Last weekend it was the annual FoAM gathering to discuss long term ideas, some self reflection and consideration of external perceptions. We were guided on this mission by Simone Poutnik and Hendrik Tiesinga, members of FoAM and founders of Natural Innovation. They decided to trial [...]]]> Originally posted by Dave Griffiths on Thu 3rd Nov 2011 at FoAM’s Blog

Last weekend it was the annual FoAM gathering to discuss long term ideas, some self reflection and consideration of external perceptions. We were guided on this mission by Simone Poutnik and Hendrik Tiesinga, members of FoAM and founders of Natural Innovation. They decided to trial a new method on us all, Lego Serious Play. Now, I’m a bit battle hardened when it comes to alternative business management strategies as I’ve been exposed to quite a few in various places over the years, but despite Lego’s high scoring buzzword bingo website, I can independently verify this approach as very much a success.

You start by building personal models that represent different aspects of the organisation in various states, and then work as a group to bring them together in different ways. This is done in a structured way, leading to certain questions at different stages of the process.

The core idea was to “think with your hands” and indeed the normal problem you get in these situations, a tricky question leading to an utterly blank mind, was removed as soon as you started searching for plastic bricks. Things seemed to build themselves somehow, while the indirect method of having to explain your odd constructions (usually in quite an abstract way) said a lot more than I would have managed in a more traditional situation.

Through the Hub Brussels, Natural Innovation is one of 8 partners in this EU financed project, together with GEN Europe (Germany), Center for Human Emergence (Holland), Permakultur Institut (Germany), Transition Network (UK), Damanhur (Italy), Findhorn Foundation (UK), Sustainable Projects Ireland (IR).

We are developping a 2-year learning programme [...]]]> A European Learning Partnership

Through the Hub Brussels, Natural Innovation is one of 8 partners in this EU financed project, together with GEN Europe (Germany), Center for Human Emergence (Holland), Permakultur Institut (Germany), Transition Network (UK), Damanhur (Italy), Findhorn Foundation (UK), Sustainable Projects Ireland (IR).

We are developping a 2-year learning programme to support those people who work in local government, NGOs and the community in the creation of sustainable living environments, both urban and rural.

The Transition to Resilience training concept is built around action learning communities.

Facilitating peers in collaborative learning and supporting each other on their  journey towards becoming effective change agents, in their various fields of endeavour.

Whether a Learning Communities forms for a day, a weekend,  a week or a series of meetings over one or two years, T2R is a  growing European wide network of flexible experienced sustainability facilitation practitioners at the cutting edge of the global resilience movement. For more info stay tuned on www.Transition2Resilience.org

How to do you co-create a new work environment and culture that encourages collaboration amongst a team of over a hundred staff, make the majority happy with less space and more people in one office? A sub-division of Siemens came to us with that challenge. We designed and [...]]]> February – March 2009

How to do you co-create a new work environment and culture that encourages collaboration amongst a team of over a hundred staff, make the majority happy with less space and more people in one office? A sub-division of Siemens came to us with that challenge. We designed and facilitated a human-centred collaborative design process, inspired by the U-process. A core team of 10 staff was formed, which represented the diversity of the whole team in terms of gender, seniority, time spent in the company, type of work etc. After a one day vision building for this process and interview training, the team interviewed a majority of their colleagues to get a more systemic perspective of the needs and requirements for the new office design and working culture. People said afterwards they really enjoyed interviewing each other as it allowed them to get to know their colleagues better and understand their context more. In another workshop of 1.5 days, we mapped all the issues and discovered the underlying patterns and themes together; we developed and proto-typed new design concepts and work methods. The new design concepts co-created by the team became the basis of the new interior design and working culture of the department. The division has now moved into the new office and people are happy with the result.

It was interesting to see the pattern of the design was not too far from how tribal villages were constructed: a round kitchen (fire place) and meeting spaces at the center with access to the garden, teams to sit together, the whole space to be personalised and with more warm but calm colors, plus a ‘cosy corner’…