Article
22 February 2024, 3 min read
Sowing seeds of change: from insight to action
How to translate questioning norms into tangible steps for change.
How can business translate questioning norms into tangible steps for change? During our recent Big Conversation we found that by challenging constraints we can redefine progress, and to do this takes courage.
When we think about the role of business in a Wellbeing Economy we centre on empowerment and regeneration rather than endless accumulation and extraction.
Our discussion revealed limiting stories perpetuating business-as-usual: endless material growth as signifying progress, where shareholder primacy is king and pursuit of wealth is the ultimate goal. We know these narratives contradict the world we wish to build, yet insight alone changes little.
The conversation left us asking: How do we turn revelation into meaningful systemic change?
A number of themes emerged as we envisioned the bridge from questioning norms to catalysing change...
Overcoming fears, embracing alternatives
We acknowledged that sometimes fears – such as the fear of being different or of losing agency or accepting uncomfortable truths – still need to be overcome before fully embracing new economic paradigms that prioritise the wellbeing of people and planet.
We discussed an innovative project seeking to understand babies and young people’s needs in a deprived community through deep participatory engagement to inform progressive policies. We talked about how enacting systemic changes requires bold funders overcoming fear of unknown outcomes. We agreed shifting systems, even with supportive data, proves challenging when underlying mindsets resist.
As we question outdated, and often simplistic measures, what unconventional success indicators centred on empowerment might we adopt within our organisations? When we challenge short-term shareholder primacy, what partnerships prioritising long-term social and environmental foundations emerge? What bold experiments unfold when we rewrite tales taking endless growth as a given and seek to chart new measures of progress?
Progress demands both data and meaning
We discussed over-reliance on metrics versus meaningful intelligence. Solely relying on quantitative data risks ticking boxes without capturing lived experiences or catalysing real-world change and how that change is experienced in our lives. We considered blending qualitative and quantitative insights for fuller understanding, like WEAll’s ‘Cornerstone Indicators’ incorporating statistical measures alongside community perceptions of progress.
Rather than accumulate more fragmented data, how might we gain richer meaning informed by lived experience? When we redefine success, what qualitative measures matter most to communities? How might we shift from ticking policy boxes to progressing dignity and empowerment within the planet’s boundaries?
Communicating with honesty and hope
We touched on the communication challenges of balancing critical honesty with hope. Some lamented society’s slow failure in meeting sustainable development goals within a planet where global warming is accelerating. Others felt it important to highlight where progress had been made. Mismatched perspectives reminded us that honestly naming outdated assumptions and acknowledging successes both matter for motivation and direction. Conveying imperfect progress nurtures possibility; paralysing perfectionism thwarts action.
How do we encourage the questioning of norms through the stories we tell and the changes we demonstrably make? Can we build hope when conscious minds and hearts come together to build a new paradigm? How can we collaborate to grow community resilience rooted in creativity and wellbeing not consumption?
Living the change
The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.”
from the life of St Francis of Assisi
We reflected on how opposing harm through words alone fails. We must embody the alternatives – to live the change we want to see.
As we question norms, how might we seed wellbeing through our influence by walking the talk from insight to action?
No shortage of inspiration, only a need for courage
The conversation revealed no shortage of inspiration once we question perceived constraints and redefine progress. But courage remains essential to challenge conventions and make room for creative regeneration valuing people and planet. Our care, curiosity and partnership plant the seeds. From insight to action, we can nurture human dignity through daily experiments and writing new stories of success.
What seeds of progress will you sow today?
