of 32. We pay great attention to personal characteristics: who he is, with what request he came. From our own experience, we have learned that 2% of the time invested in finding the right people will save 98% of the time that could be spent on correcting the situation. Now we give the applicant a week for a test drive. A person has the opportunity to look at us and show himself, so that our choice in relation to each other is conscious. And if we matched, then - as in a good marriage - we will live together happily ever after and we will have wonderful children. If you take a person with other values, it's like giving the body a blood transfusion of the wrong group.

People with a request for cooperation, co-creation, creation, coming to the company, continue to grow. No one comes ready "in and out." The company serves as a place of power where a person can reveal his talent. And become what he could be. The company should see him not as he is now in the moment, but see him as the future. The company helps a person to become such, to feel the taste of victory. For him to say, “Wow! I managed!" The task of a person is to enter the right door, and the task of the company is to let him in.
If you showed bad taste and made a non-identical choice

This happens both in life and in your career. It's not scary, you just need not be afraid to leave on time. There is no point in tormenting a person who realized that he had chosen the wrong path. No need to pull anyone by the ears: you slow him down too - maybe he would have found a different occupation and would have been successful? – and you borrow from those who are ready to be in the flow. Golden Rule: take long, fire fast. We ourselves sin, of course. We give a second, third, tenth chance. But if you dig deeper, this is not kindness, but cowardice. The company is afraid to take on additional responsibility and understand that it is necessary to re-seek a person for the position.

How do you know when it's time to say goodbye? I think the first call is if you understand that there is no more co-direction between your vectors. At that moment, a person stops developing, and you can no longer remain his place of power.

Turquoise communication

It is important not to demand from people to reach their potential, but to give them all the opportunities. If a smart and wonderful candidate gets into the red company, there is a great chance that they will crush him there, and they will hear him in the turquoise one. In a red company, internal interaction is built on a culture of power and fear. This state of affairs is familiar to our people: we lived for a long time with serfdom, then there was a revolution, then Stalin appeared, the Second World War began.

"I learn from you just as you learn from me."

There is no shouting in a living company, there is no dictatorship. The very statement of the problem sounds different, not in the form of some kind of directive, but as reflection, often joint. I can hardly imagine a person who, having worked in a living company, would want to return to an inanimate one.

aliens

If pioneers could be found, I thought, they would exchange ideas, knowing that they were not alone. On the contrary, they were delighted to learn that they were not the only ones to question traditional management practices. All these organizations are like isolated aliens with supernatural powers.

Leader in the turquoise company

And this, by the way, is the most difficult task for a leader. The first thing you need to do is to answer the question “why?” for yourself. The second is to negotiate with people and convey the main idea to them so that they understand. I'm not saying that you need to take paint and write in huge letters on the wall - no.

Goals and values ​​are in the air and captured at the level of sensation. The task of the leader is to manage them. If you want external performance, there must be a high frequency and tension inside the company, an aura of high achievements, a flow.

Turquoise companies in Russia and their future

Western turquoise companies holactratic and their names are on everyone's lips: Costco, UPS, Zappos, Southwest Airlines, Whole Foods Market and dozens of others.

Holacracy - that is, management without hierarchy and managers - is a word that is almost never used in the Russian language, because neither its meaning nor its essence is clear to us yet, and even more so, it has not been implemented.

Turquoise companies are relevant for Russia like never before. Yes, our country has always been “red”, yes, we have many problems. But it is precisely they that change people: you see that if you do not do beyond your strength and capabilities, a one-way ticket awaits you, you will live an inferior life, not loaded with meaning and benefit.

The internal desires of people, multiplied by changes in the concept of business in society, will become the basis of selection. There will be turquoise companies and companies of a different kind. But the former will take their place at the top of the food chain. Wherever there is creativity, creativity and human talents are liberated, there is more freedom and added value, which means a larger market share, more finances, margins and all the consequences.

I believe that in the end, those companies that will unleash human genius will win.

Working space

Office buildings are often gray and soulless spaces. They tell us, "This is a job where you have to behave in certain, acceptable ways." Why not make your work a colorful, hospitable, cozy and unusual place from the very beginning?

