An empowering organisation, across 24 terminals
“Without the platform, opening up that information to everyone would have been much more complicated.” Geneviève Perreault, Organisational Development Partner, Groupe Morneau
An empowering organisation, across 24 terminals
More than 80 years of growth, four generations
Founded in 1942, Groupe Morneau is a Québec family business specialising in transport and logistics. Now led by the fourth generation, it brings together some 1,300 employees across a network of 24 terminals.
As it grew, the company held on to a conviction deeply rooted in its culture: trust people, draw on the talent already in the organisation, and share responsibility more widely rather than pushing every decision up to a few people.
The ambition to be an empowering organisation had been there for a long time. The challenge now was to make it concrete in an organisation that had become much larger and more complex.
More responsibility, without losing coherence
As Groupe Morneau grew, part of how it worked stayed implicit: responsibilities that varied from site to site, knowledge of the organisation scattered across people, and decisions still heavily dependent on a few individuals. To give teams more autonomy, the company first had to make explicit who does what, who holds which responsibility and how roles fit together across 24 terminals.
Different roles for the same job
Part of how the company really worked lived in the memories and computers of long-serving employees. When someone left, part of that knowledge risked leaving with them.
Different roles for the same job
Part of how the company really worked lived in the memories and computers of long-serving employees. When someone left, part of that knowledge risked leaving with them.
Different roles for the same job
Part of how the company really worked lived in the memories and computers of long-serving employees. When someone left, part of that knowledge risked leaving with them.
A role-based model built for Morneau
With idehō, Groupe Morneau did not set out to remove its hierarchy or adopt a “pure” self-managed model. The company built its own hybrid model: job titles remain, while roles and accountabilities add a layer of clarity about how the organisation really works.
Talkspirit, first deployed as Holaspirit, became the shared reference where this structure is formalised, shared and continuously updated.
Launching Chapô
First meetings with the Anjou operations launched the project to clarify roles and accountabilities, and the platform was activated.
Building the standard structures
The first support and operational teams were mapped. Rather than documenting each terminal separately, the team built a standard structure that could be reused and adapted from one site to the next.
Rolling out at scale
The model was gradually extended to the terminals and support functions, with HR business partners as relays on the ground. Feedback from each site enriched the standard structures; nine cohorts of managers were trained and the roles were translated into English.
Handing over and sustaining
Chapô entered a new phase: knowledge transfer, data-quality audits, internal training and growing autonomy for managers to keep the structure alive over time.
Clearer, more empowering, ready to grow
Clarifying roles did more than give Groupe Morneau a better picture of its organisation. It gradually changed how responsibilities are distributed, how decisions are made and how the company prepares for growth.
Role clarity
In an external organisational survey carried out in 2026, role clarity reached about 9.2 out of 10, far above the level measured five years earlier.
In an external organisational survey carried out in 2026, role clarity reached about 9.2 out of 10, far above the level measured five years earlier.
Smoother decisions
With clearer scopes, the right people are involved in decisions earlier. There is less back-and-forth, and teams can move forward from a shared decision. “I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say since then: I wasn’t consulted, let’s start the thinking again.”
With clearer scopes, the right people are involved in decisions earlier. There is less back-and-forth, and teams can move forward from a shared decision. “I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say since then: I wasn’t consulted, let’s start the thinking again.”
More room for talent
When expectations become explicit, managers can let go more. Some employees have taken on more responsibility, and some leaders have found roles better aligned with their strengths.
When expectations become explicit, managers can let go more. Some employees have taken on more responsibility, and some leaders have found roles better aligned with their strengths.
An organisation ready to grow
Roles now underpin other projects: a skills register, an LMS, development paths and process mapping. When a new terminal or division is created, Groupe Morneau already has an organisational architecture to build on.
Roles now underpin other projects: a skills register, an LMS, development paths and process mapping. When a new terminal or division is created, Groupe Morneau already has an organisational architecture to build on.
We showed the auditors what we were already doing every day in Talkspirit. Living governance wasn't a side project: it was built into the way we work.
Thanks to the organisational map built in Talkspirit, everyone knows who does what and what their responsibilities are. This transparency helps each person better understand the direction the company is taking, and lets us align our efforts to fulfil our purpose.
Talkspirit played a key role in clarifying roles, responsibilities and cross-team collaboration within our hierarchical organisation. [...] The tool has also transformed the way we run our meetings. In the past, our meetings were often unproductive. Today, they are better structured, roles are clearly defined and decision-making is far more efficient.
Having a strong intention to change wasn't enough. We needed a tool capable of supporting the practical workings of this new organisational approach.
Organisational clarity and agility allow everyone to fully apply their skills and reach their full potential. It gives people wings. And every organisation needs that.
Adopting Holacracy has helped us gain autonomy and clarity. Employees know what's expected of them, so they can make decisions without constantly seeking everyone's approval. [...] The result: our trust index now stands at 89 out of 100!
In the past, we would have managed with emails, but the documents would have ended up scattered all over the place. With Talkspirit, we share files directly in an organised, structured and centralised way. The latest updates are gathered in a single place, so we can discuss them in real time and act as quickly as possible.
Talkspirit brings us closer to our teams, fuels collective intelligence and makes day-to-day information sharing far smoother.
Pooling our strengths makes each of us stronger. Within our network of SMEs, Talkspirit is an essential driver of transformation and agility.
Talkspirit allows every employee to fully unlock their talents. If someone has skills in several areas, they can take on different roles without being boxed into a single job description. This flexibility in roles also strengthens our agility — an essential asset in today's VUCA world (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous).
Three comparable transformations
Arcadie
When a family business grows past fifty employees, the usual reflex is to add managers. Arcadie did the opposite: structure without hierarchy. Seven years later: 813 mapped roles, 81 autonomous circles, and a CEO who spends one to two hours a week reading what his organisation decides without him.
Big Blue Marble (formerly ORS Group)
Can you stay hierarchical and still gain transparency and agility? Big Blue Marble (formerly ORS Group), an Austrian broadcast provider of 280 people, adopted certain Holacracy principles with Talkspirit — role clarity, structured meetings, faster decisions — without overhauling its organisation.
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