Explore

Learn from other organizations

We often think “this is not for us”, “yes but in Belgium”,... but is it really like that?

On this page we list some examples of teal practices from around the world, shaking up our thoughts perhaps. This can help letting go of our limiting beliefs and it can perhaps inspire us to move forward and be bold.

Sources:

“Corporate Rebels. Make work more fun”, Joost Minnaar, Pim De Morree

Patagonia

Everything is about the higher purpose: outdoor life, fitness, nature. This purpose is visible everywhere. “Build the best products, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crsis”

What can we do to make our purpose visible in our behavior, our workspace even?

Any

Companies with focus on higher purpose perform up to 10 times better than the competition. Consumers are willing to pay more for products and services from companies that focus on having a positive influence.

Have a bold purpose. Authentic, honest, fearless, real. Why does our company exist? Why do we do what we do? What is our added value? Who are we? Do we mean what we say? Who are we doing this for? What difference do we want to make?

Get the message to everyone. Apply purpose and values in all areas.

Hire for culture, train for skills. Six month probation to check if people fit the culture.

Measure impact, track progress, share it widely: metrics are very important. Tony’s Chocolonely measures how slavery develops withing the cocoa industry, and honestly and openly communicates that information. Patagonia reveals its pollution rates.

Put your money where your mouth is. Patagonia halted profitable lines to cut pollution and donated its Black Friday profits to worthy causes.

Haier

2000 self organizing units. With freedom to innovate, think like entrepreneurs. They resemble small autonomous companies, each around a product or service. 12000 middle management positions made redundant. Employees take almost all their decisions without consulting superiors or breaking protocol. Haier has started experimenting with shared ownership. Network of teams. Network of companies.

Svenska Handelsbanken

Power decentralized to local departments. CEO Jan Wallander started by refusing to unilaterally take any major decisions. Always input and consent of local branches. Giant was divided into smaller, more agile components. No more centralised budgeting processes. Local branches do budget, visions, strategic plans,... Only the branches had the right to decide which products would be offered to their customers. Complete authority on hiring and firing, salary levels, promotion. Head office: support only, not control.

There are no rows in this table

⁠

Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.

Try clicking the ··· in the right corner or using a keyboard shortcut (

CtrlP

) instead.