2020 Retrospective - Everything has changed and everything still is the same

It’s been a while that I am back from three nice long weeks of vacation in the Baltics. In any other year that wouldn’t have been anything special. This year it was. We were allowed to travel and could recharge with the family at the beach and explore the world a bit more.

Looking back at this very special year from a LIVEsciences point of view, indeed many things changed.

Our team doubled in size in less than half a year. Amazing individuals are bringing even more diversity to the team – and with 13 people on board permanently, roles and circles and a lot of dynamics are on the table creating tension and discussion.

Our work with customers and clients across Europe is now all virtual. There are rarely in-person-meetings, workshops or coaching sessions. We have pivoted to Miro or Mural or other virtual whiteboards, are using Zoom and other tools to facilitate, advise, mentor, create and thrive together with customers.

Our team has met in person only three times since lock-down started in Switzerland and central Europe. Our safe space was a huge question mark – would the quick growth, remote onboarding, virtual meetings, and conversations change everything? Will we be able to maintain our safe space? I think the answer is a big YES.

Somehow everything changed. And somehow everything is still the same. Here are some of my learnings and observations that I wanted to share with you.

(1) Co-creation and transformation journeys can be as successful virtually as they were before

We are coaching, advising, facilitating, catalysing as if nothing has happened. It’s simply great to see teams thriving and how we can support remotely with all sorts of tools and technology. I think my key finding is that one can create an intimate and human experience also with these tools. Just don’t simply setup a Zoom call and be done with it. Make sure you make it a more personal experience (which you can also do virtually). For example for bigger meetings, have a ?reception Zoom” where everyone is welcomed personally. For workshops and smaller meetings, make sure to spend a bit of time for everyone to have coffee chats, maybe even have a virtual coffee together. These informal discussions really make a difference! And spend a bit of time to make the virtual whiteboard tool welcoming, personal and fun. Don’t just put a few post-its on a Jamboard. People feel the love and passion you put into this.

(2) Maintaining a safe space in dynamic times requires focus and “agenda free time”

Team size doubled, everyone had to change to working from home and even onboarding and recruiting we do virtually nowadays. Yet, we are self-organized and continue being. Everyone’s right, but also duty, it is to address their tensions, bring their full self to work and the team. All these ?teal practices” and our culture are really demanding, and even more so in a virtual setup. Can you really be your full self if you never met the team in person? Apparently, you can, and it seems we maintained a great safe space for now. My key learning is to put focus on “agenda free time”. Sounds counter-intuitive, how can you be focussed without an agenda? In workshops, 1:1s or in team meetings, there will always be something emerging. Something that needs to be said. Some discussion about values, processes or approaches or just different points of view comes up. Make sure you provide the room for exactly these kinds of conversations. It’s not about being right, it’s about getting to know each other, learning and growing together. Virtually these conversations without agenda really need to be planned and setup. They don’t happen by coincidence at the watercooler. The other thing we did is to plan agenda time for our ?culture buzzwords”, too – what does Teal mean for us? What does safe space mean for us? How do we balance our work passion with life outside work? It may sound difficult at first, but you have to find time for these conversations in an operationally demanding time for business.

(3) Day 1 full empowerment and trust are just great

We had many great people joining this year. The team has grown in numbers, but also in diversity. How do you control this in a self-organized setup, I got asked? Trust was my answer. Simply trust. We were always on that route of course, but this year during COVID we made it really explicit and I feel it changed the game again. We explicitly say that you get the teams 100% trust from day 1 with us. You can decide on everything, salary and pensum included. One of the new joiners asked in this first week – is it okay if I switch from 100% to 80% pensum? Our answer: your decision! It is demanding to have that much autonomy and freedom, and self-organized teal teams are an incredibly demanding place, but it’s also the best feeling you can have. You join a team and from day one, without knowing anybody really, you can decide on everything – including your work pensum – and people will just trust and support you on your journey.

Most managers recognized that “controlling” is not an option anyway working remotely during COVID, but great business results are realized anyhow. We took that next step too, to make it really explicit. Let‘s see where this will takes us.

(4) Connecting communities and human beings from around the globe has never been easier

With Teal Around The World 2020 (www.tealaroundtheworld.com) a true purpose and passion project was kicked off. In just 7 weeks of preparation time, we brought together 27 speakers from 18 countries sharing their teal stories and journeys to 300 people from more than 40 countries in the world.

Our purpose has always been to bring together all these dispersed, diverse communities globally – now with COVID this was the perfect time. It was exciting and reassuring to see what energy can be created in the room with so many like-minded people. Teal Around The World 2021 and the Global Teal Meetups emerged from it already – let’s see what else will come from it. More than the conference, I see a lot of conversations, exchanges and thought partner discussions out there via LinkedIn, Zoom and many other tools. I don’t see many people physically anymore, somehow we are further apart, need to keep the distance – and yet, I have the impression the world is coming closer together. More human, more purpose-driven.

Has COVID changed everything or nothing? Is it positive or negative? Will we have ?new normal” or should we even want one?

I don’t have an answer for these questions, but there’s a lot of learning, personal growth and inspiration I took from this year. Let’s synergize and see this as a huge opportunity to change how we look at things together!

Re-publishing this article from our LIVEnews in October here since some people asked.

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