Making the Process Regenerative

By Ashish Arora

This year, I have been in a pursuit to understand regeneration, and also have a couple of paid projects to contribute to this emerging, exciting field (how lucky I am!).

Just yesterday, I had a deadline to submit some case studies on regenerative communities, along with a team of five other contributors. As I was on my way to meet the deadline, I also found myself lost in these questions: Did I take too much time working on this assignment? Was I too inefficient as compared to the others in the team? Everyone seems to be too comfortable managing it in a short time, while it took me two weeks… etc. etc.

And then, it hit me. What a paradox! I was working on regeneration, highlighting the communities who embody it, and was stuck in a non-regenerative process to make that happen for myself!

How often does that happen to you?

How often do you fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others, especially when you do not even have the full visibility of their context?

I feel I was schooled into this deeply ingrained pattern of drawing comparisons since my childhood. It’s been such a difficult habit to develop awareness for and consciously move away from.

What other habitual patterns do you think lead us away from regeneration, at work and in life? And, what kind of practices do you think can support us to unlearn/untangle?

Maybe we also need to go to the basics, i.e. what do we mean by regeneration? The meaning of the term itself might vary according to the contexts that we live in.

For me, regeneration is what makes me feel alive. Regeneration is when I am in touch with my heart, when I am able to create space, when I am actively alive and intentional in the field of my thoughts, and, thus, when I am able to bring in my authentic, vulnerable self into my work. Sometimes I notice magic happening with a state like that!

How does regeneration show up in your context? What is its texture, its smell, and its touch from where you are? And, how do you embody it at your workplace?

Workplace… so much can be talked about regeneration at work. What could be the meaning of regeneration for an organization? Could it be the same as how we understand and embrace it as individuals? How do the organizational practices and culture work with or against this idea of regeneration? And, how is it in our relationships with our colleagues? How aware and intentional we are as teams to practice regeneration at work? Like, how does regeneration reflect in our daily meetings, leave policies, travel allowances, deadlines, targets, and even annual reviews?

So many questions, as usual. By now, you know how crazy I am about asking questions!

From the notice board of Greaterthan this week, we have a beautiful event coming up on regeneration, thanks to our partnership with Unearthodox. On 3rd of September, Remote teams, Regeneration and the Role of Place invites us to reflect on: How can we, as individuals and organizations, become rooted in place, while also valuing global interconnectedness? Especially when much of our work life is based on remote collaboration? Do join in for this free event if you feel called to this theme.

We also have a Money Game Experience coming up on 30th of August that helps to navigate the personal relationship with money. I have found playing and hosting this game quite regenerative for myself as it helps me to identify and let go of my unhealthy patterns around money.

Lastly, I forgot to share about our Liberating Structure Studio last week. This course is very consciously designed for you to lean into group facilitation methods to enhance relationships, build trust and surface otherwise untapped ideas. I can assure you from my experience in Greaterthan that such an organizational space is highly regenerative. You can enroll for this course here (EUROS-Americas, starting 10th of September) and here (APAC, starting 22nd of October).

Love,

Ashish, Susan, Stefan and the Greaterthan Crew