Bringing Remote work and Regeneration together

By Ashish Arora

I just listened to the recording of ‘Remote Teams, Regeneration and The Role of Place’, an event we at Greaterthan organized early this month in partnership with Unearthodox. Though I had attended the session and even volunteered to take notes, listening to the recording was an entirely different experience. I could pause, reflect, and speed up the conversations at my own pace.

I resonated when the speakers talked about the beauty of working remotely as-well-as the panic of being on screen. Johannes Hochholzer from Unit Effect made me realize how deeply I admire the opportunities of being in distant worlds through screen which would otherwise be impossible. It feels like my screen has become a vehicle for my mind; my imagination has found new wings.

Thanks to Lana Kristine Jelenjev from Thrivable World, I was reminded of the agency that remote work gives me in scheduling my day, choosing to keep my video off, lying down when I need to during meetings, or staying in tune with “how can I show up with my gifts while also remaining in capacity?”.

As I listened, a question popped into my mind: How do we define regeneration, at least for the sake of this conversation? While I was mostly focused on the inner and relational aspects, my Greaterthan colleague Nenad Maljkovi? helped me be more grounded. “Regeneration can’t only be about people; it also needs to be about landscapes, watersheds, and the living world beyond humans. Remote work can become very meaningful by focusing on activities like these”. Sarah Prosser from Bioregional Weaving Lab immediately resonated, asking, “how do we bring nature, land and soil into remote work”. I felt my colleague Anna Teresa Kopacz ’s reflections on “connecting to the cycles and seasons outside of us” deeply aligned with this.

There was also a conversation about “the pace of doing things”, which Ana?k Anthonioz Blanc from Unearthodox brought up from her lived remote-working experience. Reflecting on the role of cycles and seasons, Anna asked “how can we allow ourselves to not be productive all the time? Where is the space in our lives for taking pause, being in darkness, and in hibernation?”. This is something that I personally struggle with. Even though I’ve created external conditions for my life to move slowly over the past decade, I still haven’t fully learned how to relax and slow down my mind. I think I still need to (un)work on that :)

Another interesting thread was how the domain of our work influences our experience with remote work. Anca Damerell from Unearthodox spoke about how launching the Regenerative Futures program in her organization impacted the overall work environment. “Exploring regeneration together remotely has inspired us to look more deeply into social justice, inclusion and even our own inner regeneration”. How would you look at that? How does your area of work influence your work environment? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Diving deeper into the magic of remote work, Lana reflected how knowing someone remotely helps her strike even deeper connections when they meet offline. Franzi Pross from Climate Farmers connected this to a practice within their organization. “For our team retreat, we now meet at the same place multiple times. This helps us connect deeply with the place and people and allows us to contribute to it over time. In the three visits we’ve made to a farm outside Berlin, we’ve built a meadow, a bar, a fencing system, and a dance floor for the people who would come after us!”. Isn’t it really amazing?!

Lastly, this synthesis would feel incomplete without sharing some reflections and questions raised by participants who witnessed the speakers in the fishbowl and engaged via chat and mural:

• Bringing inspiration back to local people and contexts through screens is hard.
• We haven't even referenced the unpaid work nexus with remote working
• The immediate physical environment always takes precedence over what's on screen
• How to invite serendipity to the digital space?

Here on this mural you can see all the insights, questions and ideas people collectively took away. The session recording is also a sweet smooth 53 min ride, which I am sure you’d enjoy.?

Does this spark any ideas on how you would like to continue this exploration?

With love and loads of regenerative vibes,

Ashish, Susan and the Greaterthan Crew

What’s cooking at Greaterthan?

• Money Games: Sept 23rd for English and Sept 25th for Spanish
• Liberating Structures (APAC): Starting from Oct 22nd (taster scheduled on Oct 3rd)
• Trauma-informed Collaboration (APAC): Starting from Oct 14th?
• Thriving Networks: Starting from Oct 24th