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Gaia Leadership

Gaia Leadership
In Okategoriserad

Gaia Mindset: Organisation and Governance for Resilience

Gaia Mindset Organisering och styrning för livskraft

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.

In this blog we explore Gaia Mindset Organisation and governance.

A Different Focus

How many people answer yes when asked whether the way we organise and govern is actually helpful in creating the value we want? In unleashing the power in our people and organisations? Among the thousands of leaders and employees we meet every year, far too few do. And we believe this is because we need to completely rethink organisation and governance. We need to focus more on learning and development rather than monitoring and control. Many leaders we meet today express strong frustration over the rigid systems we have created in a world where adaptability and agility are becoming increasingly business-critical.

The resilient organisation is the 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.

Belonging and Connection

We humans are social beings with strong needs to be part of a context and feel belonging. We seek and create patterns, structures, and order to understand reality. We also need to have control and to create predictability. And of course, there is a need for management and monitoring of factors important for our success. We need support systems that help us hold ourselves and each other accountable for moving in the right direction. Everyone needs an organisational home and a smaller context. We want to experience the organisation as comprehensible and helpful without it locking us into silos.</p>

Organisation and governance model are two sides of the same coin, and whe

n we succeed in creating conditions for the resilient organisation, they are fully integrated. We need to increase our understanding that complex systems cannot be controlled, but they can be influenced. It will be decisive to make conscious choices that create ownership, focus on learning and co-creation both within the organisation and with key stakeholders. In today’s organisations, this often means being aware of control mechanisms and structures that are counterproductive.

Governance with a Focus on Sowing

What business-critical parts do we need to keep track of? On the one hand, of a diagnostic nature, on the other hand, for development and progress? From this, we can then challenge ourselves to sort out everything else that creates unnecessary bureaucracy. We truly want to challenge the old idea of following up on the harvest; it is more important to focus on the sowing. What sowing do we believe in to harvest what we want in the future? The entrepreneurial approach is to observe the harvest to understand reality as it is and then shift focus to the new sowing.

We can envision a classic management group meeting where business area A has black figures and business area B has red. It is then very easy to only value the harvest. If instead we had focused on the sowing, perhaps a different picture would have emerged where area B has challenged itself, shown creativity and innovation that in the long run is crucial for the success of the business – while area A may have a simpler budget or the market on its side.

Our culture is the soil. Learning and activities that build our future are the sowing. The harvest is mostly historical data. How we handle these three aspects we call a governance model, and it should help us direct the flashlight towards what we actually believe creates value for us, increases our awareness, and helps us become clearer in our intentions.

We could play with the idea that every organisation that exists today has at some point emerged because two people have met and found something they want to succeed with together. When the third person joins, we do not immediately think that we must create management, clear processes, job descriptions, and interfaces. And we wouldn’t come up with the idea that it is the first two’s task to motivate and engage the third. But as we grow, we often lose track of ourselves. We seem to believe that the structures are the answer. We forget that the core of the organisation is to solve tasks that we individually cannot succeed with. We gather in an organisation because we want to achieve something and because we are ready to co-create, learn, and lead together to get there.

A Resilient Organisation for the Thriving Individual

After working with thousands of organisations and many different types of organisations, we at Gaia have come to the conclusion that it is rarely the organisational structure itself, or the choice of a particular model, that is the answer. Sometimes, in fact, a reorganisation is helpful, for example when an organisational model has been chosen that does not follow the logic of the business and people daily experience how the structure gets in the way of work. However, we are increasingly convinced that in most cases it is rather about the organisational life inside the chosen structure. We believe that it is about challenging against and giving space for everyone to be a leader and that everyone needs to lead themselves in five dimensions, regardless of how the formal organisation looks.

To create resilient solutions, we need to increase our awareness of what is actually helpful. How do we create a sense of having a home, a context, while also having a capacity for constant change? An organisation where we can co-create across organisational boundaries to solve our tasks in the best possible way? Where the individual has an operational domicile but where that place in the organisation in no way limits the responsibility and initiatives the individual then drives in the organisation?

