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.