Ecological Principles of Organizational Design
Permaculture is a design methodology typically applied to bioregional or hyper local landscapes in both rural and urban settings. A word coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the 70s, the idea holds that we are pursuing the design of an agricultural system that is permanent, bringing the diversity, stability and resilience of natural systems into our production methods. The general practice holds solid principles that we can learn from which have deep roots in local traditional wisdom and biomimicry, modeling how Nature develops into self sustaining ecosystems.
In this article, we are going to look one of these principles – ecological succession planning - and explore how it relates to long term visioning and succession planning for a company or organization that is regenerative.
What is Ecological Succession?
Ecological succession is the process during which a diverse community of species within a specific habitat change over a long period of time. If we begin at the base of an old growth forest, we will be witnessing the late stages -of ecological succession. The forest is such a biodiverse, self sustaining and high yielding ecosystems that we can interact with. It feels alive. The richness in the soils is visually noticeable, the different levels of growth and development are everywhere.
With Nature left to her own devices around an undisturbed area, she will evolve an undisturbed area into a diverse ecosystem. But there is a scientific and artistic process in her approach. She employs the assistance of many cast of characters to do so. These characters participate in the evolution of the area to a ‘climax community’, or what we experience as a mature forest.
The Cast of Characters Involved
Pioneer Plants: We know them as weeds in most cases. But that is only because when we encounter weeds, generally speaking they are not in our prescribed plan for a production system. But their role in the ecosystem is quite high stakes and important. Pioneer plants have one main job - to disturb and prepare. These plants are designed to use their roots to make channels into soil that is dead. These channels allow for resources (water, nutrients, etc.) to flow through.
Once the pioneer plants have done their job, in most cases they can actually be used to build up the soil organic matter, when they are cut down and mixed in with the soil. Pioneer plants are the forerunners in creating the conditions for the next participants to do their part and grow into a thriving dynamic ecosystem.
Perennial Plants - these plants come in after the pioneer plants as grasses and shrubs.
Woody pioneers - they are hardy and generally are there to create a protective microclimate for the young trees to develop
Young forest - all members are alive and well, and they are interacting with each other and will be doing so for the next 25, 50, 100 years, however long it takes to grow into a mature forest. Responding and adapting to disruptions as they present themselves.
Mature forest - old growth trees die, fall down and integrate into the soil organic matter, further promoting the next generation of life and plants in the understory.
How Might Ecological Succession Planning Map to Companies?
Planning for succession involves understanding the unique ecology and soil of the organization and the roles of each team member and resources available to the company. With this understanding, you can strategically disrupt the ecosystem by shifting these resources of social capital, material capital, financial capital and political capital to encourage regenerative development.
Soil is the composition, the makeup of the organization's culture, intended purpose and mission. The conditions of the soil will determine the output or quality of the production of plants, shrubs, all of forest life. Without healthy soil organic matter, the organization falters and erodes away. But we know that longevity in sustaining and advancing healthy ecosystems takes partnership across a whole cast of characters.
The founder and its resource team make up the pioneer plants. They are the disrupters. Noticing an opportunity, to repair soil, to create soil where there is none, the founder team grabs ahold of the purpose and begins to disrupt, to dig, to make way for resources to flow into the soil and mix together for the evolution of the enterprise.
The perennial plants that follow the pioneer plants are the implementers of the enterprise. They have caught onto the vision of the pioneers and are primed to execute operationally within the structures and systems already in place.
The woody plants, those which provide the overstory for the plants to grow, serve as a sort of governance for the plants below. By adding a layer of protection, either from predators or extreme weather patterns, the woody plants main role is to protect and preserve the conditions necessary for the young plants to give way to the young trees that will emerge. For a company, the 'woody plants' may take the form of an advisory board or board of directors made up of constituents and representatives who understand the nature of the organization's intended purpose and can establish rules and parameters to ensure that the growth trajectory of the company goes in the right direction.
The young forest, identified as a robust, diverse and thriving ecosystem, will be existing in this manner, responding to and establishing local and bioregional patterns of being, calling for and repelling other characters who can enhance or deplete the growing ecosystem. The young forest will face tempting offers to alter or shift the ecosystem that is evolving. Whether that be from human or natural disruptions such as harvesting the trees for timber, clearing the land to change land use, or fires. The young forest, left to respond and adapt to the movements surrounding it, and the culture deep within it, will, over 25, 50 to 100 years, develop into an old growth forest.
What might this look like when mapped to a company operation? As a company grows and develops over time, the ecosystem within will be responding to the ecosystems outside of the enterprise. Opportunities to veer off purpose, or make material changes to the company culture are inevitable. An offer to be bought by a larger strategic buyer is presented, major contributors leave the company, a looming recession calls for ways to preserve financial profit, sometimes at the expense of overall long term value.