Gaia Mindset Organising and Leading for Resilience

We envision an organisation where it is just as natural to invest time and energy in driving common, overarching, and cross-functional development as development within one’s own organisational home. An organisation permeated by a holistic perspective, continuous learning, co-creation, and a non-hierarchical approach to leadership where every person is a leader.

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.

Gaia Leadership
In Okategoriserad

Gaia Mindset: Strategy in a More Uncertain and Complex World

Gaia Mindset Strategiarbete i en osäker och komplex värld

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.

In this blog, we explore how to work with strategy in an increasingly uncertain and complex world.

Gaia Mindset: Strategy in a More Uncertain and Complex World

What is strategy, and how is strategic work conducted in a more uncertain and complex world?

In today’s business landscape, it is becoming increasingly clear that we need to rethink strategy and planning. The classical, linear, logical waterfall models no longer help us. The problem with the old way of working with planning and strategy is that it takes too long, and we pretend that we can predict the future in detail. This means that we put a lot of energy into details that become obsolete shortly after they are written down. Additionally, individuals and teams are often reduced to passive recipients of a preconceived plan.

So how should we think? Does this mean that strategies are obsolete and that we should stop creating them? We believe that having a strategy is a crucial component, but to build a resilient organisation, it is just as important—if not more important—how we develop it. With this both-and perspective, we see the importance of being more conscious in how we work. What is the purpose of the strategy, and what is the purpose of the strategic process? With this, we mean that the clear starting point of strategic work needs to be understanding the intention behind the strategy and the strategic process. For example: How do we drive the process so that it reflects the organisation’s purpose and the culture we want to create?

We believe that the purpose of a strategy should be to create a clear but overarching direction towards the organisation’s desired future. Furthermore, we see that the purpose of the strategic process should be to create understanding and energy for, as well as a strong connection to, the organisation’s overarching direction. A strategy that only holds intellectual height is not strong enough – there must be ownership among the people who will execute and create progress. This is because real change comes from within.

How Do We Build a Strategy Worthy of the Resilient Organisation?

With this as a starting point, how do we then build a strategy worthy of the resilient organisation? We will use the classical concepts: our overarching WHY, our crucial WHAT, and our most important HOW. By WHY, we mean the organisation’s purpose, vision, and strategic goals – that is, why we exist and what we want to achieve in the long term. Our WHAT is a concretisation of our WHY and aims to describe the path towards our vision and long-term goals. Our HOW is simply the important initiatives we need to succeed with the change the strategy entails.

Even though the thoughts and input of the entire organisation should be used, we see the strength in the board and management deciding on the overarching formulations about the organisation’s WHY. However, to create a strategy that truly lives in the organisation and where there is ownership all the way through, a similar process needs to take place at every level. So even though we believe that senior management needs to take responsibility for pointing out the direction, it needs to be followed by a process where a WHY—based on and in line with the overarching direction—is identified at the level below management, and where thereafter WHAT and HOW are developed. This is how the work progresses throughout the organisation. An important aim here is to create an iterative process where a strong idea within the organisation can actually influence the entire organisation’s strategy.

This means that even though the initial impulse occurs top-down, the subsequent process becomes bottom-up. The purpose is, of course, to create ownership and participation, but equally important is the fact that it enables many people’s ideas, perspectives, experiences, and engagement to be used to solve the challenging questions that the organisation faces. Ownership enhances the organisation’s ability to meet what cannot be planned for or create strategies around – the unexpected that requires a willingness to think anew and openness to revise parts of what has already been thought.

Matching the Whole and the Part

We believe that this is about creating a matching process between what the whole wants to achieve and each part’s—each individual’s—responsibility and engagement in that journey. Each person needs to have her own story about what the whole wants to succeed with and what she is passionate about and wants to take responsibility for. The sum of each individual’s driving forces then becomes the organisation’s strategy, and a match arises between what the part wants to achieve and the long-term intention of the whole, preferably at all levels of the organisation.

And of course, this is not the end of the process. The strategic work needs to continue continuously with a focus on learning and development—and adjustments along the way. It is a both-and: having a clear direction and strategy, AND at the same time the resilience to adapt based on changing conditions and new insights and learnings.

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.

Gaia Leadership
In Okategoriserad

Gaia Mindset: The Core of the Organisation

Gaia Mindset Organisationens kärna

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.

