Many lessons on awakening were discussed at our emergent, presence-based pop-up book signing event at Indigo in downtown Calgary. The Awakened Company is a model for creating a positive ripple in the world. It represents a new model of business that serves people. Thanks again to Matrix Solutions CEO, Rob Pockar and BluEarth Renewables Founder, Kent Brown for truly creating an engaging event.
During bad times is a great time to create the ripples necessary for awakening. Organizational culture can be changed (e.g. Telus), although it’s easier to start building a great culture with a new company. We, as a business community, need to shift focus from the results to the corporate culture – the “why you exist”. Rob Pockar emphasized that it doesn’t matter if the company is privately or publically held – you still need to demonstrate great value as a robust and strategic organization and you rely on skilled people. It doesn’t matter who your shareholders are, your mindset should be the same.
Co-creation with community is possible when you identify opportunities that are great for the community as well as great for your company. You develop a shared value proposition with the community (watch this short video). Focus on the reciprocal nature of communityship and the several dimensions of community for businesses.
Here were some great tips from Rob and Kent:
- Be aware as a leader. BluEra’s Blog supports notion.
- Start with your values (watch this short video) – what are your values?
- Develop the systems in your business to help develop awakenedness (e.g. performance reviews, interviews, coaching)
- Be systematic and deliberate.
- Tap into the awakenedness of your employees and talk to new employees about your values, culture and strategy and where they fit.
- Give employees ownership over their own work and flexibility and freedom. There are guardrails and guidelines, but within an atmosphere of trust reinforced by your values.
People say all of this is hard to do, but what is the alternative? As Julian Barling states, what is the smallest thing you can do? What does your heart tell you? Your head? And what is it that you want to do?
Thanks again to Indigo, Rob Pockar, Melissa Pockar and Kent Brown, for rocking this experiment.
As the holiday season is in full swing, please take a moment to consider what it really means to you.