The Problem: Traditional Leadership is Holding Companies Back
Most businesses still run on outdated leadership models. Hierarchical, top-down, rigid. In fast-growing, high-performance teams, that stifles execution, innovation, and autonomy.
The future of leadership is relational, adaptive, and decentralized. This is where Teal organizations, Theory U, and relational leadership come in—giving teams ownership, autonomy, and real purpose.
At Sanctus, I worked with Gestalt-trained coaches and therapists who challenged us not to build from ego and blind spots, but from listening to the whole organization.
That means:
Not making top-down decisions in a vacuum
Not building policies based on assumptions, but on real employee & customer needs
Challenging leaders to recognize their own fears & biases in decision-making
I’ve used these principles with scale-ups who:
Needed to shift from scrappy generalists to structured leadership
Had strategy gridlock because no one was listening to the whole business
Needed to balance autonomy with execution clarity
Understanding the Organizational Color Spectrum
Businesses evolve through different models of leadership and structure, each defined by a color spectrum that represents its core characteristics:
🔴 Red (Command & Control) → Fear-based, power-driven hierarchies. Think mafia structures, authoritarian leadership, or businesses that operate on sheer dominance and control.
Why they fail: Unstable, high turnover, no room for growth.🟠 Amber (Rigid Hierarchies & Bureaucracy) → Clear chains of command, highly structured, slow-moving. Think traditional government structures or large corporates that resist change.
Why they fail: Resistant to innovation, creates frustration for employees, lacks agility.🟢 Green (People-First, Culture-Driven) → Empowered teams, values-led, consensus-driven leadership. Think progressive companies like Patagonia or social enterprises with deep purpose.
Why they struggle: Over-focus on consensus can slow decision-making and create inefficiencies. It's harder to be competitive and customer focused when internal navel gazing can get dysfunctional.🌕Yellow (Competitive, KPI-Driven, Profit-Focused) → Meritocratic, results-driven, obsessed with efficiency and growth. Most modern startups and corporations operate in this model.
Why they burn out: Hyper-focus on success leads to work-life imbalance, stress, and attrition.🌊 Teal Organizations (Self-Managed, Adaptive, Evolutionary Purpose) → Decentralized decision-making, autonomy, and trust. Teams self-organize, leadership is distributed, and businesses evolve organically based on market needs and employee insights.
Why they work: People are empowered, businesses are resilient, and execution speeds up instead of slowing down.
Implementing Teal Practices in Traditional Industries
Shifting towards Teal leadership doesn’t mean tearing everything down—it means experimenting with autonomy in ways that drive execution.
Example: Innovation Pods in an Insurance Company
A traditional insurance company is unlikely to suddenly embrace full decentralization, but they can experiment with Teal concepts by:
Creating Cross-Functional Teams → Instead of siloed departments, form pods with underwriters, claims adjusters, IT, and customer service working together on new product innovation.
Giving Teams Real Decision-Making Power → Let these pods run their own experiments, propose solutions, and implement changes without waiting for C-suite approval.
Setting Up a “Test & Learn” Framework → Allow the pod to run rapid iterations on policy offerings, customer service improvements, or digital transformation—without getting buried in bureaucracy.
Result? Faster product development, higher employee engagement, and a culture of execution, not just endless planning.
Why Other Organisational Models Lead to Burnout, Attrition & Impact the Bottom Line
🔻 Top-Down Decision Making Slows Execution → Companies where every major decision has to be signed off by senior leadership move too slow to compete in fast-changing industries.
🔻 Rigid Structures Create Employee Frustration → If people don’t feel trusted to make decisions, they either disengage or leave.
🔻 Over-Focus on Performance Metrics Kills Innovation → When every decision is about hitting short-term KPIs, teams prioritize safe bets over bold moves.
Teal Fixes This By:
Giving decision-making power to people closest to the work → Less time wasted, better execution.
Creating an environment where employees can experiment, fail, and learn → Innovation happens faster.
Aligning business goals with long-term sustainability, not just quarterly profits → Reduces burnout and improves retention.
Real-World Teal Case Studies (Why It Works)
💡 Buurtzorg (Dutch Healthcare Model): Self-managing teams of nurses replaced hierarchical hospital structures, reducing admin costs and improving patient outcomes.
💡 Haier (Chinese Manufacturing Giant): Implemented micro-enterprises, where small self-managed business units compete and collaborate like startups.
💡 Morning Star (Food Production): A fully Teal organisation where employees set their own salaries, make all business decisions, and are fully self-managed.
Actionable Takeaway: Conduct a Teal Readiness Assessment
If you’re running a growing company and feel like leadership bottlenecks, slow decision-making, or disengaged employees are holding you back, test one Teal principle in a small part of your business:
Try a Self-Managing Pod → Form a small, cross-functional team, give them a clear objective, and let them execute with full autonomy.
Test a Decision-Making Framework → Instead of a top-down approval process, allow teams to make calls based on agreed principles.
Introduce Evolutionary Purpose Thinking → Instead of rigid 5-year plans, build an adaptive strategy that allows teams to shift based on real-world insights.
See what happens. Adjust. Scale what works. Bin what doesn't. Start lower stakes and bet on experimenting with a new product line, service or marketing channel.
Reflective Question:
If your top performers had full autonomy to structure their work and decision-making, what would they change first— why haven’t you let them yet?