In this blog, we explore the core of the organisation – that every organisation needs to define its core, not least in an increasingly uncertain and complex world.

Gaia Mindset The core of the organisation

The resilient organisation is built from within – from a strong core. It 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.

In the resilient organisation, we believe there are two crucial starting points that precede what strategic goals we should have or how we organise ourselves: the organisation’s purpose and the culture we want to characterise our interaction and being. This is how we build Gaia Mindset – The Core of the Organisation.

The Purpose of the Organisation

What questions does the organisation answer? Why is it good and important for the world that we exist?

Getting hold of, formulating, and continuously working with the purpose of the organisation, we believe, is crucial for building a resilient organisation. Why is this so important? We see two very weighty arguments in particular.

The first concerns people’s drive. When we gather around a larger question, we promote people’s entrepreneurial ability and the leadership of many. We all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves.
The second concerns strategic sustainability. When, for example, dramatic external events occur, most of WHAT we have agreed upon will become obsolete, while our core, our purpose, and our culture, will survive even major upheavals within or outside the organisation.

However, we cannot stop at just having an overarching purpose for the whole. It is just as important to work with these questions for a department or unit, and before a more complex change initiative. Every time we in the organisation gather around a WHAT, it is important to zoom out, reflect on, and create a common WHY – our purpose in this part of the organisation, in this situation. The WHYs we formulate at the departmental level should, of course, align with the larger common purpose. But it serves no purpose to unreflectively repeat the organisation’s overarching purpose. We need to make it relevant and meaningful for my business, my department, or my project.

The Culture of the Organisation

Culture can be described as the soil we cultivate inside our organisations. It’s about the intra- and interpersonal processes, norms, attitudes, and thought patterns that we create together. When we humans interact in a system, a culture will be built whether we are aware of it or not. And we at Gaia believe that the culture we consciously build will trump the one that emerges on its own. Do we want a specific view of humanity to permeate the organisation? What common attitudes and behaviours do we want the organisation to be characterised by? How do we want to characterise our way of thinking – and thus our way of acting? What mental obstacles stand in the way of our development and success – and how do we work to change them by focusing on what helps us move forward?

Building a strong culture, which has the ability to generate sustainable value and results regardless of external changes, is crucial in our time. We would even claim that a creative culture is both the path and the goal. The more complexity, rapid changes, and mutual interdependencies, the more true this becomes. Just as an overarching purpose is sustainable over time, a creative culture can also contribute to resilience and strength.

A Creative Culture

So what is a creative culture? We don’t believe there is a definitive answer, but we believe that a creative culture has some common elements – regardless of how they are expressed in practice. Our soil can be more or less rich and vibrant, but to provide good conditions, it probably needs to be characterised by and make room for the four components that we have previously reasoned about in this text:

  • Identification with the success of the whole
  • Learning and sowing for future harvests instead of focusing only on harvest and performance
  • Co-creation and autonomy based on warmth and caring
  • The mindset that every person is a leader – where each individual is given space for, and at the same time challenged to, grow, take responsibility, and create value.

We know that many organisations realised long ago the importance of building a good and strong culture based on sound and creative values. Perhaps the challenge is that traditional governance and monitoring often push aside the approach to building culture. We as individuals also tend to be influenced by this and have learned that ultimately it is achievements within a number of parameters that count – and therefore tend to play it safe. Here, it may be important to emphasise that we at Gaia are convinced that it is about a both-and: both a creative culture and a relevant, supportive structure. And that these two interact in a way that builds a resilient system where truly strong value and results can be created, where we have order in what truly needs to be in order – AND where people feel joy and engagement in their work.

In Closing,

A culture built by the above is challenging and demanding for both the individual and the organisation. It is easy to think that it is only about liberating human power and potential. But it is equally about creating responsibility and maturity on a new level. And we dare to say that the effects, and even the endeavour itself, are well worth the effort required. What do you think?

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.

Gaia Leadership
In Okategoriserad

Gaia Mindset: The Resilient Organisation

Gaia Mindset Den lisvkraftiga organisationen

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.

Gaia Leadership
In Okategoriserad

Gaia Mindset: A New Approach to Leadership

Gaia Mindset En ny syn på ledarskap

What do you want to succeed with? What is deeply meaningful to you? To what do you want to contribute?

