Our evolutionary journey

Before we embark on a new year of doing, Lewis and I have been taking time to reflect on our own Essentially Human evolutionary journey and our impact…

We’ve noticed that as we move beyond the challenges of the COVID pandemic, people are tired. Many are overworked and overwhelmed by the volume of things that need their attention. This presents a real challenge for them between being and doing. Their reality reinforces our message that we need to make work human. As human beings we need balance, we cannot operate effectively if we are always on, with no time to think and notice how we feel.

Looking within

We’re grateful to have worked with hundreds of people over the past 12 months demonstrating the value of slowing down, especially when feeling overworked, to give yourselves space.

Space to think and space to feel.

We’ve seen how people have transformed as they become more self-aware and take responsibility for the way they live their lives. Both their happiness and productivity improve. We witness time and again that when we slow down, we become more effective in our relationships and in our work.

Client programmes

Supporting people to become more self-aware was not the only thing we did in 2022. We also supported leaders, helping them to challenge their mindsets and develop their leadership skills. Specifically, we enabled leaders to explore what it takes to be a human leader.

We shared fresh ideas with our clients about organisational practices that help make work human and enable people to thrive. Our clients experimented on a small scale with some of these ideas to gain hands-on experience before deciding which practices to adopt more widely.

Community

We launched our online community in September, welcoming both new and existing connections to our virtual thinking sessions.

Our intention for these practical and inspiring sessions is to provide you with time to pause and think about the transformation you want to bring about for yourself, your team and your organisation. We do this by introducing a topic for the session for you to think about and discuss in groups.

What’s emerging for 2023?

With all this in mind, our mission for 2023 is to expand our Essentially Human presence. We intend to continue to do this through our work with clients and our online community, working with:

  • Individuals to support you develop greater self-awareness.
  • Leaders to support you adopt a more human approach to your leadership.
  • Organisations to help you challenge the status quo and experiment with human ways of working.

Working with you to make work human is a complex challenge.

We think of it as a Rubik’s Cube.

If we focus on developing one aspect of the puzzle, other parts move out of alignment. It’s through a gradual process of experimenting that the colours start to align. We call this your evolutionary journey. There is no blueprint for this work.

We teach leaders to become aware of their blindspots, we introduce them to their ego, the source of self-interest, and to let go of the perceived need to control. With practice, the leaders we work with begin to trust that answers lie within the team. They learn to listen to all voices and ensure people feel seen and valued at work.

We teach you to explore the puzzle by tapping into your feelings and intuition. To sense what is being asked of you for the greater good of your organisation, discover how to do your best work and be your best self.

We’re excited by the client opportunities already emerging for our year ahead. We know they all form part of our evolution and who we are becoming.

Connection

There are several ways in which you can connect with us over the coming months…

  • We’re facilitating our Power of Self-Awareness programme online starting 27th January 2023. So if you want to get to know yourself more deeply and what makes you a better person and employee make sure you join the upcoming programme to be the change you’d like to see in your organisation.
  • To transform your leadership and to think about your organisation in new ways, ask us about commissioning a development programme. You can explore our programmes here.
  • Join our growing Essentially Human community for our next free live event on Friday 3rd February from 13:30 – 15:30. You can book your place here.
  • Follow us on social media.
  • Sign up for our newsletter for inspirational stories and messages that keep you thinking about how you can make work human.

We are grateful to you…

for for sharing our journey.

We encourage you to keep showing up for yourselves, to make it a priority to slow down and become more self-aware.

As collectively we become more conscious we’ll contribute to making work more human and the world a better place for all.

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