5 Signs of Health in Organisational Life

1. Innovation is loved

Innovation is prioritised, championed and made space for. This requires recognising those with a pioneer instinct and releasing and resourcing them to go for it. It also requires moving swiftly to identify blocks to innovation before the water gets stagnant. In effect this requires the center giving away power to the edge so that the edge can feed new life back to the center.

2. Critique is heard & can be acted on

There are feedback loops in play that allow voices of critique to speak and be heard. In addition, swift decision-making processes are needed so as to provide the means to enact any changes necessary for the upholding of the spiritual, ethical, relational, financial, structural wellbeing of the organization.

3. Champions have something to shout about

The people who love to light up the world and who are the life of the party are there. There’s excitement, because there’s something happening worth being excited about. There’s a party. They have a cause, a task, and a vision. The reality of this may have a direct relation to the truth of the first two points. If these people are not here, or they are but there aren’t excited, then there are probably freedoms that need to be given.

4. Gifting is seen and celebrated

A people-first organisation looks at the people around the table, seeking to empower, awaken, train & release the latent possibility of what is already present in the people who are here right now. This is a bottom-up principle as opposed to an abstract approach. It also probably steers more toward a local, grassroots, decentralised reality.

5. Knowledge changes and activates people

There is an appreciation of and a hunger for creating and growing in the kind of knowledge that allows for a sort of deep, embodied wisdom to emerge within people. It’s knowledge that enables, knowledge that generates and reflects upon action, knowledge which helps people become the change that the organization exists to bring about.

Shout out if you want to collaborate on a case study with any actual organisations you know!

I’ll probably rewrite this, so let’s say this is version one. I guess I could sharpen it up a good bit before bed but I think I’ll go and start watching the Mandalorian.

Arohanui and shalom

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