When we are in touch with our dreams and our inner motivation, and from this, encounter different contexts with curiosity and a willingness to contribute, unexpected results and value can arise. One group that stands strong in this is entrepreneurs. Behind the entrepreneur’s creativity lies the connection between seizing opportunities, solving challenges, and creating value for others while the business itself develops.

We can all adopt the entrepreneur’s mindset, which is effective regardless of context or role. A metaphor that can help illustrate this is to see oneself as a personal company. If I, figuratively speaking, resign today and come back to my organisation tomorrow as an entrepreneur, what do I do then, and what questions become important? Who is my customer, and what does she want to achieve? What opportunities and challenges does my customer have? Is there something I can offer? What do I want to achieve and contribute to? This shift in perspective also creates a shift in energy. What was previously problems and obstacles become business opportunities for the personal company. The one who was previously my boss is now my customer. We know that this shift creates a new interplay between the part and the whole, where both parties grow.

Gaia Mindset A New Approach to Leadership

On this blog you can read about the three other components of Gaia Mindset: Holistic Perspective, Learning and Co-Creation. Their starting point is the inherent power and ability of humans. If we take that view of humanity seriously, the prevailing view of leadership must change. However, our view of leadership is not only a consequence of our view of humanity. It is also a catalyst that works to create results through co-creation, learning, and a holistic perspective. We believe that this transformative power emanates from each one of us.

Throughout this text, we have used the entrepreneur and her approach as an illustration of how Gaia Mindset can be manifested. The parallel between the entrepreneur’s way of working and leadership is striking. When I step forward and take responsibility, based on a holistic perspective and with the intention of contributing to a forward movement for both my context and myself, I act as a leader.

We all have three jobs

To address many of the crucial challenges that we, our societies, and our organisations currently face, while also realizing the opportunities that exist, we at Gaia are convinced that the world needs more, not less, leadership. The starting point, and expectation, must be that people are mature and capable of taking responsibility for themselves and the contexts they are part of. We then meet as equals, a meeting of subject-subject, and not subject-object. In short, a perspective where each of us sees ourselves as leaders.

In everyday life, this concretely means that I stop thinking that I have one job. Instead I realize that actually have three:

  • I take responsibility for developing the whole I am a part of.
  • I take responsibility for driving and developing my area, my position.
  • I take responsibility for my own development and am clear about the conditions I need.

The Personal Business Plan

To manifest the idea that every person is a leader and the alignment between the whole and the part, we at Gaia have been working on something we call The Personal Business Plan for over 20 years. It is based on each individual understanding the needs, opportunities, and challenges of the whole, formulating what she is passionate about, wants to contribute to, and take responsibility for, and asking the question: Is there a match between my driving forces and the factors that can make the whole successful? If the answer is yes, concrete proposals and solutions are formulated for the areas where I want to make a significant difference, both for my development and for the whole. The Personal Business Plan thus becomes a proactive proposal to the whole and therefore needs an active and interested recipient, a customer for my personal business. This becomes the role of the manager, to receive and challenge the individual and her offer to the whole.

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 over the coming months, we will present different aspects of Gaia Mindset. They are both from the perspective of the thriving individual and of the resilient organization.

Gaia Leadership
In Okategoriserad

Gaia Mindset: Co-creation

Gaia Mindset Samskapande

 What do you want to succeed with? What is deeply meaningful to you? To what do you want to contribute?

When we are in touch with our dreams and our inner motivation, and from this, encounter different contexts with curiosity and a willingness to contribute, unexpected results and value can arise. One group that stands strong in this is entrepreneurs. Behind the entrepreneur’s creativity lies the connection between seizing opportunities, solving challenges, and creating value for others while the business itself develops.

We can all adopt the entrepreneur’s mindset, which is effective regardless of context or role. A metaphor that can help illustrate this is to see oneself as a personal company. If I, figuratively speaking, resign today and come back to my organisation tomorrow as an entrepreneur, what do I do then, and what questions become important? Who is my customer, and what does she want to achieve? What opportunities and challenges does my customer have? Is there something I can offer? What do I want to achieve and contribute to? This shift in perspective also creates a shift in energy. What was previously problems and obstacles become business opportunities for the personal company. The one who was previously my boss is now my customer. We know that this shift creates a new interplay between the part and the whole, where both parties grow.