How do Russian Turquoise companies work without bosses?

“If it wasn’t for the turquoise strategy, the company most likely wouldn’t exist at all,” says the founder retail chains"VkusVill" and "Izbenka" Andrey Krivenko. For seven years, he created a network from scratch, which brought in 5.6 billion rubles last year. revenue and 278 million rubles. arrived, according to SPARK.
Who can't be hired

A bad candidate is a chronic whiner, always unhappy, blaming others, unwilling to take responsibility, dishonest, trusting no one. A bad candidate waits to be told what to do. Not the most suitable candidate - the one who is inflexible, and the one who says: "This is not my job."

Another example. Boris Dyakonov, while still the chairman of the board at Bank24.ru, tried to introduce the principles of holacracy in his team - decentralization, in which each employee has the right to make important decisions.
In autumn 2014, the Central Bank revoked the license from Bank24.ru. According to the regulator, “the system of organization operating in the bank internal control in the field of combating the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime and the financing of terrorism did not prevent the involvement of a credit institution in servicing the shadow sector of the economy.

However, this did not prevent Boris Dyakonov from becoming the “Banker of the Year” according to Banki.ru. “After the license is revoked, the owners and top management of the bank usually leave the ruined credit institution, from which billions were withdrawn. All this was not in Bank 24.ru. On the contrary, at the time of the revocation of the license from a credit institution, the amount of assets exceeded liabilities to creditors by 1 billion rubles, ”then the choice was explained Chief Editor Banki.ru Natalia Romanova.

Now Dyakonov, together with his team and the Otkritie Corporation, is developing new project, a bank for entrepreneurs "Tochka" (it employs more than 600 people). According to Boris, the benefits of holacracy were at their best when times were hard: employees stayed late despite pay arrears; threw off personal money to organize SMS mailing to customers, etc.

“Zhenya has always been for openness. She would not have been able to create in other conditions, ”says Ekaterina Fedorova, the company's marketer, about the head of the Baby Club network. There are more than 200 franchise clubs in the network for developing the talents of preschoolers. IN management company 40 people work and there is no clearly built hierarchy. 80% of employees communicate directly with the founders of the company Evgeniya and Yury Belonoshchenko. “We don’t have the concept of “the leader said so, so it’s necessary,” if one of the team members is uncomfortable with any decision, he can approach Yura or Zhenya and talk about the situation,” Fedorova assures.

Yuri Belonoshchenko says that the company has 67 new projects in development - any employee can take on their implementation. “Success can be achieved only if you treat the company from the position of the owner,” says Yuri.

Deceitful freedom

Office staff at VkusVill are freer than many freelancers: there is no work schedule as such, employees come to the office and leave it when it suits them. “Someone is used to working from early morning, and someone likes to sleep – why rape people?” Andrey says. Shop assistants, of course, cannot afford a free schedule - they themselves agree with colleagues who and when starts working. The main thing is to fulfill corporate promises, an analogue of the usual KPIs, but the employees themselves set them for each other. Each employee makes promises to his “customer” within the company: the storekeeper and the loader promise the sellers to deliver to the store a certain amount of goods, the delivery service promises the distribution center to deliver all orders on time, etc. The company has natural selection: those who systematically do not fulfill their promises lose their “customer” - the store may refuse to work with this particular loader. Having lost all the "customers", the employee loses income and place in the company.

The employee's income depends on the quality of the fulfillment of promises. “Every employee is an entrepreneur within one big company. If he does his job poorly, he does not make a profit, ”explains Andrey. So, for example, sellers do not have a fixed rate at all: their entire income depends on the volume of sales. If the store, for objective reasons, does not show the required results (for example, an unsuccessful place), a small fix is ​​set.

