Active Conscious Leading Beyond talking to action: Facilitating Renewal and Transformation in Organisations

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“In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now.” — Wangari Maathai, Nobel Lecture, 2004

 Why Do We Struggle to Move from Talking to Action?

Why do so many organisations and teams struggle to move from talking about change to actually transforming and being the change, doing the change?

Usually, after a workshop—sometimes called a talkshop—staff may leave excited and inspired, or confused and disillusioned or a bit of both. It often depends on how the space was held:

  • Were all voices heard, or did some dominate?

  • Was there freedom and creativity, or a rigid agenda with hoops to jump through?

  • Was there hot conflict out in the open, or cold conflict simmering beneath the surface?

  • Did people feel safe enough to be honest and open?

  • Was the timing aligned with the organisation’s life cycle and context?

Once the dust settles and the workshop fire fizzles and cools, everyone returns to work as usual. Later, a funder may ask for a report. Someone might refer to the workshop as a memory in an anecdotal way. Another might angrily declare: “You see once again, nothing changed after that workshop!”

This is the deeper work of transformation.

It asks us to reflect, learn, and do differently. To change how we do things and how we are with each other. To shift our approach, our strategy, our way of leading and serving. It’s the harder, tougher work—requiring constant reflection, learning, and course correction. It requires ongoing rounds of engaging and talking sometimes structured and intentional (like action learning loops) or at times informal while people are working together, it can be the simple act of reflecting at the end of a work project or meeting and saying - How did we do? Did we have good engagement - everyone's voice heard or did some voices drown out others and the digging deeper - why did this happen - what can we do differently. Action Learning Reflection questions are useful here. 

It means giving and receiving honest feedback. Changing how we lead. Reconfiguring how we work. It’s ongoing shapeshifting work—and it never ends. One cycle closes, and another begins. Just like life in nature: beginnings, growth, endings, and renewal.

 It means connecting all parts of the organisational system - cross learning and cross pollination so that we get to engage with others in the system. It requires good learning and development processes that is ongoing and connected to the work. Leadership needs to be learning too and improving and asking for feedback on how they are doing. 

It’s in this transformative space—where personal wisdom, insight, and will meet collective intelligence and collaborative intention—that real change becomes possible. Leadership plays a critical role here: nurturing coherence, unlocking energy, and igniting new ways of being and doing.

Facilitation is critical - build and grow good facilitation skills in your organisation. If outside external facilitation is required invest in it but do not become dependent on it and make sure it builds your capacity. 

As an Organisational Development Practitioner, DEI Specialist, and Leadership & Team Development Coach, this is why I do what I do. And how I walk alongside clients.

The Call of Our Time

We are living in a time that demands deeper, more courageous engagement—personally and organisationally. It asks leaders, facilitators, and changemakers to move beyond talk and into meaningful action.

One of the biggest challenges organisations face is being stuck in outdated ways of leading and relating that no longer serve their purpose. What’s needed is a reconnection to values, relevance, and organisational integrity, and transformed practices and processes that speak to our values and purpose. Walking the talk is not easy and requires the willingness to remain open to learning and open to changing and adapting always being flexible. We should expect failure and mistakes - it is part of being human, we should expect successes because being human also means we are always growing and striving. 

The Inner and Outer Work

Transformation begins with the inner more personal work—showing up authentically, harnessing your gifts, and aligning with your values. It’s followed by the inner organisational work— connecting to purpose (understanding we have a unique offering that needs to meet what needs to be done in the world) often requiring a renewal of purpose, and then the outer work of responding to changing contexts and environments that are volatile - organisations in acting with integrity have to strive towards ensuring the organisational practices and processes are aligned with its purpose in meeting the contextual realities and needs. It does not mean being all things to all people but honing in on what is its particular offering with the resources it has and making best use of its current capacities. 

We start from where you are. Together, we take the next steps—making the road as we walk it - it is incremental work, often uneven but one thing you should commit to is to keep the momentum going and ensure it is ongoing.

You decide how much you can invest and for how long you need accompaniment. I’ll advise on what may work for your team and organisation (based on my past experience in this work). We work collaboratively, building your capacity so that when I exit, you can continue the work with confidence.

Below are some learnings from my practice of what works well and what many clients I have worked with have valued. It is a reflection and at the same time a taste of what you can expect. 

The Secret Ingredient - Learning : Intentional Learning Spaces and Room for fun and creativity as well as informal learning through socialising and play

The key lies in intentional, structured spaces for reflection and learning. These allow us to:

  • Notice what’s working and what’s not

  • Get to know each other better and build relationships 

  • Unlock creative thinking (out of the box thinking)

  • Allow all voices to find expression and unlocked potential to emerge

  • Name the areas that need change

  • Equip ourselves to move forward differently

Good methods and approaches

  • Equality and Expression: Hearing all voices equally

  • Inclusive tools: Courageous conversations, active listening, and feedback

  • Creative engagement: Storytelling, artistic methods, and imaginative practices

  • Systems thinking: Understanding complexity in transformation

  • Equity & identity: Deepening understanding of diversity, intersectionality, and power

  • Critical reflection: Exploring behaviours, biases, and blind spots

  • Humanising connection: Moving beyond fixed perceptions toward layered, nuanced understanding. Always trying to connect in ways that bring us closer to a more humane way of being - warmth being critical - when we laugh and cry together, when we see beyond the outer cover into the depths of who we really are our masks can fall and we meet each other in more real authentic ways. Story telling and sharing experiences is one of the most enduring ways this can happen naturally. When we encourage deep listening and create space to be with another person giving them our fullest attention we start to see their humanity. When we are having fun doing something creative like dancing, or playing with paint or clay, when we are in nature just being or walking and seeing each other in different environments - these are the moments that open space for something different to emerge. 

  • Tailored design: Approaches that honour your unique context, culture, and needs - this is done collaboratively to ensure the wisdom of the organisational system meets the consultant experience and offering. 

This Is Not One-Size-Fits-All

Each process should be thoughtfully designed to meet your organisation’s specific realities—whether you’re:

  • Navigating leadership transitions

  • Facing conflict and dissent

  • Stuck in a system that no longer inspires or meets the need of those you serve

  • Deepening commitments to equity and inclusion

  • Building strategic clarity

  • Creating spaces for conscious learning and renewal

The process will honour lived experience and collective wisdom. We encourage vulnerability, curiosity, and shared meaning-making. We reflect, learn, and offer feedback that helps us grow—together. We work with structure and emergence. We allow for emergence so that we also expect unintended outcomes and we create conditions for emergence because often it is in the unplanned for surprising open spaces that the new can push through in all its beauty. 

Maybe in these spaces we will begin to build a more respectful, embracing and united world where we really can accept each other and stop all discrimination and hatred that has divided us and caused conflict and wars. My wish is that if we can get this right in the environments and spaces where we have influence and control it can ripple out into the world and effect the rest of society and hopefully those in positions of power to change the way the world operates. We can bring the transformation we desire by starting with ourselves, our families, our organisations, communities and let it create the waves of change to flow to the rest of society. However if we do not do the deeper work of transformation in our most immediate spaces how can we hope to change the world.  

Are you ready to move beyond talk and into active conscious leading and learning? Let’s begin. Reach out for a conversation to explore what can be possible. DM for a time and date. desireepaulsen@gmail.com  

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