Gaël Loric (E12): "The Liberated Company Represents an Individual and Organisational Challenge"

Gaël Loric (E12) recently launched Socratiz, a consultancy which operates according to the principles of the liberated company. He explains the reasons for this choice, in addition to his involvement on a day-to-day basis. 

ESSEC Alumni: Can you remind us what a liberated company is? 

Gaël Loric: At present, there are several similar movements, including the liberated company (Isaac Getz), teal organisation (Frédéric Laloux), and Holacracy. Our vision is based on five principles: transparency as the basis of trust; self-governance based on autonomy and responsibility; value-sharing as a source of fairness; initiative for development and self-growth, and respect for the individuality of each person within a collective entity.

EA: How does a liberated company operate on a day-to-day basis?

G. Loric: You need three conditions to make a liberated or teal company work. Firstly, agile and efficient processes to ensure the transparency and availability of information, and rapid decisions which involve all stakeholders. Secondly, the commitment and determination of shareholders and general management in implementing the model. Thirdly, ongoing training for teams in soft skills, to ensure smooth, healthy communication and enable real autonomy.

EA: How do you put these theories into practice?

G. Loric: Let’s take a few of the many examples. At Socratiz, everyone (after their onboarding phase) has access to figures on P&L, margin, cost items and even salaries. Any consultant can launch a project and a budget. Any decision-making involves all the staff concerned or experts in the matter. All issues are dealt with as soon as they are perceived, by encouraging an adult-to-adult approach rather than manager-to-managed. We also set up a remuneration board which represents consultants and managers alike, through which everyone contributes to the discussion and approval of their pay level. Lastly, we hold as few meetings as possible, which we replace by discussions on Slack, and when we do have a meeting, we organise it differently, with a rotating chairperson and a dynamic agenda, and so on.

EA: From your experience, what are the advantages of a liberated company? 

G. Loric: My belief, which is confirmed on a daily basis, is that this company model reveals potentials, generates performance and efficiency and creates healthy, solid and committed relations between the people who make up organisations and their stakeholders, customers and society in general. This is also a model which fosters empowerment by giving everyone the means to take action and restores the meaningfulness of work by boosting employees’ ability to make an impact. In my view, it is the most fulfilling model, in line with most people’s deeper aims and the needs of a world that is moving very, very fast.

EA: What are the drawbacks of a liberated company? 

G. Loric: I don’t see any drawbacks, rather an individual and organisational challenge. An individual challenge because this model questions you in your role on a daily basis. You need to define a simple framework, a waterline which guides action, and accept that the company develops its purpose and methods of self-governance and self-regulation gradually, independently of its leader. The leader becomes somewhat ‘biodegradable’, to use Bruno Tesson’s expression; you therefore have to accept to question yourself and work on your ego so that it remains in its rightful place. It’s also an individual challenge for each employee, who must learn to play a different role. It’s an organisational challenge next, because the ‘evolutionary purpose’, to quote Frédéric Laloux, or real self-governance and self-regulation require processes and solid organisation and culture to support them. It must also be pointed out that this model requires a high level of personal and professional maturity, in particular to hold true to your beliefs, express and manage tensions and know how to transform and overcome them to serve a collective project which is evolving constantly.

EA: Does joining a liberated company require a specific form of onboarding? 

G. Loric: The onboarding phase at Socratiz has the dual aim of validating the new recruit’s compatibility with the values and know-how a liberated company requires and of training them in our specific operating methods. All our employees thus receive an illustrated copy of Reinventing Organization by Frédérice Laloux, to nurture their thinking, challenge us and become an active player as soon as they arrive.

EA: Do you think that the liberated company model is adapted to all profiles?

G. Loric: I personally believe that the underlying principles of the liberated company meet very widespread needs, such as the search for meaning, a taste for responsibility, the quest for equality and the desire to form part of a collective entity. That said, some individual career paths may lead to world views, values, beliefs and behaviour which are not compatible with this form of organisation. In this case, the company will neither play the role of a ‘psychiatrist’ nor dictate what is ‘right’. Once again, the onboarding phase should enable us to spot this problem, if the recruitment process hasn’t already done so. 

EA: Do you believe the liberated company could become a dominant model? 

G. Loric: Let’s shatter a preconception; I’m often told that our model only works because we are a small company. This is false, and there are plenty of examples to prove it. Take Patagonia, Buurtzog, Chronoflex, or the Ares group, to name but a few…there’s even the Belgian Ministry for Social Security!  I believe, in fact, that the development of liberated or teal companies is preferable, particularly because they foster a distribution of value which I feel to be fairer, and they encourage enhanced consideration of the impact of their activities on stakeholders and the environment. Nevertheless, there is a long way to go before this model dominates, and there is room for other, alternative models. 

EA: What resources would you recommend to ESSEC members interested in learning more? 

G. Loric: In addition to content available online, I recommend my two bedside-table books, which are both theoretical and practical: Reinventing Organization by Frédéric Laloux (in long or illustrated versions) and Brave New Work by Aaron Dignan. 

EA: And what advice would you give to ESSEC alumni wishing to make this move with their company? 

G. Loric: It’s essential to get support, as is often the case in the life of an entrepreneur. There are several options. You can call on the guidance of a specialised consultant, join or form a group of entrepreneurs on the same path, or simply meet with leaders already working in liberated companies. Choose carefully the first members of the team with whom you will initiate the process. You’ll need to forge a solid core in order to transmit and defend your model.

Interview by Louis Armengaud Wurmser (E10), Content Manager at ESSEC Alumni. 

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