Gaia Mindset Co-creation

There is a strong human drive to interact, rooted in our long history of living in herds whose survival depended on the ability to cooperate and build trusting relationships. Although we don’t live that way today, this drive and these needs remain in us. In today’s organisations and contexts, it helps us build relationships, be connected, and assist each other. We can also use this power to seek win-win solutions and arenas for co-creation and synergies – something that many today testify is crucial for success. From this, questions arise: How do I help others succeed? And how can I open up and become a magnet for co-creation? How do I build a network around me?

Understanding that I need others to succeed is central to a sustainable entrepreneurial approach and to creating truly sustainable value and results. When I see myself as a personal company, I also see that I do not need to know everything and solve everything myself. Others grow by helping, and similarly, there is satisfaction in offering help when it is requested. We all need more perspectives, more angles, and sometimes actually concrete, tangible help. My network thus becomes one of my most important resources, and it becomes important to find a balance between my need for autonomy and the need to co-create with others. Wanting to be in mutual dependence with others creates partnerships. We meet, think, reflect, learn, and create together. At the same time, I need to be an independent person who stands firmly in myself, is internally driven, and takes responsibility for myself and my own development.

Warmth and togetherness

Today’s world calls for our engagement and leadership – not least when it comes to taking responsibility for myself and the whole I am a part of. To enable this for myself and others, warmth and togetherness are needed. To feel that I am in close contact with others and to feel that I want to contribute to making others better. When I look at myself and others with a warmer, more compassionate gaze, it becomes possible for me to see life as an adventure, a journey, where I constantly learn and grow as a person. And when I venture into the unknown, take risks, and perhaps experience that I sometimes fail, self-compassion helps me move forward.

When we meet ourselves and each other with compassion and in contact, we gain access to more perspectives of the whole and to increased mutual learning. When we feel that we are in relation to another person, we want her to succeed and grow, we want to exchange thoughts and ideas, we are interested in her perspective and input. In short, we become better when we are in relation and create value together. So real co-creation within an organisation starts and ends with relationships and interpersonal contact.

What we propose can be summarized as follows: an approach where you start from and identify with the whole you are part of, focus on your own and others’ learning, co-create with your surroundings to build sustainable value, and see yourself and those around you as leaders.

 

You can read more about Gaia Mindset here. In a series of blogs over the coming months, we will present different aspects of Gaia Mindset, both from the perspective of the thriving individual and of the resilient organization.

Gaia Leadership
In Okategoriserad

Gaia Mindset: Learning

Gaia Mindset Lärande

What do you want to succeed with? What is deeply meaningful to you? To what do you want to contribute?

When we are in touch with our dreams and our inner motivation, and from this, encounter different contexts with curiosity and a willingness to contribute, unexpected results and value can arise. One group that stands strong in this is entrepreneurs. Behind the entrepreneur’s creativity lies the connection between seizing opportunities, solving challenges, and creating value for others while the business itself develops.

We can all adopt the entrepreneur’s mindset, which is effective regardless of context or role. A metaphor that can help illustrate this is to see oneself as a personal company. If I, figuratively speaking, resign today and come back to my organisation tomorrow as an entrepreneur, what do I do then, and what questions become important? Who is my customer, and what does she want to achieve? What opportunities and challenges does my customer have? Is there something I can offer? What do I want to achieve and contribute to? This shift in perspective also creates a shift in energy. What was previously problems and obstacles become business opportunities for the personal company. The one who was previously my boss is now my customer. We know that this shift creates a new interplay between the part and the whole, where both parties grow.

Gaia Mindset Learning

A present holistic view, where we integrate different perspectives, provides a platform for moving forward – even in the most complex environments. Such progress requires that learning is at the center, as we can seldom solve new questions and problems with the previously known solutions and answers. Our contemporary world, the constantly shifting landscape, the significant challenges that almost all businesses face today, means that the time before knowledge starts perishing is getting shorter. It becomes crucial that we see ourselves and each other as developable and constantly growing. I need to value the ability to experiment rather than provide ready-made solutions.

