What nature shows us about cultural dissonance

My brother-in-law is a beekeeper (among other things).

He spent some time explaining to my daughter the intricacies of the colony; the pivotal roles each bee has and the importance of cultivating optimal conditions to support the bees to flourish.

As human beings, we forget we are nature too and that life happens in community.

I've read a lot of posts on social media recently about fragmentation in organisational culture - particularly within the health system (though these issues are not exclusive to particular sectors). This manifests as overwhelm, compassion fatigue and ultimately burnout.

It is sometimes internalised as personal, though often it is symptomatic of cultural dissonance.

There are pockets of goodwill that temporarily 'buffer' and sustain people in the short term, though there is a cumulative impact from persistent implied and overt power dynamics, which undermine institutional rhetoric.

There's an uncomfortable irony in a healthcare landscape that holds immense tension between a genuine desire to care and systems that perpetuate lack of accountability and congruence between words and deeds.

When I led a national VCSE perinatal mental health partnership, I genuinely felt there was potential for the passionate, skilled and agile untapped powerhouse of grassroots leaders and innovators to 'meet in the messy middle' with institutional leaders and commissioners, but I hadn't factored in aspects of cultural misalignment.

Like the bee colony, any ecosystem is reliant on mutual respect, reciprocity and accountability. When this is off, it prompts systemic cul-de-sacs, where good intention is met with an impasse.

While I have no simple answers, I think nature can teach us a lot. It takes courage, openness and the capacity to consider the whole, rather than each part in isolation.

We are relational beings by nature and our connectivity with self and other is integral. And it starts by allowing honest conversations to name what is unspoken.

I'd love to hear your perspectives on this - I appreciate it's complex and emotive for those directly affected.

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I'm Nat, I'm a coach & consultant who is passionate about the intersection between leadership, culture & wellbeing.