What is a regenerative organization?

If you read this blog on a regular basis, you know that VG Meats is deeply committed to regenerative agriculture. We’ve written about the subject a number of times over the past year (check out those posts here, here and here if you haven’t seen them yet) and are dedicated to making every single part of our business ethical, sustainable and beneficial to our community. This community includes our family, our customers and naturally, our amazing staff. Knowing this, we were very interested when the concept of a regenerative organization was presented to us some time ago - essentially, approaching human resources the way we approach farming and the land.

Today, we’d love to share some information about regenerative organizations and how this approach creates stronger, happier, more efficient and highly engaged teams.

Learning from nRhythm

Let’s start by introducing a leader in the field of regenerative organizations, nRhythm in Colorado. nRhythm’s regenerative framework takes a holistic, living systems-based approach to organizational design and management. Their mission is to shift perspectives and operations by actively developing and supporting an organizational design that intentionally enables team members as active decision-makers, co-creators and collaborators. Team members are empowered to speak up, participate in a company’s growth and evolution, and take a hands-on role that extends beyond that of a normal “staff” position. It’s about listening, learning and letting everyone on your team utilize their strengths. The result is stronger individuals, stronger teams and a more satisfied, engaged living system at work. Here’s a closer look at nRhythm’s comprehensive approach. It really is revolutionary, and can be applied to just about any industry.

This innovative, holistic framework was first used by the Savory Institute - another organization we’ve partnered with in recent years, where Cory VG recently earned accreditation as a Professional in Holistic Management. Regenerative organization strategies have been working well for our team, and we’d love to see them implemented on more Ontario farms and retail businesses.

Never stop improving

When you own a small business, you are choosing to dedicate yourself to continued learning and development. You need to be ready to listen to others, accept feedback, try new things and accept change as it’s needed. Business is collaboration, and collaboration works best when leaders embrace their team’s individual skills and interests. Embarking on this new regenerative organizational approach has enabled us to be more efficient and productive while helping our staff thrive. When you get to know your team’s individual strengths and put them in a position to succeed, everyone wins. It’s an exciting time for VG Meats, and we look forward to seeing where the next few years take us.