It is through what the organization does that it becomes clear what it really is, and what impact it makes internally and externally. It is about acting with clarity on the vision of the impact is looking for.

Actions, no concepts!

Whatever the product or service the organization offers to the world needs to be also in coherence with all that is included in the Essence (purpose, mission, vision, values).

For instance, if the organization’s key value is sustainability it cannot continue doing a product that contradicts this value. It must re-evaluate it and decide how to adapt, change, or eliminate it otherwise it would be always contrary to what the organization declares that it stands for.

That’s why is very important when an organization is starting the transformation journey to visualize the journey holistically, as everything is interconnected.

And is not only what it does, but also how the organization behaves and communicates with the exterior that is a crucial element in this transformation process. It must have congruence between what declares as value and how it acts and speak about it.

Let’s say that an organization has decided that gender equality is a fundamental aspect of its future, it represents a strategic line of action. Then all the efforts internally and externally must be carefully designed to be framed within the gender equality concept. And the way the organization speaks (in social media, marketing, hiring advertisements, newsletters, website, etc.) must be also aligned and framed along the concept. Otherwise, what people will perceive is that this organization speaks differently than acts.

In addition to accompanying organizations in the rethinking process to have coherence between the Essence and the Doing, at SELF we also work together with the leaders to translate the Essence into an operational strategy, integrating the WHAT and HOW into a concrete action plan.

A fruitful process to reroute the organization towards a future scenario where contributing to creating a better world is the north star and where the people are the active riders.