The Power of Acupressure to Drive Sustainable Organizational Change
Do you want to build caring and purpose-driven organizations to create a better world? If so, this article might interest you.
As a changemaker in my organization, I often wondered: Where should we be to drive change? Who or what should we focus on? Internal? External? The “top” of the organization? The “base”? Middle managers? What will create the pivot effect?
A Systemic Approach
I am a fairly holistic and systemic person. I rarely, if ever, work in a sequential manner. That is why I am willing to operate on different levels. Throughout our purpose-driven mission, my team and I focus on various areas of the business, such as:
Strategy & Governance
Employees' knowledge
Overall performance
Impact of Operations
New Business Solutions
Ways to Partner with External Stakeholders
As a result, we often work on multiple projects at the same time, involving various types of internal and external stakeholders.
While this method yields results, it also creates a burden and a demand that can be difficult to manage at times. In Japan, I remember feeling lost and powerless in the face of numerous projects and requests. I had to reduce the workload from multiple initiatives. Yet, “something” didn’t feel right.
An empowering posture
One day, my perspective changed. I was at my acupuncturist’s office for my recurring back problems. Then, I had an epiphany. The acupuncturist’s skill lies in knowing which points to stimulate for specific issues. He does not impose his will on these points. On the contrary, he “listens” and trusts the body to act at its own pace and in accordance with its needs.
By trying to be everywhere, support everyone, and control everything, we were, at best, exhausting ourselves in pursuit of impossible goals; at worst, we were creating the opposite of what we wanted: rejection or dependency.
So we changed one subtle yet crucial element: our approach and method for collaborating with our ecosystem. We still take a holistic approach, working at different levels with many people. Yet we harness the power of acupressure in our own way.
We act as catalysts for change. Our role is to address the specific aspects of our system related to a challenge, so that innovative, sustainable, and impactful solutions can emerge.
A sense of humility
As a result, rather than being willing to address a problem by imposing sustainability views:
We choose to reaffirm our intention and vision, nurture relationships, understand subtle signs of resistance, and find a third way to make an impact that aligns with the group's purpose and local realities.
We engage our stakeholders to challenge and enrich our projects in order to ensure long-term success. For example, to assess the behaviors that shape our business culture in Asia, participants represented our five key corporate stakeholders (the environment, employees, customers, society, and shareholders). Some even tried to understand nature’s perspective by putting themselves in the shoes of a tree!
It may sound unusual. Yet these changes in leadership style, impact, and decision-making are the result of much reflection and experimentation. What is certain is that, in addition to my back, my anxiety has subsided, and our changemaker community has grown larger and more powerful than ever. And you—what is your approach?
Take action toward your change
Identify the key categories of stakeholders in your department or company.
A stakeholder is an entity that is affected by your action and/or has a significant and defining impact on your action.
Ask yourself how you engage them.
Start by finding out what they're looking for.
Identify ways to improve relationships with stakeholders.
Find ways to engage them so that you can bring about systemic change through your joint projects.
"Themost important thing to know is that pain or physical problems that occur in one part of the body are the result of imbalances and are not exclusively related to that part. So you shouldn't focus too much on relieving that one problem."
Hello everyone, I’m Nina Cambadélis, a coach and facilitator specializing in sustainability and organizational transformation. I’m also a corporate changemaker responsible for embedding my company’s purpose at the heart of the business.
Through my work, I aim to inspire professionals to rethink business and make them proud to contribute, in their own way, to a more sustainable, humane, and nature-friendly world.
If you would like assistance with:
Become the changemaker you want to be for the world you envision
Find and assert your leadership, or foster the emergence of new leadership styles
Make sustainability and purpose-driven initiatives central to your organization
Accelerate engagement within your ecosystem to drive systemic change
Make an impact while conserving energy and promoting well-being
Here is a link to an exploratory call and a form to provide more details about your goals and challenges: English
