Discover why playfulness and imagination are crucial for redesigning our world. Learn how your business can overcome sustainability challenges and go beyond ‘green’ to become a regenerative powerhouse that restores nature, rejuvenates communities, and reinvigorates the economy through strategic play and blue-sky thinking with REGENASYST® business tool kits.

By ORB member Khandiz Joni, founder of Vuja De Creative Solutions.

 

Is it time for a gear change?

 

The path to sustainability isn’t straight or narrow; it’s more like a mountain trail than a treadmill—alive, full of surprises and exposed to the elements. Much like an adventurous outdoor run, running a business is subject to unpredictable weather changes, unexpected hurdles, and the odd snake in the grass. It requires us to navigate the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world we live in.

Just consider how changing legislation and consumer preferences have led to businesses having to measure and report on their carbon emissions, switch up packaging and dig into the darkest corners of their supply chains – especially if you want to sell your wares beyond UK borders. Some have even had to change their names and branding so as not to fall foul of their ethical responsibilities.

The extra work involved can eat into profit margins or encroach on the limited time and knowledge available within an organisation, and the smaller a business usually means a smaller pool of resources. And if you’re posturing towards any kind of eco or ethical claims, not being able to back them up could risk you being held liable for greenwashing; potentially inflicting financial and/or reputational damage. Of course, meeting moving targets always involves effort. However, doing this work reactively rather than proactively will make the process more strenuous, much like how skipping a warm-up stretch before lifting heavy weights can lead to far more aches and pains.

 

How then does a business not just become sustainable—in the sense of being ‘less bad’—but truly regenerative?

 

Well, it takes intention, graft, and perseverance. Like training for a triathlon, it requires dedication, the ability to focus on different disciplines, and sometimes forgoing short-term comforts in pursuit of the ultimate goal. And it’s not just about completing the race, but the satisfaction of overcoming the challenges along the way. It’s vital to recognise and celebrate both the big and small wins so that you can maintain the motivation and momentum to keep going.

The truth is that no personal trainer, consultant, or certification can substitute for the mental and physical effort needed to become a truly regenerative powerhouse, though they can guide, adjust your technique, and support you in crossing the finish line. 

Ultimately, before you can win the race, you first need to see yourself finishing it. All too often, it is our thinking patterns and cognitive barriers that hold us back from the successes we dream of.

 

A collective imagination

 

A 2018 University of Boulder study found that the ability to imagine has tangible effects on our well-being. So, it’s not a stretch to see how being able envisage a different kind future than the one that’s predicted, can steer us through current fears towards a better world. Can you picture life in a decade? What does that future feel, smell, and look like? Is it what you want? And what are you going to do to contribute to a future you do hope to live in? 

Sadly, it seems we’ve lost our collective imagination, a symptom of doing away with play as an essential activity for growth and development. It’s been edged out by an education system that values algebra over art, less vibrant, unsafe cities, and by a technology addiction that leaves little room for the boredom from which imagination springs.
 

However, if imaging’s are not rooted in reality, and active steps aren’t taken, a vision can only ever be a fantasy. Just like a unicorn will only ever be a mythological creature until you strap a jousting stick to the head of a white horse. What I mean by this is, of course, is thinking that technology will save us, or that we can continue business as usual but expect a different outcome, we are fooling ourselves. 

 

The Genesis of REGENASYST

 

I created REGENASYST® to assist businesses in playfully steering through the complex terrain of sustainability, with the aim of considerately and confidently rejuvenating nature, communities, and the economy. While striving for perfection matters, progress is always more important, no matter the size, shape, or ‘fitness’ of your business body.

In my work as a sustainability consultant, I’ve seen with my own eyes how a lack of blue-sky thinking can limit value generation for businesses and their customers. Don’t get me wrong, I know many organisations want to do better. After all, that’s why I am getting called in to help concoct their sustainability strategies. But the ‘will’ is where most fall short. 

Without a clear vision for a how they plan to contribute to future where there is enough for everyone forever, and a plan for deploying resources to realise this vision, the process is often sluggish, lack-lustre, and key players are disengaged. Making this work is near on impossible; it’s like trying to hit the green on a par four without a driver (for those golf enthusiasts out there). Not to mention, these vital conversations are happening in the very same dull, dreary and boring boardrooms that have contributed to our current collective challenges, including climate breakdown, biodiversity collapse, and growing social inequality.

As an individual, I experience the impacts of those feeble efforts in the form of rising pollution levels, climbing costs, and the decline of nature—consequences of capitalism and colonialism—on my mental and physical health every day. So do you, whether you realise it or not.

REGENASYST® is a 10-point methodology that takes inspiration from the dynamic systems of Life itself. It reframes sustainability; the interconnectedness of environmental, social and governance structures in a way everyone can understand — through the analogy of the human body. Allowing us to literally embody our relationship with the future we want to work for and live in, by employing the intrinsically human characteristics we were born with.

 

Learn, Play, Grow

 

At REGENASYST™, we believe in the power of play as a serious business tool for learning on the go and unlocking tomorrow’s solutions, today. 

But, in the wise words of Peter Senge, we need to ensure “that today’s solutions do not become tomorrow’s problems” as has happened so many times before. These problems arise when we are too lazy to look far enough down the road or expanding our thinking wide enough to anticipate the greatest risks or opportunities on the horizon. Like crossing the road without looking both ways.

We think that it shouldn’t require the need of an expensive consultant to get moving on this work. Our lo-fi games encourage strategic thinking in a simulated environment, fostering collective intelligence from within your own organisation – whether you are a sole trader or a team – and actionable strategies in contributing to a sustainable future. 

 

Ready, Set, REGENASYST

 

To ‘regenasyst’ means revitalising something with intentional action. It’s something you do. Are you ready to regenasyst your business?

It doesn’t matter whether you leap, dance, or sprint into action. The important thing is that you start and try to have fun while doing it. Make a practice a habit by incorporating it into your business’s day-to-day operations. And, crucially, avoid having a standalone sustainability plan. Instead, adopt a single, holistic business purpose with a clear direction so that you can effortlessly bob and weave your way through any pesky punches that may come your way.

If you have read this far, you’ve already learned why Megaforce Muddle, Bias Master or our upcoming game Shift Happens are useful exercises, and how our tools can help your business in unlocking creative, dynamic strategies – even if you’re already well off the starting block.

We’re about to launch our third Action Pack ‘Continuity Preppers’. A business continuity training programme that helps you plan for the worst, while hoping for the best. And how to not let that plan get dusty on the shelf! If you are working through—or have completed ORB’s Responsible Business Standard, you will know that having a continuity plan is foundational to be a sustainable business. Something too many businesses calling themselves ‘sustainable’ haven’t even yet considered!

ORB members are invited to take advantage of a 10% discount on any of our REGENASYST® games—get in touch for your unique discount code on hello@regenasyst.com.

 

Khandiz Joni

Khandiz Joni

Founder of Vuja De Creative Solutions

Khandiz Joni is an independent sustainability practitioner and multidisciplinary artist but calls herself a Creative Sustainableist. She holds a certificate from Cambridge University’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership, a Diploma SBP qualification from IEMA and is a certified Chartered Environmentalist.

Today, she works with businesses to integrate ethical and responsible business practices into their day-to-day operations in the pursuit of eudaemonia. Khandiz is passionate about storytelling, creative thinking, and systems change, which has culminated in her entrepreneurial spirit and advocacy for an improved understanding and practice of sustainability.