Are you looking to make your organisation more resilient, healthy and sustainable?
For sure! But how to achieve this in these complex, chaotic, competitive times? Who has already achieved this and what we can learn from them?
Here is a guest blog by Enabling Catalysts who have been engaging with organisations on just this.
This was a question that brought together excellent organisations such as Southern Co-operative, Paramo, EDF, Southern Railways, Infinity Foods and more at our recent event. And the source of inspiration? Nature.
After all, as Giles Hutchins, author of ‘The Nature of Business’ says “Nature has been dealing with dynamic change for over 3.8 billion years. It is constantly perfecting approaches to survival and resilience that are relevant for organisations”.
These are not just wishful words. His book covers many aspects of how businesses and organisations can practically apply lessons from nature. It has gleaned comments like “A must read for everyone involved in the business of the future…. and aren’t we all? By Mick Bremans, Chairman, Ecover
and
“It is clear that as business people we need another mind-set…Giles has drawn together a compelling read for anybody interested in creating a better future.” says Andy Wood, CEO of Adnams
And
“Simply the best new book on business and management in many years!” tells Hazel Henderson, President of Ethical Markets Media and author of Building A Win-Win World
The One Leadership project is partnering with Giles to make the guiding principles of nature’s approach to resilience, health and sustainability accessible to organisations, so that they can succeed by bringing these into their thought, structure and practice.
For this event, we partnered up with long-term friends Sussex Wildlife Trust who kindly hosted the event. Delegates not only got provocative thoughts to take away. The way we structure events enables people to build peer relationships, and to explore and expand their own thinking.
“It was really enjoyable.” Says Gemma Lacey, Head of Sustainability at The Souther Co-operative. “There was a really good mix of people. It condensed a lot into the right amount of time. The topic came across really well. And I liked the interactive style and hearing different perspectives. It’s so good to have a common connection with people.”
These sentiments were shared by someone with a head for figures as well as a passion for a sustainable future; Grahame Mayo is Treasurer at Infinity Food Co-operative Ltd. He comments “What was truly valuable was that it offered a pause for reflection – a forum to feel and allow ideas to emerge. A structure and space to listen to others unfolding… Reflection is the touchstone of transformation. Like the optical illusion that pops from one thing to another when we hold our gaze just for that moment beyond what we would normally do. When the change ‘pops’ nothing outwardly appears different and we carry on as we have always done but inwardly nothing remains the same and slowly coherence emerges from past disparate activities.”
Beautiful words. A wonderful time and successful event. If you would like inspiration around resilience, health and sustainability for your organization, get in touch.
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“Neil Scotton and Alister Scott provoke us to higher thinking in sharing their thoughts and observations with us. Their commitment to bringing leadership to life and making our world a better place is evident in their writing and in their work.”
So said the judges at Coaching at Work magazine, the world’s foremost independent magazine for the coaching and mentoring profession.