TLC
TLC Overview
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed
people can change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
Margaret Mead
Are you leading an organization committed to self-management and other new organizational concepts?
If so, we have some questions.
Are you finding it a challenge to implement ideas such as Teal, Holacracy, Sociocracy, DAOs, Organizational Agility and Conscious Capitalism while also keeping the company running during turbulent times?
Are you working longer hours than you want? Feeling burned out? Frustrated that team members aren’t stepping up as needed?
Do you wish you had colleagues–friends, even–on this adventure to reinvent what your organization can be?
Contact us to learn more about TLC (Teal Leaders Circle)
Interested? Got questions? Let us know!
FAQs
Don’t know anything about teal, and its three pillars of self-management, holism and evolutionary purpose? You and your organization may still be a great fit. These frequently asked questions can tell you more.
Our mission is to help leaders build conscious, successful organizations. By bringing together a group of thoughtful leaders committed to self-management (including role-based organizations), holism, and a strong sense of purpose, we believe it’s possible to accelerate progress and lighten your load.
This group will be a trusting, confidential, respectful, and intimate space for you to share your challenges and successes. We’ll keep it real about teal and its sister concepts. There may be tears, along with some passionate conversations and plenty of laughter.
You’ll gain perspective, intellectual stimulation and emotional support from leaders who are similarly committed to building a purpose-driven, conscious business.
TLC is a guided, peer-to-peer community that elevates your experience as a leader and speeds your journey to a more conscious, impactful business.
- Facilitated monthly meetings:
- Three hours on the last Thursday of each month. Suggested time 7-10 am PT, 10-1 ET, 4-7 pm CET.
- 45-60 min > Check-in Ritual > 3-5 min per person on highs and lows
- Deep Dive #1 > 50-70 min > Scheduled Topic > Deep Dive on a specific aspect of leading teal companies. Curated content is provided for exploration and discussion.
- Deep Dive #2 > 50-70 min > Impromptu Topic(s) > Lean Coffee style voting of most useful topics to discuss from Check-in topics
- Check-out > 15 min > Logistics, what worked and what could improve, appreciations and commitments
- Private Slack channel:
- Continue the conversations a-synchronously
- Channel is moderated by a host who shares teal-aligned resources
- Coaching:
- Four hours of one-on-one coaching each year
- A pool of coaches includes teal-aligned professionals with expertise in fields including start-up strategy, emotional intelligence, marketing, communications, and public speaking
Leading an organization can be lonely, difficult and depleting. According to the Gallup Wellbeing Index, 45% of entrepreneurs report being stressed. What’s more, half of CEOs report experiencing feelings of loneliness in their role.
Leadership challenges are magnified when you are flouting ‘conventional wisdom’ around power and authority. The journey towards a more conscious organization is a daunting adventure, with few role models or road maps.
Research finds that executive peer advisory groups, like the TLC, address problems such as isolation and inexperience. As with other business leader groups, we will build camaraderie, trust, and ongoing learning opportunities–all in the context of conscious business. Together, we’ll advance toward truly soulful organizations.
- Founders or executive team members of a company committed to and already on the path towards self-organization or role-based distribution of authority
- Apologies, but no coaching & consulting organizations. If you’re in a coaching or consulting organization and you’d be interested in being a partner, please drop us a message.
- Be in a business with 20-200 employees.
- Group Size: 7-12 leaders
The community follows the Chatham House Rule. Specific comments from individuals in the Circle are kept confidential. But you are encouraged to take and apply your insights.
Meet the TLC Team
Travis is an author, facilitator, teacher, and coach. He founded the consulting firm Human First Works, whose mission is to help leaders build leaders. Travis facilitates a class at Stanford Graduate School of Business on interpersonal dynamics, which is widely regarded as one of the most influential courses at GSB. He is also the co-author of Lead Together: The Bold, Brave, Intentional Path to Scaling Your Business. In addition, Travis is a member of The Teal Team, which hosts the quarterly Global Teal MeetUps for the Americas.
Rebecca is a veteran business executive and coach and is currently a principal at Human First Works. Rebecca has built successful outcomes in many organizations, including non-profits, start-ups, and public companies. Rebecca has three particular traits: vibrant curiosity, which has built a deep well of knowledge and contacts; the belief that any person can realize his/her best self in the right role; and a compulsion for action that drives positive outcomes.
