Introducing the Regenerative Growth Cycle
Introducing the Regenerative Growth Cycle: a living operating model that reflects the rhythm of growth in living systems and what this means for business. More than a framework, it’s an invitation: to elevate how we lead ourselves, our teams, and our organisations, in coherence with the wider living systems we’re part of.
As a roadmap of regenerative growth, it can sit alongside our existing methods, plans and strategies to support a deeper understanding of the cycles that we move through and initiate every day, helping us to generate better outcomes for all stakeholders.
Our Regenerative Growth Cycle has been developed by blending nature’s seasonal cycles with business stages and core activities, to develop a cycle that mirrors how nature, and how we as people and leaders, are naturally designed to operate. Another name for this could simply be ‘biomimicry’, or ‘biomimicry for growth’.
When looking at this cycle, it doesn’t seem too different from what might be used in businesses and business schools around the world, and it’s not. The main intentional difference is, honouring the cyclical nature of living systems - including us as people and leaders, and businesses - and recognise what this means for leading, creating, innovating, and operating, and how it might contrast with, and enhance, the way we currently do BAU.
In the BAU of today, we typically go through these stages - similar to Design Thinking or Lean Startup methodologies - as we’re aiming for and pegging to a J curve path. We focus on generating linear up-and-to-the-right growth that doesn’t materially wane until our business can no longer keep operating or innovating, and ceases to return value to its shareholders in the original way it was intended to.
We could categorise this ascent-focused cycle as the value-return paradigm (as created by Carol Sanford), aiming for ever-ascending, extractive growth, without an appreciation for the gifts of the descent aspects of the cycle (even though these tend to happen regardless - think ‘strategic reviews’, ‘restructures’, ‘redundancies’, divestitures).
The ‘Regenerative Growth Cycle’ is a tool that aims to offer an exploration and appreciation of all of the natural stages of growth alongside the commercial aspects, supporting us to connect to and utilise more of our innate wisdom in the process.
This is based on the Southern Hemisphere - this would be ‘reversed’ in direction for the Northern Hemisphere, and also have different corresponding months of the year.
The stages of this operating model are deep, wide and supported by many cycles within cycles. Below we have introduced the key quarter stages, and we’ll elaborate and build on these, and all of the stages, in future. And, to mix things up, we’re going to start at the top of the ‘descent’:
Scale ~ Peak activity ~ Summer Solstice ~ Midday
The absolute peak activity of what we set out to achieve at the start of this cycle - it could be a startup idea, a project, a strategic initiative, etc. To help us define the characteristics of this stage, it’s the energy of the Summer Solstice - the longest day of light and the shortest night of the year - and of midday, highlighting a great bustle of activity and our achievements are fully illuminated.
Reap ~ Take stock ~ Autumn Equinox ~ 6pm
The end of the season where we’ve reaped all the benefits and can see the results of our efforts from this cycle. In this stage we can review our performance, see what succeeded, what we learned, what we need to improve, and what we will not take with us into the next cycle. To help us define the characteristics of this stage, it’s the energy of the Autumn Equinox - the day of balance before we further descend into Winter - and of 6pm, highlighting the end of a day and being able to assess how it went.
Planning ~ Refine Strategy ~ Winter Solstice ~ Midnight
The absolute bottom of the cycle, where we know our results, we’ve reviewed what’s worked and what hasn’t, and we’re embarking on strategic planning and budgeting for the next cycle, towards a launch or the initiation of our new strategic initiatives. To help us define the characteristics of this stage, it’s the energy of the Winter Solstice - the longest night of the year and of peak darkness - and of midnight, highlighting the depths of inner reflection, rest and reset. From here we start to ‘ascend’ again, in terms of light.
Traction ~ Building momentum ~ Spring Equinox ~ 6am
The time where we are busy getting things going, seeing initial results from our time planning and launching the new initiatives and plans for the new cycle/year. To help us define the characteristics of this stage, it’s the energy of the Spring Equinox - the day of balance before we further ascend into Summer - and of 6am, highlighting the rising nature, and preparing for the day ahead.
If this piques your interest, the ‘Regenerative Growth Cycle’ is the operating model we’ll be working with on our Regenerate Retreats. Our Spring Frequency Retreat is coming up on 12 - 14 September and we’d love to see you there - find all the details here.
