Interested in Regeneration? — Part 1
Regeneration is not a method, not a model, not a set of tools. It is a way of living!
After a decade of walking a self-chosen path ignited by the impulse to advance the Business Group DUIT[1], I co-founded along with a few business partners and carrying the intention of increasing the level of influence in the business ecosystem we are in, I have reached a point at which I can see the effects and a more profound meaning around — the now more popular term — “Regeneration.” I have come to realize it is a process, in fact an ongoing life process, rather than a set of tools or a methodology. This has inspired me to share with all of you who are attracted to the idea of “Regeneration, who somehow feel the need to know more about it and apply it in your work and life.
Almost a decade ago, I went to meet Carol Sanford [2]and some others in her team with the intention of getting their help in evolving the success of our companies. We were determined to engage in a process to improve our business, to “make our business shine,” hoping that this would advance our capacity to influence others and expand our business presence. We were willing to “absorb” everything we could learn from “the method” Carol developed and put it into effect in the several businesses our Corporation holds. (Traditionally, this is the primary reason for having learning and development plans and processes in place in our companies, right?).
Gradually — while working with Carol Sanford and Ben Haggard — we realized that to be effective, we needed to truly make a positive impact, we needed to see things from a very different perspective: the greater effect was to be in a System bigger than us!
Certainly, being part of regenerative processes has brought benefits to my life in different lines, beyond what I could imagine when I started this journey.
Nestedness is one of the seven First Principles of Living Systems — foundational to regenerative processes. Systems are nested in other larger systems. We can think of this in any scale of our lives:
· A city embedded in a watershed that is embedded in Nation or Region
· A person embedded in a family
· That family embedded in the neighborhood or district they live in.
This helps us not only see our lives, from broader perspectives, but also helps us to see the relationships and energies at work and the effects amongst all of them.
Living and operating from a regenerative paradigm is radically different from traditional change management processes. We discovered that energy in people arises when we find the greater purposes our organizations serve, opening the right spaces to go into deep transformation of both our way of Being and the effects we have on the Systems in which we’re embedded. We started exploring the purposes of our businesses beyond our own desires:
· What are we really working on?
· Are we just working on evolving a corporation?
· Are we simply a group of people who work to fulfill the mission or vision that we had set?
The answer we found, was no. Looking at the larger system and seeing the work it was calling us to do, we were able to discern which changes were required of us to be able to respond to a higher order purpose.
Over the years, with the help of close colleagues in the regenerative work, I realized that we were not just setting ourselves up to create a great business group to shine, or to shape a winning portfolio of services / products. To really live regeneratively, we were being called to move our level of motivation up to one in which we willingly have a greater effect in the World, beyond viable businesses with good intentions.
It is not about fulfilling a Business Mission, but something greater than Us.
The deep meaning of our existence arises when we are able to see our unique contribution to a larger system in which our lives occur.
We built in and currently share a strong belief: our businesses can and should create a difference in a larger system. They are instruments of transformational processes in our economies.
Since I have discovered the power of regenerative processes, having experienced them in my own flesh, I can now share with you, reader, that these processes have an effect only when you yourself engage in such processes and live at the level of the Regenerate Life Paradigm.
[1] If interested in knowing more about Carol Sanford: https://carolsanford.com/about-carol-sanford/