Ed Frauenheim
Ed is about reinventing masculinity, organizations, and society. And about connecting the dots among the three for a more soulful world. He is an author, speaker, coach, and consultant. His writing has appeared in publications including USA Today, Harvard Business Review, and Fortune. Ed has a master’s degree in education from U.C. Berkeley and previously served as director of research and content at the Great Place to Work Institute. He’s co-written four books, including Reinventing Masculinity: The Liberating Power of Compassion and Connection. Ed also co-founded The Teal Team.
Elizabeth Solomon
Elizabeth is a certified Emotional Intelligence Coach, communications expert, and workplace strategist invested in equity and positive social change. Bridging business-oriented strategy and intuition-guided development, she has spent close to two decades at the intersection of organizational culture, storytelling, and leadership development. Elizabeth has master’s degrees in organizational psychology and counseling psychology from Golden Gate University. She is co-host of Daniel Goleman’s podcast, First Person Plural: Emotional Intelligence and Beyond; a former researcher and evaluator for the Great Place to Work Institute; and a member of The Teal Team.
Matthew Spaur
Matthew is a marketing and strategic communications professional with more than 20 years of experience spanning many industries including enterprise software, education, HR, energy, and publishing. Matthew is the founder of the advisory firm Marketing the Social Good. He earned an MBA from the University of Nevada, Reno as well as an MFA in Writing from Eastern Washington University. He is a member of The Teal Team, an editor of its newsletter, and a regular host of its Global Teal MeetUps.
Nora Fleischhut
Nora is an experienced and passionate coach and consultant with an optimistic, collaborative and innovative mindset. Nora spent seven years at PwC, where she became a specialist in transformation and organizational design. Nora creatively draws from fields including neurobiology, behavioral sciences, agile ways of working and psychology to help build the best workplaces. She aims to create more adaptable, human and joyful ways of working, enabling a change of perspective and raising our level of consciousness. Nora co-founded Teal Around Berlin to explore new ways of thinking, working and being.
TLC Organizational Guidelines
Even if you’ve never heard of teal, you and your organization may be a great fit for the TLC (Teal Leaders Circle).
Specifically, we’re trying to create a group dynamic where you can both contribute to and receive from other group members.
To understand how you might fit, let’s examine the three core principles of the group: self-management, holism, and evolving purpose.
- Self-Management or Role-Based Organizations – This is the idea that instead of brilliant individuals as the building blocks of organizational success, organizations are built on top of excellent teams. And these teams need to be vested with the ability to influence their own fate dramatically more than in a typical top-down hierarchy. This means moving from the executives having the majority of the decision authority towards the teams having the majority of the authority. Self-management also extends to individual team members. Examples might include self-guided role definition and professional development, and taking initiative through the advice process.
- Holism – Holism is about bringing your whole self to work. It’s about being able and willing to bring your personal identity and your professional identity together. No matter whether you are a member of a dominant, majority group or a historically marginalized group, such as women, people of color and LGBTQ+ folks. Holism is also about realizing that gut instincts and feelings offer useful data for making sense of many situations. In practice, this can be as simple as starting meetings with a check-in. Further steps on the path often involve looking at what stops people from being their best selves and slowly removing those barriers.
- High Purpose or Evolutionary Purpose – Organizations have their own sense of purpose that goes beyond mere profit-making and/or the founder’s ego. They align with a higher purpose, allowing individuals to connect with meaningful work that serves the greater good and contributes to the well-being of society. This purpose can and should grow and evolve over time, which helps the organization adapt both to the changing environment and the changing team that is helping bring the purpose to life. We are looking to attract organizations that have a meaningfully positive social impact, such as B-Corps, Conscious Capitalism organizations, or social enterprises.
Do you fit?
Your organization should have aspects of all three core principles.
A willingness to focus and improve is sufficient in Holism and Evolutionary Purpose, though being further on your journey will be helpful. You need to be at least part way on your journey towards self-management, because this is the value that is most obviously in contrast with a Taylorism ideal that people are most useful as cogs in a machine.
We ask that you be capable and equipped to navigate both the set of basic challenges that come from moving towards self-management as well as to offer insight into the more complex changes.
We are also forming a group that is meaningfully creating change. So we ask that you have meaningful and inspiring goals and that you are open to feedback and ideas from the group.
If you have any questions, we’re always happy to jump on a call and chat. Reach out to us anytime at tlc@humanfirstworks.com.
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