Think like a Forest - for businesses, organisations and workplaces

Think like a Forest – How you and your organisation can thrive in challenging times through learning from nature.

A 2 day introduction to Regenerative Business and Organisations

13 and 14 October 2022 9.45 am to 5 pm

Venue: Whistlewood Common, The Common, Melbourne, south Derbyshire, DE73 8DH

For full details download the information booklet (details below)

Who is this training for?

• Team-members
• Leaders and changemakers
• Small business owners
• Wellbeing or innovation leads
• Environmental leads
• For-profit and not-for-profit organisations

Come on your own or bring your team.

About the programme

We associate forests with growth, creativity, diversity, connection, strength and resilience – characteristics that make for healthy, vibrant, productive workplace too.

Over two immersive days in a beautiful woodland setting, our programme will guide you through the various elements of a healthy workplace ecosystem, showing how changes, small and big, can transform the way we think about our work, workplace wellbeing, our relationships with colleagues and customers and our place in the wider world.

Drawing on learning from nature via disciplines such as biomimicry, ecopsychology, biology, systems thinking, regenerative leadership, psychological safety, permaculture and holistic design frameworks, you will explore how to take small steps towards having a healthy organisation modelled on ecosystem design, with wide-ranging benefits for people, productivity, purpose and planet.

Using our unique approach, we share the 10 strands that ensure a thriving ecosystem-inspired organisation, combining them with practical tools and resources to be used again and again.

Both thought-provoking and practical, at the end of the two days you will have:

• a plan for action to inform your own wellbeing for home and work;
• practical and achievable ideas to take back to your workplace;
• an abundance of resources and further reading to share with colleagues;
• and a unique toolkit of innovative tools to ensure your visions can be turned into action.

Nature is billions of years ahead of us in experience when it comes to handling change and building resilience, so it makes complete sense to draw wisdom on well-being from the expert itself (nature).

You will spend time in nature as part of the sessions and learn about the relevance of natural principles in their well-being strategies.

Not only will employees benefit from being better connected and inspired by nature, but research supports a correlation between nature connectedness, improved wellbeing and pro-environmental behaviours.

The programme focuses on three core principles, which are woven into everything we do:

• Employee well-being: Giving team-members the resources to stay well in work and create conditions for employees and volunteers to thrive. • Culture: Over the two days, you will sow ideas, root concepts, and propagate a plan of action to organically grow a resilient culture. • Sustainability: The term sustainability is twofold. As well as being earth-minded in our approach, we also value the sustainability of our programme for you and your organisation. Your business and your life is an ever-changing ecosystem, so we give you the tools to continue growing long after the course.

Programme leaders:

Sarah Spencer and JK McCreight. Our facilitators bring a wealth of experience across the for-profit and not-for-profit worlds in organisations ranging from local to international. The will share their experiences of business coaching and advising companies as well as backgrounds as experts in ecosystem design for people, organisations and places (find out more by downloading the information booklet)

Cost:

£249 (not-for-profit, or small/ medium size business)

£395 (large for-profit business)

Limited places available

If you are a low-income startup, community group or other low-income purpose-driven organisation then please email us to see if we have any subsidised places available.

Accommodation options:  Take a look at some of the options on our Venues and Accommodation page.

Why you?

Just as a plant requires the right ecosystem to grow and thrive, individuals and businesses need the right collaborations to flourish and succeed:

Maybe you:

• are looking to improve your own wellbeing at work
• manage a team that could benefit from a different way of working
• are curious about nature-inspired ecosystem design and want to know more
• want to bring better workplace wellbeing practices to your team
• don’t want to be left behind as the workplace and the world changes
• manage volunteers and would like to explore more ways to nurture and enable them in a volunteering role
• are dealing with a changing and challenging workplace environment and want to learn how we can learn from how nature approaches adaptation and evolution
• are looking to create more effective working practices
• care about the planet and would like tools to incorporate that into your organisation whilst maintaining profits and purpose

Solopreneurs and startups:

Check out our Think like a Tree programme which we recommend as most appropriate for solopreneur businesses and small startups.  You can read more about why here.   Find out more about the Think like a Tree programme here.

Book now and download the booklet for more information