One way to grow and connect with what is meaningful to me is to develop the ability to be aware. My awareness strengthens when I am in touch with the present moment and with what is happening in every moment – both internally and externally. With increased awareness, I can see things more clearly and make more active, conscious choices. It helps me to let go of old thoughts and behaviors and continue with lighter steps and greater confidence towards what is important to me. Awareness gives me access to the central insight that I am not my thoughts and feelings, but I have thoughts and feelings. When I can pay attention to myself in this way, I provide conditions for personal growth and direct more energy towards what is both meaningful to me and creates value.

For the entrepreneur, it is obvious that she herself is the only one who can take responsibility for her development. If we continue to play with the idea of the personal company, I need to ask myself: How do I ensure my continued learning? And what does my research and development department look like? How do I ensure that my company is innovative and relevant? How do I create a learning culture for myself?

To learn is to grow

Learning can start in many ways. Inspiration makes me explore new knowledge. Taking responsibility challenges me to new insights and other ways of working to achieve results. Challenges create action, increase urgency, and make me stretch towards what I may almost not believe is possible. Curiosity gives me the courage to embark on an adventure towards unknown destinations. It also challenges me to see things from someone else’s perspective by asking questions rather than drawing my own quick conclusions.

To translate our exploration into action, we can use our creativity. Then we gain access to imagination and can visualize, think anew, and imagine things beyond the possible obstacles we may see in the present. To make creativity effective, we also need to concretize and manifest our ideas externally and invite others to share them. It is then that our curiosity, desire for learning, and idea generation are translated into new solutions and paths forward.

We also need learning that not only strengthens our skills but also creates increased maturity and stronger judgment, learning that means we meet life’s challenges by continuing as adults to gradually develop our ability to lead in complexity, create meaning, and self-reflect. It’s simply a journey where we continue to grow throughout life, we get twenty years of experience instead of one year of experience twenty times.

Growing as a person enables us to reach new levels of complexity and perspective awareness, i.e., an increased ability to see broader and deeper, to highlight aspects that I have not noticed before. It is a way of taking ourselves and what we want to achieve seriously. We become leaders not only in our own lives but also in the contexts we choose to operate in.

What we propose can be summarized as follows: an approach where you start from and identify with the whole you are part of, focus on your own and others’ learning, co-create with your surroundings to build sustainable value, and see yourself and those around you as leaders.

 

You can read more about Gaia Mindset here. In a series of blogs over the coming months, we will present different aspects of Gaia Mindset, both from the perspective of the thriving individual and of the resilient organization.

Gaia Leadership
In Okategoriserad

Gaia Mindset: Holistic Perspective

Gaia Mindset Helhetssyn

What do you want to succeed with? What is deeply meaningful to you? To what do you want to contribute?

When we are in touch with our dreams and our inner motivation, and from this, encounter different contexts with curiosity and a willingness to contribute, unexpected results and value can arise. One group that stands strong in this is entrepreneurs. Behind the entrepreneur’s creativity lies the connection between seizing opportunities, solving challenges, and creating value for others while the business itself develops.

We can all adopt the entrepreneur’s mindset, which is effective regardless of context or role. A metaphor that can help illustrate this is to see oneself as a personal company. If I, figuratively speaking, resign today and come back to my organization tomorrow as an entrepreneur, what do I do then, and what questions become important? Who is my customer, and what does she want to achieve? What opportunities and challenges do my customer have? Is there something I can offer her? What do I want to achieve and contribute to? This shift in perspective also creates a shift in energy. What was previously problems and obstacles become business opportunities for the personal company. The one who was previously my boss is now my customer. We know that this shift creates a new interplay between the part and the whole, where both parties grow.

Gaia Mindset Holistic Perspective

To see that I, together with others, am part of a whole is to connect with something greater than myself – a driving force that we all have.

When I identify with a larger whole in this way and choose to take responsibility, I adopt a different approach. I see the bigger picture, see individuals, situations, and events in a broader context. I see how different parts of the system interact with each other and bring that perspective with me when I tackle a specific situation or issue. This increases my ability to create value and sustainable results. I also see that my colleagues are parts of the same whole, and then it becomes relevant for us to cooperate rather than compete. It’s good for me if things go well for others because we are all parts of the same whole.

