{"id":10509,"date":"2021-11-10T19:42:18","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T17:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/?p=10509"},"modified":"2026-03-02T16:37:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T14:37:31","slug":"teal-organizations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clockify.me\/blog\/tracking-time\/teal-organizations\/","title":{"rendered":"Practices That Benefit Teal Organizations: Interview With MTA Digital"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cThe future of management is teal<\/i>\u201d can be heard more and more often. According to some articles<\/a>, teal organizations focus less on the bottom line and shareholder value, but they have better financial results than their competitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are teal organizations?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do they function?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is time tracking so important to them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do they manage their time, projects, and team(s)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find out the answers, we talked with Justyna Wasielewska, Clockify Role Supervisor, and Mateusz Miko\u0142ajczyk, PM Global, from performance marketing agency MTA Digital<\/a> that follows the Teal approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are teal organizations?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The term teal organization<\/i> came from the book Reinventing Organizations<\/a> by Frederic Laloux. According to the Laloux Culture Model, cited in the book, organizations can be red, amber, orange, green, or teal<\/i><\/b>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teal organizations<\/b> have distributed authority, often functioning as decentralized, self-managed teams \u2014 the metaphor for teal organizations is a living organism. Hierarchies are fluid and natural \u2014 decision-making power goes to whoever has the most knowledge, interest, and passion on the topic. Trust is a big thing, as well: there\u2019s no micromanaging, every team member is trusted to do their job the best they can. It can be a great organizational model for both profit and non-profit organizations<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teal organizations enable three breakthroughs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Self-management<\/b>: They operate effectively using a system based on peer relationships. Power and control are not tied to specific positions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Wholeness<\/b>: They reject \u201ctraditional\u201d professionalism that prefers masculinity and extroversion; instead, they let that their workers bring their \u201cwhole self\u201d to work (a.k.a. be fully themselves) and create a safe work environment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Evolutionary purpose<\/b>: Teal organizations have a strong sense of purpose and base their strategies on what they sense the world needs from them. In accordance with the \u201cliving organism\u201d metaphor, their purpose is not static, but always evolving: instead of trying to predict and control the future like traditional companies do, teal organizations listen in and constantly reshape and refine their purpose.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    To better understand teal organizations, let\u2019s also see what the other colors from the Laloux Culture Model symbolize for organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Contrasting teal organizations with red organizations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Red organizations<\/b> have a strong leader who has absolute power over the others. Subordinates follow the orders of the boss with no questions asked (\u201cor else\u2026\u201d<\/i>). They represent the most basic form of human organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Contrasting teal organizations with amber organizations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Amber organizations<\/b> have a strict hierarchy, reporting lines, formal roles, and a chain of command. The dominant leadership style is \u201ccommand and control\u201d \u2014 those on upper levels give orders and those on lower levels follow them. These organizations thrive in stable and predictable environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Examples of an amber organization are the military, public schools, and government agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Contrasting teal organizations with orange organizations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Orange organizations<\/b> are focused on innovation: What do we need to do to improve? How do we come up with something bigger and better? How do we beat the competition?<\/i>
    The pyramidal structure is still present, but decision-making authority is now shared with more people. Since these organizations are results-oriented, there\u2019s a meritocracy based on who delivers the best results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Examples of orange organizations are big corporations and public universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Contrasting teal organizations with green organizations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Green organizations<\/b> strive to resemble families. They want to empower and motivate employees. Other than profit, they have a strong company culture, defined values, and a role in the community. Their structure is less hierarchical and resembles an inverted pyramid: CEOs and leaders serve, rather than direct their organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The most commonly used examples are culture-driven organizations, such as Southwest Airlines and Ben and Jerry\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How do teal organizations function?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    It\u2019s a common misconception that there is no hierarchy or bosses in teal organizations. There are, but their approach is different than in more traditional organizations. Here\u2019s what Justyna Wasielewska and Mateusz Miko\u0142ajczyk have to say on the subject:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    \u201cThe fact that a person is our Team Leader doesn’t mean that their opinion is always superior and that only they are allowed to make any decision in the team. We see Team Leaders more like people who have a holistic view of the team, and those who see the “big picture” of projects. Their job is to help individual team members solve problems, facilitate the flow of work, and generally “connect the dots.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    An example of how teal organizations function<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Our interviewees further illustrated the way these types of organizations work:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    \u201cImagine that, with a pack of your friends, you\u2019re planning the trip to the mountains in ex. China (foreign, and quite exotic country for eastern culture) \u2014 you want to climb, eat local food, visit some places. Some of those friends are the experienced climber, the cook, and someone who speaks Chinese. Who should be \u201cthe boss\u201d of the whole trip?<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It\u2019s natural, that, in terms of climbing and safety \u2014 you\u2019d listen to the climber, the cook will be your guide to local cuisine, and you\u2019ll leave the communication with locals to the one who speaks Chinese. So each of them is a kind of \u201cthe boss\u201d in their area of specialization.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The same applies at MTA \u2014 so the hierarchy is not given by CEOs, leaders, etc., but it\u2019s more based on meritocracy, where everyone can be \u201cthe boss\u201d of some part of the organization, which he\/she is specialized in. For example \u2014 being specialized in Facebook Ads, I don\u2019t have the knowledge to decide how should we take care of our client\u2019s Google Ads accounts. Everyone just has a different role to play in the organization, so we could grow and evolve, and no one is superior.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    Why is time tracking important for teal organizations?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    For a teal organization to function well, everyone needs great organizational and decision-making skills. That is often achieved by tracking time. This practice has many benefits<\/a>, from easier task prioritization to better time management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Time tracking significantly facilitates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n