It is time to truly re-imagine how we design organisations, and life......?

This is primarily a thought piece, but does hold within some practitioner evidence to bring it to life.

Like many of you that may read this article, I have done a LOT of personal development work and exploration over the past 5 years, however on reflection the key catalyst for this exploration was my frustration at being kept in the narrow boxed job description/role that I wanted to break free from back in 2014. Design flaw number one in 2021, why do we still organise with such restriction?

It is all so innocent though, it isn't anybody/s 'fault,' change is an inside job after all.

I was following the socialised and marketed Western dream until 2014, on the career development track, making as much money and collecting as many material 'things' as possible until you collect all of that and sit inside your body feeling empty, hollow, all whilst being privileged i.e not having to face the risk of harm or being sidelined. Design flaw number two was my lack of awareness as to how spiritually extractive this way of being was.

However, until I looked outside of my immediate job role and immediate sector, I did not realise there was a huge opportunity to step into becoming a whole human being across work, home life, society and planet. Design flaw number 3, the Western education system and my own accountability and curiosity.

Are you intentionally meeting new peers that work in different roles or different sectors to you?

Are you intentionally meeting new peers that do not sound, look or come from the same heritage as you?

My personal growth and understanding of the world has developed exponentially due to answering yes increasingly to both of these questions over the past 5 years.

So why bother re-imagining organisational design and life more widely?

The past 12 months has offered a combination of tragedy and opportunity in equal measure and is that not a key example of the yin and yang of all things? The dark and the light, the perceived right and the wrong, the known and the unknown. Design flaw number 4, within our own lives and within an organisational setting, the often seeming inability to hold paradoxical views in each hand objectively.

Some key reflections and impacts for me personally over the past 12 months which are feeding this re-imagining have been:

• The Earth is on fire and we are running out of time

I work within the chemicals and allied industries (By this I mean upstream (big oil/energy, chemical intermediates) and downstream (food, pharma, plastics, personal care etc manufacturing) and the global supply chain that wraps the whole manufacturing industries) and this chain has one of the biggest impacts physically on the planet, yet the understanding as to the externalities and impact and inter-connectivity of not only this industry, but of all of our consumer habits, are widely un-acknowledged.

For us have that iPhone/Android in our hands is the result of potentially displacing indigenous tribes in Africa so we can access rare Earth metals, causing pollution through the global supply chain and more.

• Organisations are social organisms, not just money making machines. The tragic murder of George Floyd was a reminder while we were all situated in place to 'feel' that (I cried for 3 days)

I have learned so much and engaged in so much over the past 12 months due to connecting with and having amazing humans like Vivian Acquah, Rishita Jones, Madison Butler, Tanya Obeng, Lara Manqui and many more in my immediate and virtual world. I invite you to connect/follow all of the above.

• The rapid awareness as to my level of privilege and the importance that I leverage this to reduce inequities.

For me and this is only my view, privilege = the ability to walk in the opposite direction when knowing that a section of humanity is facing oppression, exclusion or risk of harm

In 2020 I stopped walking in the opposite direction, but first we must become aware.

• The acceleration and mass adoption of technology during 2020 reminds us that beliefs are dissolvable in the moment if we allow them to go

Just think about that leader or business owner who said "we need HR, IT and customer service in the office" in Jan 2020 - 'The fact we are a social company' is NOT an adequate excuse not to engage your people in the flex working conversation - Strong recommendation to follow Cali Yost for more on this.

• Vulnerability is truly a gateway behaviour

Having hosted over 138 full episodes, from Episode 100 with my good friend #HumansFirst founder Mike Vacanti around the topics of #vulnerability #courage #mindset #selfawareness #inclusion and more around our unleashed humanistic potential, the pandemic and widespread social justice awakenings have proven the importance of operating with the unknown.

Asking for help, co-creating, dropping our ego, striving for collective good are critical components and goodness that can emerge when we role model and invite vulnerability

• We are designing our organisations and life more widely in a degenerative way

Why does #diversity, #equity and #inclusion have to fight so hard to be embedded into organisations?

Why do men and women often get paid differently for doing the same job?

How can we still have mass disengagement all around the world?

Fear, ego and the inability to let go is my assertion.

So what is the solution?

Designing organisations to be life-giving

Sustainability/Regeneration + Diversity, Equity & Inclusion + Recruitment is THE critical area of focus if any organisation is going to navigate change as 'business as usual' going forward. I use sustainability and not regeneration as this the language that is currently known, but over time this should shift to regeneration.

Why you may I ask?

Think about the blood, water and oxygen running through your body right now. Imagine these three critical areas of an organisation being the same.

• Without access to quality food, fresh air, running water and land we will go extinct, is your work and the organisation that you serve helping or hindering giving life?
• Without a truly integrated focus area such as that offered above, talent pipelines will continue to be stretched, remain often non-diverse, disconnected and unsustainable
• Without moving to more self-managed and self-organised teams, all of which have a grounding in the principles of sustainability, DEI and recruitment, we will continue to see mass disengagement, ineffectiveness and ultimately widespread waste of human potential, often with a detrimental impact on human life and the planet
• Linking DEI, Sustainability and Recruitment closely to continuous improvement, org design, L&D and the rotating ExCo will allow for a far more organic and agile structure that can flex with the weather conditions that each sector faces
• This does not detract from any other area of the business, sales, IT, finance etc they are all required and deeply interdependent and interconnected, BUT, we need to start to re-imagine what truly breathes life INTO and across organisations and not just what sustains them i.e our people, their insights, their energy, their hopes, their fears - THAT is the fuel of organisational life. Products, money etc are all outcomes

More than a theory

I am a practitioner as well as a community-builder and international relationship-builder, so let me share with you a 3-year internal culture change that I co-led which unknowingly to me at the time followed the above idea:

• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Prior to this self-organised team culture change, pretty much all major decisions came top-down, there was very little focus on learning & development and little evolution of the team culture and effectiveness, yet always a good profit was being made.

By the end of the 3-year emergent process (none of it was planned to the nth degree), every team member had a voice, we were increasingly using team values to hold our interactions to account, we had colleagues self-organising around marketing, L&D, good practice sharing and more and we had added €6m in sales and €1.5m GM.

DEI is good for people AND good for business.

• Recruitment

Between 2015 and 2018 I was not aware of the DEI function, but what I can share is that top performing personnel were lost during this period as the wider business did not out in place suitable succession and development plans.

I have a theory that I want to test that recruitment is a critical part of this beating heart of the future life giving organisation and not just a bolt-into HR, as if we do not have a joined up, fully circular recruitment process (human -> education -> to work -> society -> human), we will see worsening talent pipelines and a lack of diversity in those pipelines

• Sustainability

3 years on from this 3-year experiment, we have the majority of the team in place, results are the best on record despite huge challenges in 2019 and 2020 due to environmental factors, all of which have been navigated with debate, challenge and open ears and hearts, due to the strong connection and connectivity of the new team culture

In the end, I truly believe that organising as below will organise like a tree evolves.

Strong roots.

Healthy nutrients flowing around the system.

Adaptability and ease of flex when things get challenging.

I welcome any challenges, additions or other thoughts as to these musings and if you are interested to run an experiment to test my theory, I would love to support in any way I can.