Andrey Krivenko, founder of the VkusVill and Izbenka retail chains

This approach does not suit everyone. “They will tell you that everything depends only on you, raise your revenue and get a good salary. Only managers do not want to admit the fact of patency. In their concept, it is possible to make the same revenue with a traffic of 100–120 people, as with a traffic of 200–230 people,” Alena, a former employee of VkusVill, complains on the website pravda-sotrudnikov.ru. “No salary, bare deal. You will hunchback for 12-13 hours, but it is not a fact that you will receive at least a thousand rubles a day. It's all hell and no rewards." “The minimum wage was canceled - I used to know that you would definitely get 1500, but now only 5% of the proceeds. There are places where they get less than 1000 per shift, and this is for 12 hours of hellish labor! - network sellers complain on the sites otrude.net and orabote.xyz. At the same time, they admit that the company pays “white” salaries on time, and in successful stores, sellers’ incomes reach 70–90 thousand rubles.

The exchange of promises, the discussion of problems and conflicts takes place on e-mail, in messenger chats or on general meetings. However, you can not go to the latter either. “We have a technologist who, on principle, does not come to meetings - he simply understands that he will spend this time more efficiently, performing his direct duties,” says Krivenko. General gatherings, even on a voluntary basis, are still held not for all employees, but for the central office, say the sellers of Izbenka and VkusVill. When a company employs more than two thousand people, organizing democratic institutions is not an easy task.

At Tochka, there is an analogue of Vkusvilov's promises - intra-corporate expectations. So, in the customer support department, for example, they canceled the usual plans for the number of calls received. “All this is easily simulated: in order to gain more accepted requests, the operator can constantly switch the client to his colleagues,” says Dyakonov.​

Related departments at general meetings tell what they expect from colleagues: for example, in order for the sales department to work effectively, programmers must “finish” the new version of the Internet bank by the end of the month. “It's like in a family: the wife thinks that her husband should cook breakfast every morning, but does not tell him about it: like, he should guess himself. The husband, of course, does nothing, the wife is offended. If this issue is brought up for discussion, life becomes easier and more pleasant,” says Dyakonov.

Ex-Chairman of the Board of Bank24.ru Boris Dyakonov Having received freedom from orders from above, employees often begin to work more efficiently. “Lawyers are traditionally the most bureaucratic people in the company: they will force the client to come to the office again and again to sign a ton of documents, even if they know that some people may not stand it and go to another bank. But if lawyers work in conjunction with salespeople, they are really trying to reduce the pain of the client, ”says the head of Tochka.

Companies without hierarchical structure with the lyrical name "turquoise" - not a managerial utopia and not socialism in a single office. This is a new trend.

“I can come to work at any time, we don’t have bosses, only mentors. Therefore, it is convenient to combine work with your favorite hobby. It turns out that you are your own boss. Comfortable. I like it,” says Svetlana, field specialist of Tinkoff Bank. She moved to Tinkoff after office work and believes that she will not be able to return to the “classic” working atmosphere. “It seems to be fashionable now, but it doesn’t matter to me. As long as I feel comfortable, I work here,” she says. She has 12 more clients in the same area today.

4 eras of business management

The term "turquoise company" itself became popular after the publication of Federic Lalu's book "Discovering the Organizations of the Future". In it, Lalu shares existing systems business management into 4 "epochs":

• "Red" - a conservative management system, which rests on one leader, dictating the rules of work.

• "Orange" - a system common in corporations built on the principles of competition, reward and punishment. The strict hierarchy of the system does not cancel mobility up the career ladder and ideas from below.

• "Green" - a system in which the emphasis is not on the result and benefits, but on personal relationships within the group, which are more valuable than the result.

• "Turquoise" - a system that emerged from a mix of successful "orange" and failed "green" systems. Self-management, integrity and evolutionary purpose are the three main pillars of turquoise companies.

In Russia, the “turquoise” direction gained popularity after the idea of ​​such management was voiced by the head of Sberbank German Gref and even tried to introduce “turquoise” principles in several branches of the bank. However, the bank is in no hurry to share the results of such implementation.

Some companies built their business on "turquoise" principles even before the introduction of the term "turquoise" into the mass consciousness. For example, the network of children's developing centers "Baby Club" initially had a horizontal structure.

