The Truth in Becoming a Self-Managing Organisation

In this episode of Make It Thrive, I chat with Tim Urschinger, co-founder of LIVESciences and co-creator of Teal Around the World. Together, we explore the realities and challenges of self-managing organisations.

Tim shares how LIVESciences adopted a self-organised structure inspired by Frederic Laloux’s Reinventing Organisations, integrating practices from Holacracy and Sociocracy. Their approach includes no traditional managers, no performance reviews, and even self-set salaries—a concept that often sparks curiosity and scepticism but fosters autonomy and accountability.

The conversation touches on:

✅ Barriers to change in large organisations, including complexity, entrenched mindsets, and discomfort with personal development.

✅ The importance of mindset shifts, self-awareness, and unlearning old habits to truly embrace self-management.

✅ Lessons learned from six years of practising self-management, such as balancing autonomy with accountability, letting go of the need to have all the answers, and recognising when directive leadership is temporarily useful.

✅ Emerging trends like location-agnostic work, asynchronous collaboration, and the need to rethink how organisations build belonging in a digital age.

✅ Practical advice for individuals: start by changing what you can influence, model new behaviours, and embrace integrity—even if you’re not in a senior role.

Timm also reflects on how self-management often allows unexpected people to flourish, and how organisations benefit from rebels willing to challenge the status quo. Beyond workplaces, he highlights the potential for self-managing principles to reshape education and politics, sharing his interest in “teal schools.”

OTHER LINKS 🔗

https://libertymind.co.uk/

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WHO AM I? 🤓

Hi! - If you're new here, I'm Lizzie, a culture coach based in the UK. I help teams, start-ups and businesses create great places to work through alternative ways of working. Through my videos, my podcast and my blog I share practical ideas about how we can make work better. And share my experience as a founder, business owner and personal-development junkie.