Embracing Complexity

To truly adopt a holistic perspective, I also need to cultivate the ability to embrace complexity. Seeing how different things, which at first glance may seem contradictory, are connected helps us integrate them into a “both-and” instead of separating them into an “either-or.” I see that in a complex situation or issue, there are seldom simple answers. It’s all about being able to shift perspectives, create meaning and clarity, and based on this make decisions, act, and move forward.

The part and the whole

With a holistic perspective present, I create an ability to lead myself in a direction where the interaction between myself and the whole provides sustainability, coherence, and results. A present holistic perspective provides meaning without losing track of my own boundaries and values. Instead, I can connect my own personal purpose with the overarching purpose of the organization. From this reasoning, the task is to choose a whole that I truly want to succeed. When I find the whole where the connection between my why and the whole’s why is undeniable, I can, like the entrepreneur, create both internal and external growth and integrate the whole’s success with my own.

What we propose can be summarized as follows: an approach where you start from and identify with the whole you are part of, focus on your own and others’ learning, co-create with your surroundings to build sustainable value, and see yourself and those around you as leaders.

 

You can read more about Gaia Mindset here. In a series of blogs over the coming months, we will present different aspects of Gaia Mindset, both from the perspective of the thriving individual and of the resilient organization.

Gaia Leadership
In Okategoriserad

Gaia Mindset: Thriving people in resilient organisations

Gaia Mindset handlar om livskraftiga människor och livskraftig organisationer

Gaia Mindset Thriving People in Resilient Organizations

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 organizations 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, 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 organizations? 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 organizations to meet the ever-accelerating pace of change?

We want to tell you more about our core, what we call Gaia Mindset, as a way to address these questions. We truly believe it makes a difference if many, together with us, take on the challenge of creating resilient organizations built by thriving people.

What would be possible in your organization if:

  • Everyone takes responsibility for the development of the whole.
  • Each individual’s inner purpose is strongly connected to the purpose and direction of the business.
  • Challenges in the external environment lead to development and ownership internally.
  • There is a focus on sowing rather than just harvesting.
  • Problems are solved at the level they arise instead of being delegated upward.
  • Internal co-creation occurs naturally across organizational boundaries.
  • Each person takes responsibility for their own development, thereby growing as an individual.
  • Everyone is focused on making each other successful.

What reflections arise as you read this? Does it feel like utopia? We at Gaia know that it is possible to build organizations that truly harness the inherent power of every individual. These things can indeed be realized, but it requires a new mindset. We also know that an individual can make a difference even if all the conditions aren’t in place. Perhaps it is precisely then that the thriving individual is most needed.

As we summarize our encounters with hundreds of organizations and thousands of leaders, we see that today’s organizations face two major challenges:

  • An external one: increasing complexity where rapid changes and interdependencies characterize existence.
  • An internal one: a lack of engagement and sense of meaningfulness.

No single part can be successful if the whole does not succeed. The thriving individual needs to understand and identify with the whole, so that it too can be sustainable and vibrant. At the same time, no whole can exist, let alone be resilient, if it does not invest in the development and well-being of its parts. One is a prerequisite for the other in an eternal interplay.

Four cornerstones

For us, four cornerstones emerge, or four individual and organizational capabilities, which become crucial to help us both lead in a transformative time and realize people’s potential and engagement:

  • A strong holistic perspective.
  • Focus on learning and development.
  • Co-creation and caring.
  • And finally, the component that acts as a catalyst for the others: a new approach to leadership where everyone is a leader.

Gaia Mindset is built on these four components. They have a decisive impact on how we build our organizations, but above all, this needs to be based on and carried by the people in the organization and by interpersonal relationships. It is in you, in me, and in us together that the journey begins – the truly powerful change is the one that comes from within.

What we propose can be summarized as follows: an approach where you start from and identify with the whole you are part of, focus on your own and others’ learning, co-create with your surroundings to build sustainable value, and see yourself and those around you as leaders.

 

You can read more about Gaia Mindset here. In a series of blogs over the coming months, we will present different aspects of Gaia Mindset, both from the perspective of the thriving individual and of the resilient organization.