How to Start Bringing the Benefits of Nature Connection into Your Organisation

“The more you spend time in nature, the more you can easily connect with the decisions you make day to day.”

Deanna Bratter, Director of Sustainable Development Danone North America

According to the World Economic Forum, changing the way we do business towards a more people and nature positive approach could deliver $10.1 trillion each year in business opportunities by 2030.

Yet there is a still a stereotype that exists in business where the thought of bringing nature into business is seen as tree-hugging and hippie — despite the strong evidence base that’s emerging on the benefits nature provides humanity.

Part of the challenge of working with nature is also a lack of understanding about how to successfully introduce nature into an organisation and work with it to enhance your performance. Many people assume that it is as simple as getting people outdoors. The reality is that it’s a lot more complex.

Understand the importance of nature connection

There is a difference between nature contact (which is spending time in nature) and nature connection. Nature contact is the precursor to nature connection, which is a subjective sense of feeling part of the natural world.

When we feel part of the natural world, the numerous health benefits associated with spending time in nature are enhanced. This is because we don’t just spend time in nature.

Research on the pathways to nature connection highlights a number of additional actions needed beyond just spending time in nature. We need to be aware of the beauty of nature and let it evoke emotions within us. Discovering the metaphors that nature offers us to create a deeper understanding of our life is also a part of nature connection.

Another part is that people want to start to take better care of nature. When we see ourselves as part of nature, we start to understand that what we do to nature, we do to ourselves.

Historically, the environmental aspects of nature connection have been emphasised to great detriment for the health and well-being benefits that nature connection provides for an organisation.

Harness the power of nature with plants, images and views

Starting to bring the benefits of nature connection into your organisation is as simple as considering the plants, images and views you have within the workplace. There is a wealth of research that highlights how this can reduce stress and improve productivity in the workplace.

In The Economics of Biophilia (our human need for nature), cost benefits analysis shows that a simple nature view from an office window can save organisations an average of $2990 per employee in lost productivity each year.

This is the first step in bringing nature connection into your organisation because it is simple, cost-effective and non-threatening. People start to get contact with nature in a way that allows them to appreciate its beauty, experience emotions and create meaning in their own time and way.

It’s even easier to help remote worker to set up their workspace in a way that promotes this. Placing your desk in front of a window ensures you have a constant view of nature.

As I write this, I can look out at the hills in front of me covered in snow. The brown of the bare branches stands out in contrast. The sky is such a soft pale blue that almost blends into the snow.

Inside, one of my entire walls is covered with a forest landscape. There are four plants behind me and six images of nature on the other walls. And there’s a brass container filled with magic pine cones that my niece gathered for me.

Small touches like this are often overlooked when people start to think about nature connection. However, they are essential when people do not have easy access to the natural world.

Take meetings and calls outside

While this is a great idea, there are a range of complexities associated with taking meetings and calls outside that require planning ahead.

In a recent conversation with executive coach and coaching supervisor Catherine Gorham, she highlighted that not everyone benefits from taking meetings, calls and even coaching sessions outside.

If an employee is feeling overwhelmed, it’s possible that spending time in nature could end up overwhelming them even more. There are also hidden power dynamics in relationships if you hold a meeting outside whereby you know the area and the other person doesn’t.

Additionally, for phone meetings you have to be sure that you can have phone reception for the entire call.

Catherine’s 3 C’s of partnering with nature can be applied to those who wish to take their meetings outside:

Contracting: Are all meeting attendees ok with the choice of location, want to take the meeting outside and are you prepared for any unexpected events (e.g. weather changes)?

Containing: How will you manage conversations on sensitive topics, the distance between meeting attendees and ensure the all meeting attendees are comfortable throughout the entire meeting?

Connecting: How can you and the other meeting attendees be aware of nature and bring it into the conversation as and when appropriate to help facilitate greater insight and creativity?

Start talking about your nature experiences with each other

In the moment during meetings, coaching sessions and even after a nature experience, something profound happens when people start to share it with other people. It’s something that is commented on regularly by all the people I work with.

Nature connection is a sensory experience. One of the key features of engaging with the world through our senses is that we tend to forget the moments after we experience them. We stop and stare at a beautiful sunset. Something happens and then the moment is passed and we forget about it.

When we talk about our nature experiences, we are helping ourselves to remember what we experienced through our senses. It reinforces the experience and makes it stronger. It also builds a link from the sensory experience of nature to the meaning we create from it.

We tell someone about the sunset and how beautiful it was. We talk about the awe we experienced and what we felt. We then create a meaning of what a sunset represents for us in that moment.

Then, we start to value it more. We recognise the health and wellbeing benefits of these nature experiences and want to have more of them.

Creating these types of organisations in a conversation can emerge naturally from changing the office environment and taking meetings/calls outside. People want to talk about nature. They light up when they do.

Conversations can also emerge consciously and deliberately through a member of the organisation sharing their nature connection and starting a conversation about it. Even if it’s a just conversation about the value nature can bring to your organisation.

Earthself helps leaders and organisations transform the way they work by leveraging stress to unleash creativity and get results.

Or if you’re a coach, find out more about Earthself’s partnership with Talik & Co for the CPD program: Coaching with Natural Systems: Evolve Your Practice.