๐ง๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ, but too often, we see them as obstacles to be overcome.
Last week Gita and Megan hosted an event at B Lab UK Louder Than Words Festival; the largest gathering to date of BCorps using business as a force for good. The two days in Oxford were filled were discussions, talks and workshops about practices and experiences of disrupting "business as usual" to enable more sustainable ways of living and working together.
Our event (over drinks and nibbles) helped to provide a space for people to reflect on day 1, and think about their work; the questions, the tensions and the dilemmas they face in leading and being in change.
Hereโs some of the tensions and questions people shared:
โข ๐๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ?
โข ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ด
โข ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ?
โข ๐๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ?
โข ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ?
โข ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ
โข ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ช๐น ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด: ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ง๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ
These tensionsโbetween individual and collective needs, stability and disruption, control and uncertainty โ are the very spaces where creativity and new possibilities emerge.
What we do helps teams and organisations confront these tensions in ways they aren't typically used to, accessing the energy and insight that exists in them to work through complex situations more thoughtfully and effectively.
These conversations aren't always easy, but they are real and help people feel seen and heard. And while we don't walk away with all the answers, we're reminded that maybe that's the point. ๐๐'๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐, ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐พ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ.
Thank you to everyone that joined us for a reflective and refreshing evening, and we look forward to our next event soon!