Learning Business From Nature
This piece originally appeared in the summer 2010 issue of Mingle. We particularly like the way Geoff uses nature to illustrate his ideas and challenge his readers to stretch the way they look at their business’s cycles. (J.T.)
Since summer is the best time of year to vacation, play and be with family you might not think of it as productive work time but summer is a great time to enjoy some space, reflection, and unhurried bigger-picture thinking. It’s an opportunity to be looking at your business as a whole, in a relaxed way. Contemplating your business needn’t happen in a regular workday structure; the key is to come up with the right question then just bring it to your conscious mind occasionally through the day. No need to preoccupy yourself with it- your unconscious mind will be working on it while you are enjoying the view from the deck!
Like most Atlantic Canadians, chances are that when the sun shines you will be spending a lot of time outdoors. As far as business is concerned, nature can be a great help in contemplating the bigger picture, providing examples and inspiration in developing grand strategy as well as in addressing smaller issues.
At the University of Waterloo, Frances Westley & Cheryl Rose have been studying the parallels between forest cycles and business/organization cycles. The forest cycle of growth (the Adaptive cycle) consists of four stages:
1. Creation/Destruction – when the new forest starts up, as after a fire (or an ugly clear-cut)
2. Reorganization – when species are sprouting
3. Exploitation – when everything is growing and competing for sunlight and resources
4. Conservation – the mature ecosystem stage of the fully developed forest.
Take a walk in the woods and consider the stage it has reached. How does it compare with the current stage of your business? Try asking yourself some questions relevant to the forest’s cycles:
• Release or Creation/destruction:
What has to die in my business? What has to be born? Do we need to change direction? If you recognize your business as being in this stage you might well need new ideas.
• Reorganization or Exploration:
If your business has reached this stage ideas need to be nurtured and developed. As you explore the unfolding possibilities, think about what aspects of your ideas are NOT being explored? What potential are you ignoring?
• Exploitation (growth) – At this stage the business is working reasonably well and growing. Your ideas have turned into products, processes, or an organization. How to promote your products or services for further success? What growth do you want for the next year and how well is your marketing & sales focus geared for that growth?
• Conservation (mature ecosystem) – The company is running well. The ideas have become products and services that are now established. What are you complacent about? Where will the next change come from? How well are you set up to adapt?
Perhaps you are involved in a major change initiative in your organization. How does nature manage change? Take a look as you continue your walk in the woods. Each plant or animal is in continuous communication with its surrounding subsystems. Nature has each subsystem exchange resources with other subsystems. It lets die what no longer works and starts something new. When we tackle change management we often try to modify an existing system and make people fit into a new system but is this ever successful in the long haul? Perhaps nature’s way is better – start the new, focus on that and let the old wither and fade away.
Another interesting example to contemplate in nature is symbiosis. Dictionary.com defines symbiosis as “the living together of two dissimilar organisms, mutualism”. What other businesses could you work with for mutual benefit? This is a really good question for single-person businesses. Working with colleagues or other businesses is much more fun that figuring it all out on your own!
My favourite example of symbiosis is the way the zebra and wildebeest herds work together as they travel in search of food in southern and eastern Africa. They have a symbiotic relationship caused by an increased chance of predator detection. Zebras graze on long grasses, whereas Wildebeest graze on the short grasses. Wildebeest have poor eyesight and are not adept at defending themselves, whereas Zebra have excellent eyesight and can kick and bite ferociously.
We may not have zebra & wildebeest in Atlantic Canada, but there are examples of symbiosis everywhere you look – for example plants rely on many other sub-systems to flourish, and in turn provide sustenance to all kinds of creatures.
So here are your summer instructions:
Spend time alone in nature and look for the messages there in front of you – the parallels between what you see and your business position.
Who said you can’t mix business & pleasure? Have a great and refreshing summer!
Submitted by Geoff Crinean.
Find Geoff at www.geoffcrinean.com
