First of a series of articles sharing highlights from a series of dialogues on regenerative relationship (September - December 2023).
At its heart, what differentiates a regenerative philosophy from many other approaches to change lies in its attitude to relationship. Underlying all the contextual framing and the different models and methodologies that have mushroomed under the regenerative banner, is a simple invitation to come into mutual exchange and flow with all of nature, as nature, and to engage in all facets of life with that consciousness.
Engaging the Edge Effect
What follows here is a harvest of key themes arising from some initial conversations on the nature of regenerative relationship, between leaders and practitioners from a range of backgrounds, operating in different spheres or business, food systems, energy, finance, creative sectors, manufacturing, leadership development, neurodiversity and dialogue. The regenerative paradigm is still in emergence, and we are learning what it is becoming as an ongoing process of co-inquiry.
Integrating Nature’s principles in regenerative dialogue is key to evolving our practice, and intentionally drawing on the edge effect is a powerful enabler to that . In living systems, the boundaries between different habitats become generative interfaces, supporting greater nutrient exchange and biodiversity in those margins. We see the edge effect in action wherever different habitats meet - at the transition zones between forests and meadows, at shorelines where sea gives way to land, and coral reefs where deep water meets shallow. We can’t evolve the regenerative paradigm without also supporting the conditions for this kind of rich exchange, in trans-disciplinary, inter-generational, intercultural dialogue.
Engaging the edge effect already gets us into the space of reflecting on the possibilities of regenerative relationship for mutual learning; this particular learning community is called ‘Regenerative Confluence’ in honour of the different streams of wisdom flowing from the new diversity of thought-forms arising at the intersections where we meet, our own edge effect in action…
Weaving time-lines
Part of the richness of the edge effect comes from the different contexts we are drawn to work with… whether they are systems in decline, in phases of mature growth or renewal and new growth. These spaces can look dramatically different - working with systems that are expending more energy in just trying to keep themselves themselves functioning than they are in adding real value, to those which are knowingly exploitative of people and Nature, to established organisations looking to address equity and sustainability and starting to explore their wider role in the world, and entities with strong moral purpose but which may have lost their way spiritually, to fast-growing enterprises capitalising on the demand for radical change, or the flex-flow networks of creatives and entrepreneurs developing new systems based on mutuality, community and wastelessness.
It’s challenging to consider that each of these contexts allows for some form of regenerative practice, yet if we soften our gaze, it becomes possible to see all the different phases represented here as contiguous, often synergistic processes within the human ecosystem. Our binary thinking prefers to make clear distinctions, grasp at different categories, such as ‘degenerative’, ‘sustainable’ and ‘regenerative’, yet Nature expresses such apparent contradictions with ease… I love this picture below, a willow that grows in a field near where I live. It’s clearly been pollarded, a sign of human intervention that could be seen as destructive. It’s also in a degenerated state at the base of the trunk, where moss and bare wood increasingly replaces the bark, and yet all sorts of new habitats for insects and wildlife are simultaneously forming there. From what remains of the growing trunk is a mass of new growth - cut off any of these branches and plant then in wet soil and they will most likely sprout roots and become a new tree. It shows us a different way that we can be with parts and wholes, parts that are dying and parts that are full of new life, and the relationships between them.
Unsurprisingly, there are aspects of regenerative discourse that tends to be associated with the exciting and novel edges of transformation and impact (which perhaps appeals to remnants of heroic positivism in us all). After all, we need to build new bridges for transition between old and new. But we also need to recognise that working with systems in decline is its corollary.
The Berkana Two Loops model, which expresses the Berkana Institute’s Theory of Change can help us see that alongside the emergence of pioneers and the formation of new networks providing greater visibility to the new system, comes the hospicing and composting of systems which are in a degenerating phase, a dimension of practice which is less well understood. Few change models address what it means to work with systems in decline, and yet it seems an obvious and vital area of focus*. In associating endings with failure, its not surprising that there are few shared cultural practices in modern society that help us to support declining systems and structures to pass on in peace, to share their nutrients and to allow the new to be born. Instead we tend to see ‘immunity to change’, the clinging onto the the illusion of control, the logics of eternal expansion, and ‘violent deaths’.
So a powerfully generative edge effect that could be possible when the regenerative community learns to dialogue across these different spaces, to share what they are seeing from different vantage points, to engage in sense-making, to co-create between old and new systems, and work more harmoniously together.
When we reframe our collective practice as spanning the whole life cycle of an system - whether social, economic, cultural, agricultural - it brings us into a different kind of relationship with the work, and with each other. It reminds us that whether we tend to embody the typical archetypes of ‘regenerative’, or ‘healer’ or ‘elder’, or a mix of all three, that we are in inter-dependent co-arising as we weave in Nature’s principles across these different time-lines.
*If you are interested in exploring hospicing and composting in organisations, there is a series of exploratory conversations being hosted (24th October, 14th November, 5th December), which are free to attend -see details here.
Personal Reflection
Where are you located? How do you find community?
Looking at the Berkana Two Loops model, where is your main focus? or are you working across many different points?
Are you able to find a supportive community to explore regenerative practice within those spaces?
And how do you nurture an ‘edge effect’ in working with people who may be operating in different spaces, so that you can learn from difference and don’t become siloed?
What supports you in bringing regenerative, living systems approaches to the different spaces that you engage with?
Experience of Regenerative and Non-Regenerative Relationship
Take a piece of paper and draw two columns, one labelled ‘Regenerative relationships’ and the other ‘Non-regenerative relationships’.
Write down a list of words which you associate with each and add them to the columns.
What do you notice? What elements of regenerative do you feel most attracted to? Which elements of non-regenerative are most problematic for you? How could you be with that in a regenerative way?
Take a moment to focus on one regenerative quality that you most feel called to embody right now. Close your eyes and sense how that feels to really centre and align yourself to that quality. Notice if there is a shape or a posture that goes with that. Then imagine yourself stepping into the rest of your day, embodying that quality.
I would also be interested in hearing more about how (bio)diversities & socio-economic inclusions might weave with this model, especially thru/ beyond capitalisms (macro/globals & micro interpersonals) & political systems. How to use main-stream tools/ media for holographic trans-formations & sustainability. Good luck in substack-landia.
Thank you for the good wishes and for raising socioeconomic dimensions, really critical to discerning different narratives and powerplays amid disruption. I hope this will come up in forthcoming conversations - my writing is based on dialogues that I host, so please do join this series if you can: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/katherinelongcoaching_change-transition-hospicing-activity-7112758295785824257-iwSd?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android