Does it take a half a century for a company to define its true purpose and grow into its expression of a mature old growth forest? Not necessarily. In permaculture, we ask the question - how do you work with Nature to accelerate 'development' into a thriving forest ecosystem? The process in the natural world invites the permaculturalist to plant all of these layers at once, so that they can interact with each other along the development journey.
If you are a founder reading this, you may be thinking about checking out at this point. There's no way that a founder can identify all of the right individuals, processes, and systems to put them in place early on so as to set the trajectory for becoming a mature enterprise reflecting the tenets of an old growth forest.
That may be true! But it's less about identifying all of the species and plants upfront, and more about sitting with the purpose (in the permaculture sense, that would be with the landscape) and allowing it to develop the approaches and processes that will be necessary at each stage, creating the conditions to develop a thriving ecosystem.
How can company leaders do this?
Start with what you have, whether that be culture and purpose or an idea. The purpose is inviting you to bring it to life, to create the long term conditions for it to thrive in harmony with the living world and all of the resources flowing through the system.
Introduce others who hold any missing resources needed. Allow the soil (culture and purpose) to determine who is engaged. As leaders, you can course correct much faster when the purpose is clearly defined along with the roles and responsibilities. This acts as a screen for you to sort out how to move the intention along.
Add more organic matter - which can take the form of key hires, catalytic investment, mergers or partnership, divestment, transitions in leadership, change in governance structure. All of these elements make up the organic matter of the organization and are in need of interaction to activate appropriate development.
Choose the right species to accelerate the process. This is where self organizing comes into play. To choose the right species is to look at the composition of the entire organization as a system, beginning at the mindset level, purpose and working your way through structural, behavioral and physical. The right species may include shifting your mindset.
Early on in the company's lifecycle, it's essential to establish a clear purpose and set of values to guide collaborative decision making. This intention becomes the incubation for what the organization will be like when it lives. As the company grows, evolves and adapts, you can revisit these values and purpose regularly to stay aligned with the north star of the organization's intended mission in existence.
Where could ecological succession planning go wrong?
In permaculture design, one can apply strategic disruption to trigger succession and boost productivity of the natural landscape. However, this strategic disruption that is beneficial only emerges from a deep knowledge of the place, the ecology and the soil itself to understand what unique applications would be fitting for the natural advancement one is trying to obtain.
In this transition and application of succession planning as modeled by nature, it would bode us well to be aware of the potential pitfalls that would inhibit the success of the development to a thriving forest-like culture and operation.
Losing sight of the purpose and culture as the foundation for making everything else come alive.
This is very easy to do in our existing system obsessed with rapid growth, productivity and financial success. Be mindful of the scarcity mindset. The alternative reality is that nature is abundant, generous and reveres the slow process of development to ensure that what is developed can adapt to the evolving times.
Not identifying the right structures, people, species to cultivate the right conditions for healthy development.
When building into the unknown, its hard to see into the future and to plan through every contingency when scenario planning. There is a natural amount of risk that comes with pursuing an idea and implementing a course of action. The art of contemplation and reflection is a tested way to empathize, visualize and design for the future that we don't see yet. It's about abiding by principles, which are timeless. Integrating core principles and values will anchor an investment, project, or company well into the future with the creative space to adapt over time.
Moving out of order or dismissing certain roles necessary for the ecosystem to thrive.
There is a natural order of things. don't lose sight of tending to the ‘soil organic matter’ of your enterprise. That is what we've done which has caused the depletion of our soils and the reduction in biodiversity. Anchoring to purpose will help us remember the right order of things and acknowledge the wisdom of nature.
Prioritizing external inputs over cultivating what's already present.
In conventional agriculture, because our society was trying to react to the rapid growth of population, transition into the industrial revolution, moving people farther and farther away from our sustenance, we've had to grow our dependence on external inputs. Large corporations and enterprises are built around this framework. However, Nature's way is to activate what already is. This applies regionally, locally, it applies to whole health medicine in caring for our bodies, its a principle that applies everywhere.
The central concept of wisdom is permanent. Nothing makes economic sense unless it's continuance for a long time can be projected without running into absurdities." - E.F. Schumacher
The principle of natural succession planning, as modeled by old growth forests, is a way we can think about integrating living systems wisdom into our social and economic infrastructure.
As is the case with living systems, this application of the permaculture principle of natural succession planning onto organizational design is evolutionary and adaptive. Over time, as we test out these models and share case studies, we'll revisit these concepts and adapt as fitting.
What does your company ecosystem look like? Have you assessed the condition of your company ‘soil’ to know if it will be resilient to stay rooted in purpose and adapt for the unknown future? At Sacred Futures, we help founders and leaders assess and reform organizations to uplift regenerative enterprises. Get in touch to go on the regenerative purpose journey to jumpstart this evolutionary process for your enterprise.