“Just when it became fashionable to be called “turquoise”, it turned out that we already are,” says Yuri Belonoshchenko, founder and head of the Baby Club. - Relationships were built according to the scheme not “manager - subordinate”, but “one team”, where everyone has their own areas of responsibility, and the rest support you in this. Eat common goals and plans. There are strategic sessions where all employees discuss the plans and goals of the company, as well as each team player individually. Any member of the team can influence the decision. Everyone's opinion matters."

For other companies, "turquoise" management has become a convenient tool for solving problems with a decrease in the efficiency of employees with a concomitant increase in staff. For example, the Vkusvill company officially chose the “turquoise” path (the principles themselves, according to the leaders, were introduced from the very foundation of the company), when, against the backdrop of rapid business growth, it faced the problem of “blurring” job duties and responsibility for them. “When the management of a company realizes that their offspring has already grown out of a micro and perhaps even a small business, it suddenly turns out that profits have stopped growing at the same pace, or even started to decline altogether. By this time, the number of employees usually exceeds a hundred, and top management does not always know exactly what each of them is doing, ”recalls Valery Razgulyaev, information manager at Izbenka - Vkusvill.

If consultants are invited at this moment, they will offer to describe all job responsibilities, prescribe rules of interaction and monitor their implementation, Valery Razgulyaev is sure. “Unfortunately, formalization kills the last initiative of employees and often contributes to the dismissal of the best of them,” he said.

In the case of the Izbenka-Vkusvill company, the tool for solving this problem was the formation of promises from all employees of the company. “First, you need to get together with the core of the company and understand what the initial success and growth of the company was based on. And here it is very important to understand that all this was due to the fact that you were able to give your customers something that they really wanted to receive. And the best way to express it is in a promise you made to the client and then delivered on. Most likely it will turn out that the promise was a composite one, and it contains both adequate cost, and speed of response to requests, and pleasant interaction with employees ... ”explains Valery Razgulyaev. As a result of the restructuring on full-fledged “turquoise rails”, the company has neither a rigid schedule (many office employees appear in the office 1-2 days a week, and store employees make their own schedule), nor a dress code, nor fines and regulations. Moreover, Vkusvill does not have a single budget, despite a developed network of more than 450 stores.

"Turquoise" companies versus Russian realities

The theory of "turquoise" management is new, and on Russian market it is just starting to take root. “At the moment, there is an active “rake collection,” says business psychologist Lyudmila Boldyreva.

According to the expert, there are several main points where “a plug appears”:

• Self management. One of the principles of "turquoise" organizations is self-management (there is no need for a hierarchy). Not in all areas of business and not for all people, this principle is suitable. So far, most people are accustomed to the fact that there is a boss, and he sets tasks. The boss is responsible for systemic vision.

• The level of psychological maturity of workers. To follow the principle of self-management, people must have a very high level of psychological maturity, awareness, the ability to communicate well, negotiate, etc. And, most importantly, everyone must have a common understanding of where the company is “going” and how.

• The number of employees. If with 5 employees it is still possible to move towards a “single goal” in a single sense, then with 500 it is already more difficult to do. Either way, control is needed. Otherwise it's anarchy.

• Various incentives to work. Everyone comes to work with their own values, it is important for someone to fulfill themselves and be a good professional, he loves his job, and someone just goes there to earn money and that's it.

“Three pillars of “turquoise” organizations: responsibility, trust and motivation. Until each employee learns to take full, 100 percent responsibility for the work done, until he learns to trust a colleague, and not be afraid that someone will set him up or appropriate his ideas for himself, until there is some kind of motivation for the idea, and not for the sake of money, companies cannot become “turquoise”, - says Lyudmila Boldyreva.

However, in companies that have already been given the “turquoise light”, they believe that the difficulties are general, not related to Russian realities. “Rather, in Russia it is even easier to bypass them, since we are used to yielding even in our personal ambitions for the sake of the triumph of justice. And these difficulties are connected with the “reverse side of the coin”, which is not even familiar to most managers, when many employees “burn” with all their heart for the cause. No matter how great it sounds, but it often causes serious conflicts, when the opinion of the “burning” employees on the correctness of a particular decision turns out to be different. And in a “teal” organization, one cannot dismiss the alternative vision within the framework of the hierarchical paradigm “who is higher is right.” That is why many "turquoise" organizations are considering specific mechanisms for resolving disputes that would allow moving forward without destroying the common field of interaction, ”explains Valery Razgulyaev.

