Cynthia from the Sayling Wen Foundation in Taipeh called us in summer 2019 and said: “We want to make Taiwan Teal, can you support us?”

Wow, what a task! How about making the planet Teal?

After many questions to find out if they knew what they were asking for, Szabolcs and I went to Taipeh in early November 2019, attending a two day conference organized by the Sayling Wen Foundation. On day one there were several presentations on the topic of future work and agility. On day two Szabolcs and I presented the elements and the concept of the ReinventingOrgs Map. There were approximately 60 attendees, mostly leaders, directors or HR people from mid-sized and large enterprises. We did not simply teach the concepts, but go through many exercises with the goal of giving people the opportunity to feel the quadrants and the levels of the spiral. For the preparation, our translator had to translate the map to Chinese. We started the day with a meditation.

Teresa YL Lin,  CEO of Sayling Wen Cultural Foundation, attended the full workshop.

The noble goal of the Sayling Wen Foundation was to make the Teal Concept (as per Frederic Laloux’s book “Reinventing Organizations”) known in Taiwan and to provide support for the organizational world in developing and moving forward into new ways of working. The audience was diverse and interesting. Their questions and comments showed, that the challenges organizations face are not so different from what we find in Europe.

The crowd was simply amazing. Even though we had the additional challenge of language barrier, working with two translators, they were so open, vital and enthusiastic about diving into new areas of perception and thinking, that it was a pleasure and made it easy for us to also dive into the field and transmitting what was showing up for all of us.

We didn’t know what would expect us. We had both never been in Taiwan, nor in China and we had no idea of what kind of people would show up. The experience was very special for us. We felt so familiar and well from the first moment we arrived in Taipeh and all throughout the week. Our preparation workshops were creative and efficient, with a very natural alignment. Same with the audience. The workshops ran like a breeze, as if we had been doing this many times before. People engaged deeply and on a very open and personal level and also openly shared their insights within the group.

So what did I learn?

As you can see, we enjoyed the work in Taiwan. And in the back of Szabolcs you can see what the map looks like in Chinese. I was impressed by the openness and the enthusiasm that I found in these people. The eagerness to evolve and to share their best with the world, the eagerness to contribute to the evolution not only of the organizational world but of the world and the people in general. They understood that evolving means to start with yourself, and be willing to connect with an open heart. And connect with an open heart they did.

So I think, when people connect openly on a heart level, cultural and other differences fall apart, we are all the same, we are all human beings, we share doubts and hopes, we share love and compassion and we are more than willing to bring our best part to the table.

My reflections

Taiwan is in the tension between Hong Kong and China. There is a saying in Taiwan which goes “The Hong Kong of Today is the Taiwan of Tomorrow”. So they are closely watching what is happening in Hong Kong these days. The control and manipulative rules in Taiwan from the government and China can be felt strongly. it is a country at the mercy of another. But to be honest, when I look at what is going on in Europe, in my country Switzerland specifically, there is also a lot of manipulation going on. The government does often not act in favour of the people. What drives their agenda is the economy, the global and local players and profit (their profit). In my opinion they are even willing to sacrifice the health of the people and nature in dramatic ways for the sake of money. And by controlling the main media they brainwash the people successfully.

So I believe that on a collective consciousness level all mankind is in a similar phase. The manipulative forces show a bit differently in Europe, the make up is a bit nicer, but that doesn’t change the fact that is is manipulative and not in service of the people. Now people are more and more becoming ready to wake up, to take more responsibility for themselves and for their environment and for all people. So resistance towards manipulative forces will increase and people eventually break free. It is time to wake up, reclaim the planet and live a free and creative life. That is evolution, it is, what the spiral is hinting to.

What does that have to do with the map?

The understanding that usually comes when working with the integral map helps a lot to bridge and balance polarities and different perspectives and opinions. Looking at our evolution from such a high level perspective and understanding in what great transformation we all are helps a lot to get out of resistance, competition and fights and meet each other with respect and an open heart. That makes all the difference. This is why I love this work so much. I believe the more people operate from such an integral understanding the more harmonious our planetary transformation can develop.