Approach Philosophy
Brief
Our approach is centered around developing meaningful relationships with our clients / collaborators. We achieve this by growing a mutual understanding of the unique set of technical, economic, and social challenges faced by those who we work with (i.e. definition of the socio-economic barriers preventing meaningful change). Through this process of relationship building, we aim to develop an holistic understanding of our client’s mission, vision, and active projects / initiatives serving the end mitigating or adapting to the climate crisis (polycrisis).
Once a detailed understanding of the organizational landscape is developed, we begin to tailor a set of interactive workshops, educational seminars, and coaching / counselling sessions relevant to these challenges. The depth and complexity of this work can be adjusted from an afternoon workshop to several months of collaborative work. The near-term goal of our collaborative process is to plant the seeds of future systemic change by working within our client’s present capacity for meaningful change and action.
Ultimately we hope to build strong relationships and systems of accountability with our clients / collaborators over an extended period of time. The systems change work that we help our clients engage in functions best with consistent + experiential learning and a willingness to re-visit regenerative concepts across a wide range of situations.
The work carried out by Climate Paradigm is most effective when done over a sustained series of interactions where participants are invited to take meaningful pause from their work in order to shift their perspective on themselves, their relationships, and how their work meshes with the world.
Detailed Approach
All work carried out during our collaborative process will carry the premise of investigation. We understand that systems change happens exponentially over time and are cautious not to pressure teams towards immediate action. Instead, we empower our clients to make socio-economic changes within a comfortable window of tolerance that considers their current culture, priorities, and capacity.
Climate Paradigm Collaborative’s approach typically follows a three-phase cycle:
Phase 1 - Inquiry and Understanding
At the project onset we will work through a series of case interviews with key members of the team to establish a trusting dynamic and a mutual understanding of the organization’s knowledge base, vision statement, active initiatives / projects, and goals. Most importantly, we will look at the socio-economic or technological dilemmas that may posing a challenge to the direction that the team wants to move in. We will also assess the work our prospective clients have done with respect to reconcilliation and Indigenous education within their organization, making recommendations for training to complement our work as it fits.
After defining where the team is currently at with respect to where they want to go, we look at the deeper layers of the organizational culture, climate anxiety, and current sentiment organization’s staff and stakeholders with respect to climate change. This layer of inquiry adds definition to the economic risks, cultural edges, and the current window of tolerance often associated with systemic change work.
The end of this layer of inquiry is threefold:
Build a sense a safety and a culture of reciprocal curiosity as a container for working through potentially challenging topics.
Set a pace of change that will nurture sustainable integration of new interpersonal skills, technical tools, and regenerative frameworks.
Collaborate with stakeholders at every level of the organization to cultivate a sense of collective agency over the new initiatives.
Phase 2 - Collaborative Workshops and Consulting
After establishing relationships and sense of mutual understanding we will begin to develop a bespoke series of collaborative workshops, trainings, and coaching sessions tailored to your team and industry. Ideally we work with our clients through a series of workshops that take participants through an arc of deconstructive heart work, followed by a process of building mental resilience; only converging on solutions-oriented thinking once we have developed a new foundation for doing so.
Our work typically begins with a standardized set of pre-emptive workshops which serve to develop a sense of safety and trust within the team, ahead of doing any deeper work. We have found this to be a critical step in the professional setting to develop a sense of shared values on challenging topics.
This set of pre-emptive sessions will serve to:
Develop mutually agreed up guiding principles for sessions (e.g. methods for conflict resolution, personal boundaries, sensitive topics, etc.)
Teach self-care tools to cope with any sensations of overwhelm that have the potential to arise in doing this work.
Provide techniques for unfolding polarizing topics like climate change with compassion, careful empathy, and curiosity.
Once a sense of ground and collective empowerment has been established we will begin to work through several pillars of development depending on our client’s needs:
Futureproofing (Technical, Social, Economic)
Mental Resilience and Climate Psychology for Professionals
Conceptualizing Regenerative Frameworks for Business
Integration of Climate Coaching Techniques and Skills
Envisioning Organizational Ecosystems
Systems Thinking (Putting it All Together)
Earth-listening and connective nature practices
Phase 3 - Practical Outcomes, Accountability, and Ongoing Relationships
The final phase of our work involves developing a web of non-tokenized eco-gestures that have the potential to develop into meaningful projects and paradigm shifting change if nurtured over time. In other words, we will collectively develop a set of tangible day-to-day actions and social contracts to maintain the learning done during the workshops. We will also provide a platform for team members to pursue lifelong learning on these topics, apply new skills and knowledge, process grief, develop a deepened sense of purpose and autonomy at work.
When relevant, we will collectively develop a set of R&D areas and a backlog of projects targeted at identifying goldilocks technologies, opportunities for integrating regenerative economics into the supply chain, and projecting the organizations current / proposed offerings into several risk mitigated futures.
We place high value on maintaining ongoing relationships with our clients and offer active check-ins, accountability services, and advanced workshops to continue building towards a climate resilience future. For participants seeking deeper work, we are connected to wide range of facilitators and consultants who offer specialized interpersonal techniques and are a natural progression to work done with Climate Paradigm Collaborative.