We have always built our company, our Gaia, on some fundamental beliefs: our trust in the inherent power and ability of people, together with our conviction that successful organisations are created by people who make use of more of their potential. From this, our core has developed and expanded. With the certainty that strong results and sustainable development require an integration of the part and the whole. And that is where both people and business can grow.
When we look around the world today, in an increasingly difficult-to-navigate landscape, with rising complexity, rapid and unpredictable changes, and mutual interdependencies, we see that what we believe in and stand for has never been more important. How do we unleash the power in our organisations? Can we create both development and growth while strengthening the focus on sustainable value? How can we lead and steer today’s and tomorrow’s organisations to meet the ever-accelerating pace of change? How do we build resilient organisations created and developed by thriving people?
In a series of blogs, we have described the part of Gaia Mindset that concerns the thriving individual. We suggest that you start there: Gaia Mindset, Holistic Perspective, Learning, Co-Creation, and A New Approach to Leadership.
The Resilient Organisation
To meet the transformative time we live in
The resilient organisation is an organisation that creates long-term sustainable value and results and has the resilience to continue doing so, regardless of disruptive events and a high degree of unpredictability. It is also the organisation that enables, allows, and challenges the thriving individual to grow and create value.
We believe that the resilient organisation is built on and starts from the four cornerstones that we have previously reasoned about:
- Holistic perspective and identification with the whole
- Learning and development
- Co-creation based on warmth and care
- A non-hierarchical approach to leadership where every individual is a leader
Regardless of whether it’s about business planning, how the organisational structure should look, governance and monitoring, decision-making, or other crucial organisational aspects, we believe that these four are well worth starting from and basing the work on.
Sometimes we ask our customers the following question: How much of the potential are you using in your organisation? Even in very successful businesses, the answer often falls between 50-60 percent. What is it that they see, what are they longing for, and why isn’t the figure higher? When we ask follow-up questions, the answers largely revolve around deficiencies in collaboration, leadership, courage, drive, and ownership. Excessive bureaucracy, control, and the organisation itself often stand in the way of creating energy, initiative, and development.
The Prevailing Way of Thinking about Organisation and Management
When we look at the prevailing way of thinking about organisation and management today, we see that it largely stems from the long-established industrial way of thinking about production. For example, we tend to liken our organisations to machines, which is also evident in the way we talk about them. We often, and quite unconsciously, use terms such as bottlenecks, interfaces, input and output, breaking down, implementing, accelerating and braking simultaneously, etc. In short, logical, rational, and structured thinking is strongly present in how we design and live in our organisations.
It’s worth mentioning that for a long time, it has been highly successful and effective to organise and manage operations based on these principles and models. What we also observe, however, is that something new began to emerge around the turn of the millennium when global megatrends started to change the landscape significantly. The strong pressure for change now challenges us to move beyond viewing the organisation as a machine that can be controlled, manipulated, and optimised – where people eventually, in the worst case, become insignificant cogs in a large machinery.
How Can We Think in New Ways?
We see that we need to create something much more adaptable and at the same time robust. In fact, our organisations and operations are human systems driven by ideas, energy, and action. Places where thriving individuals are given space to grow, take responsibility, and create value. To create these more vibrant and resilient organisations, the structure and the culture we strive for need to go hand in hand. When we integrate the two, the culture we aim for will be supported by the structure we create and maintain. And vice versa.
So how do we build organisations and governance models that support us in reaching our direction? That support the culture and leadership we desire? That contribute to creating results and value in a world of constant change and increasing complexity? These are truly exciting questions to explore together!
In Closing,
What we propose can be summarized as follows: An approach where you start from and identify with the whole you are part of. A focus on your own and others’ learning. Co-creation with your surroundings to build sustainable value. Seeing yourself and those around you as leaders.
You can read more about Gaia Mindset here. In a series of blogs, we present different aspects of Gaia Mindset. They address both the perspective of the thriving individual and the resilient organisation.
You can find the earlier blogs by looking here for posts containing the words Gaia Mindset. Follow us on LinkedIn, where we continuously engage in dialogue about Gaia Mindset.