In the current age, where ongoing crises riddle our institutions and dwindling productivity plagues our economy, the quest for swift and sustainable transformation within organisations is more critical than ever. The solution, I propose, is not just about rebuilding trust but about cultivating a mindset that aligns our organisational goals with the natural order of life – a process known in ecology as ‘rewilding’.

Re-envisioning Growth: An Introduction to Rewilding

Amid these complexities, innovative models such as the Donut Model of Economics provide a refreshing alternative to the relentless growth cycle that depletes resources and widens inequality. Simultaneously, successful rewilding projects like the transformation of Patagonia into a national park offer a transformative lens through which we can reimagine our organisational structures.

The Crux of the Challenge: Our Organisational Landscape

Our organisations, much like our natural landscapes, have been stripped of their inherent creativity and freedom to innovate, giving way to rigid rulebooks that fail to meet the complexity of our environments. This results in individuals feeling overwhelmed, stuck, and fearful, giving rise to toxic cultures that manifest in dire consequences like aggression, bullying, and confrontation.

Rewilding Organisations: A New Path

So, what if we could ‘rewild’ our organisations? What if we could reintroduce the dynamism and biodiversity of a natural ecosystem into our rigid organisational structures? In the same way rewilding restores nature in areas altered by human activity, we could strive to extricate our organisations from the confines of capitalism and reintroduce the human element into the conversation.

Rewilding organisations means restoring balance and harmony in spaces distorted by capitalism, industrialism, and resource exploitation. It presents an opportunity to prioritise social and environmental wellbeing as much as, if not more than, economic growth, paving the way for sustainable and harmonious ways of living.

The Principles of Rewilding: From Ecosystems to Organisations

Rewilding as a process is grounded in principles such as identifying a space without imposing boundaries, removing destructive practices, reintroducing native species, monitoring closely, and being patient as recovery takes time. But how does this translate to organisations?

Embrace Natural Dynamics: In rewilding, nature follows its own path. For organisations, this translates into an environment that encourages autonomy and self-organisation, fostering a more dynamic and responsive setup that reduces rule-based and compliance-based practices.

Diversity and Interconnectivity: Just as a healthy ecosystem thrives on biodiversity, organisations benefit from a diverse mix of skills, perspectives, and roles that need to flex and adapt. Siloed thinking needs to be abandoned in favour of prioritising connection.

Resilience and Adaptability: Rewilded ecosystems are resilient and adaptive. In a similar vein, organisations need to build the capacity to adapt to external changes, remaining attentive to how changes impact and adjusting course where necessary.

Succession Planning: In nature, different species dominate at different times as the environment changes. In organisations, succession planning ensures robustness even as personnel change. As our systems evolve, we need to be open to the emergence of significantly different structures.

Long-term Vision: Rewilding requires long-term commitment and patience. As organisations, our first step could be to move away from a narrow focus on productivity and efficiency, towards a long-term vision that serves our community.

By following these principles, we can shift from rules-based to values-based decision-making, creating organisational cultures that reflect a healthy ecosystem. We need to appreciate diversity, cultivate power from paradoxes, establish connections to eradicate silos, and build trust to foster new practices.

Leadership in the Era of Rewilding

Leaders need to create time, be patient, relinquish control, allow things to evolve, and bring others into the decision-making process. Remember, rewilding is a long-term process, potentially spanning years or decades, requiring patience and persistence.

In the grand scheme of things, we should follow the principles of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ to wisely manage resources and value humanity equally, enabling people to thrive and foster personal growth.

As we navigate through this shift, we must remember that rewilding is not just about bringing back what we’ve lost, but also about venturing into new, unfamiliar territories. It’s about creating a space where we are not just surviving, but truly thriving.