There are chances for the "turquoise business" to spread widely in Russia, Yuri Belonoshchenko believes. “The current generation of managers and entrepreneurs with a different way of thinking. They do not think in terms of ambition, not in terms of the “leader-subordinate” principle. They think in terms of goals, objectives, build processes in a different way. The ideology of agile management, Scrum, flexible management is coming,” he recalls. In addition, the problems are not in Russian realities, but in a person’s head. Indeed, in the "turquoise" management there is a very important component: you are responsible for what you do. There are no loopholes, there is no work “from 10 to 19”, but there are tasks and goals and how you achieve them and how you work in a team. Complexity is precisely the presence of such thinking, the thinking of a responsible person. Then we get "turquoise management" and "turquoise company". If a person thinks differently, there is a shifting of responsibility, then nothing will work.

Utopia or new reality?

“The roots of Federic Lalu's book lie in the theory of "spiral dynamics", which is based on a system of values ​​that is reflected in the behavior of people and in the principles of management. When it comes to business, the emphasis is on self-managed systems—small teams that solve problems. Unlike Lalu's "turquoise" approach, which is presented in an interesting and simple language in the book, spiral dynamics is a deeper and more thoughtful theory, ”says Peter Strohm, vice president of development in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean of the Adizes Institute.

The Adizes methodology is based on basic principle: organizations, like living organisms, have their own life cycle and exhibit predictable and repetitive behavioral manifestations in the process of growth and aging. At every stage organizational development the company faces a specific set of challenges. How well a company's management copes with them, how successfully it implements the changes necessary for a healthy transition from stage to stage, determines the ultimate success or failure of that organization.

According to Peter Strohm, the principles of self-management work well in those organizations whose success is directly related to innovative developments, that is, in high-tech companies. The approach itself is good for project management. At the same time, there are many questions about how it can be applied in companies involved in operating activities.

Problems can also arise in the process of implementing the developed solutions. “According to the Adizes methodology, in order to make a good decision, you need to be a democrat. To successfully implement decision- a dictator. This approach to making and implementing decisions is called “democracy”. Thus, self-managed teams are able to make decisions based on democratic principles. However, as regards the preservation of dictatorship in the process of implementation, it is hierarchical systems that cope much better with this,” Peter Strom believes.

If the company was dominated authoritarian control, it will not be easy for her to immediately and completely become “turquoise”. It's the same as jumping a level. Perhaps such changes are possible in a particular division, but in general it will be difficult to make this in a company. If, nevertheless, the organization decided to go in this direction, it can change by taking certain steps. For example, those that the Adizes methodology suggests, the expert is sure.

Text: Anastasia Litvinova

I live and work mainly in Irkutsk: in two organizations that can hardly be called classic. One is relatively large: approximately, because there are incoming freelancers, 20 people have a turnover of several tens of millions of rubles a month, and the second is a hobby that we are trying to monetize with two comrades in the shop.

There are articles on Habré devoted to the so-called turquoise (there are disputes about the color: someone develops the idea to emerald, someone stops at yellow, but all this is particular, and the article is not about that) organizations. They are also called: synergistic, holacratic (not to be confused with ochlocratic). There are also warning posts. But still…

Here are a few (for those who don't quite know what I'm talking about):

1. Actually, about the book by F. Lalu
2. About the world in turquoise tones
3. People and organizations of the future
4. Synergy organizations
5. There are others...

Well, here they are:

• http://www.sunhydraulics.com : "There is no organizational chart or formal job descriptions here" organizational structure or official job descriptions)
• http://www.valvesoftware.com : “When you give smart talented people the freedom to create without fear of failure, amazing things happen. We see it every day at Valve" ("When we give smart and talented people creative freedom without fear of failure, amazing things happen. We see it at Valve on a daily basis."
• http://www.favi.com : "FAVI offers each employee the opportunity to be responsible for his/her own progress and success"

And here are the areas that F. Lalu himself studied:

1. Medicine
2. Metallurgy
3. Energy
4. IT (consulting, development, etc.)
5. Religious associations
6. food industry
7. industrial production

In Russia, for example, they are trying to apply this experience:

1. Sberbank under the leadership of G. Gref
2. Button (in their own opinion)
3. Industrial sales - organizers of turquoise organizations in Irkutsk
4. Adventum - performance agency
5. Expedition - "niche sales of a wide profile"
6. Vkusvill - retail chain
7. Pokupo - SaaS solutions for online stores
8. And again, others...

For example, here's what a scheme of such an organization might look like:

Very often, such organizations receive criticism of the following content: “Teal organizations are a purely speculative model... the types of business listed in the article are not a business, but a kind of “pastime” - consulting, esotericism and all sorts of garbage, ”but if you look at the list above, you can see that this is far from the case.

The second antithesis is always the following (quotes are taken from discussions of publications on the topic on the Web): “Unfortunately, this is not very applicable in Russia! The deepest roots of our bureaucratic machine cannot be torn out! An inspector will certainly come to such a “turquoise company” and demand reports, certificates, etc. And then they will punish you!..”

But first, if you are familiar with current legislation Russian Federation, you probably know that today even officially it is possible to describe the rights and obligations in the Charter in a completely different way than before (I think this should be discussed separately another time). Yes, CEO- still an important face, but that's all. Secondly, the BO model does not require violation of the law: it only calls for reducing bureaucratic costs, moreover, within the company. For example, where there is a quality control manager or even a sales manager, he is not needed if the company structure allows you not to create such links (an excellent guide on the topic is “Customers for Life”, although this is not entirely about BO).

I will give two simplest examples that were encountered in labor reality, when the “turquoise approach” was born by itself:

1. Let's say that reporting is usually handed over by an accountant, but the founders themselves (or even other members of the association) can hand over exactly the same. It's all about standardization and responsibility. But it is possible, because has already.
2. Education: say, programmers develop in different directions and sometimes the help of “senior comrades” is needed, but this is every time - different people: let's say someone knows the github chips better, and someone is well versed with unit testing. The issue of “training” can be solved in at least two ways: a) create a separate work unit that will play the role of a teacher (it can be field courses, a separate consultant, etc.) or b) do everything with the help of mutual learning. Again - it works. There are difficulties in this process, but I will give a general answer to this and other questions: where are they not?

In short, the point is that there should not be uniform standards: principles, yes, but not standards. In fact, however strange it may sound, these standards are not present in companies that are called “orange” in the same classification. For example, Coca-Cola and IP Ivanov I.I. operate like orange organizations, but will their models overlap when it comes to standards? Based on experience, no. But the principles are undeniable.

In order to better understand the value of BO, you need to understand how the following differ:

1. role from position (more on that next time)
2. liability from punishment
3. strict hierarchy from "possible decentralized models"
4. association from the company

But for today I will finish by pointing out another obvious question: “why publish this on Habré?”.

1. In my deep conviction, BO in the IT sector, especially where a lot of people work remotely, should take root and have already taken root quite well, and IT and Habr are interdependent things;
2. Judging by the initial analysis of the comments to the articles, there is interest in BO, but there is also a clear misunderstanding of many points, so I would like to answer some questions now, and leave some for further publications;
3. Habr, among other things, gives excellent feedback and helps to find like-minded people, and this is not as little as it might seem to someone;
4. There are really a lot of questions, but most of them can be put together, which means that at least extremely general answers can be given in areas of interest;
5. Finally, I would like to show that BO is not an abstraction at all, but a model tested by many years (at least 60 years) of practice, which allows not only more efficient, in terms of, say, profit, but also more interesting work for all participants.

P.S. Where did the points of view come from?

1. Habr (comments)
2. Organizations