Collaborating with Generation Y: Building 21st century organizational cultures

Globalisation and digitisation translate into new challenges for institutions in the 21st century: thriving in an increasingly complex world and keeping up with the pace of change, while being confronted with pressing environmental and sustainability issues.

At the same time a new generation of young people enters the job market and places new demands on employers. The generations Y and Z (today’s 16 to 32 year olds) values will represent 75% of the entire workforce by 2025. Their values and needs are different than those of older generations: flexible working conditions and purpose now rank higher than professional security and high salaries, and younger generations generally wish more participation, self-responsibility and cooperation in the workplace. This way of thinking and working culture usually don’t fit into existing management structures.

This questioning of the current leadership culture also bears a huge potential for institutions of all kinds to evolve and thrive while embracing today’s challenges, thus shaping a genuinely leadership culture. This requires new attitudes and skills, notably ability to unleash the potential of all, creating collaborative mindsets and innovating constantly.

As specialist in youth empowerment and changemaking, we have developed an innovative leadership and change-management programme called Leading with Impact (LWI) in collaboration with HEC Paris and Swisscom. It prepares leaders for the challenges of the 21st century and offers the tools, mindset and space for leaders and youth to co-experiment, co-reflect and co-create a human-centred leadership culture that fosters innovation, self-empowerment, collaboration and sustainability.

Does this speak to you? Come discover Leading with Impact and get a glimpse about the approach, methodology and mindset behind. We’ll be glad to have you on 2 November at the Impact Hub Zurich and on 9 November at the Impact Hub Geneva!

Register now on www.euforia.org/lwi-workshop and contact us at lwi@euforia.org for any questions. Limited seats available.

What wellbeing can learn from the tribe space…

On the very first "Share & Grow night" I brought in the topic of wellbeing as a collective focus for everybody who is engaged in euforia. "What makes me well?" is an important question to answer not just for the people working at euforia, but in particular for the volunteers who give their periodical full energy, heart and time into projects they really care about.

So how do we navigate in wellbeing? Where can we find methods that sustains the kind of wellbeing and that does not stay on the surface?

As i went through the Kaospilot training, part of the education was also go through a programme called the Council Guide Training. The Council Guide Training is a Native American teaching about tribal life tools, methods and protocols.

The training takes 3 years to conduct, and I learned a great deal about what makes the difference from learning things that stay on the surface to what it means (and takes) if we want to work with deeper and more profound layers of learning and wellbeing… Wellbeing in yourself, in your relations as well as in your community. I also learned that these ancient ways of understanding and being in the world holds pieces of wisdom that we can still greatly benefit from today.

So in the first "Share & Grow nigh" about wellbeing, this particular friday evening, I decided to bring in some of these tools, some of the atmosphere and some of the practises that I found valuable to share. I was curious about who was gonna show up, and how they would receive this slightly peculiar and strange approach.  

But when you work with euforians, you also know that you work with a bunch of openminded, openhearted and curious people, which makes it always a joy to bring in new things. Therefore the connection, the personal learning, the closeness and the density of care and trust just kept growing throughout the evening. It was in the end an evening where I learned as much as anyone else in the room.

I was blessed with having people around me open to learn and to explore what really matters to them. Each person learned something profound for him- and herself, and together we learned that one of the things what really matters in life, is for all of us to always and continuously refine that internal listening and interpretation system, that allows us to better understand the signals from our bodies, the impulses from our hearts, the energy of the spirit and the waves of our emotions. This is the way to make sense of our experiences, take authentic actions and respond truthfully to our surroundings.

The feeling from this evening and from this group has been preserved in me, and it still touches me to see that we human beings somehow belong to the circles, that we need a community to support and challenge us, and that we need go grow an ever deeper connection with ourselves if we want deep or powerful wellbeing to exist in our lives.

Our dear "booster" Sidsel organised the first "Share & Grow night" for our volunteers. The next one will probably take place in November 2016. We'll keep you informed!

Two euforians exploring new oceans

Next year, euforia will turn 10 years old. Can you believe it? Born in May 2007 and raised by a handful of co-founders, the organization has since then grown to 27 employees and over 300 volunteers on three continents.

Currently, euforia is in the middle of a transition phase towards a community driven organization based on holacratic principles. This means that we are moving away from the heroic leader paradigm and start giving more power and responsibility to the team.

Within this transition phase, two long-term euforians decided to change roles and hand over more responsibility to other euforia members. We are really happy that Chantal and Jerónimo are going to embark on new professional adventures, while still staying involved in the organization part time in the future to support our ongoing scaling.

Chief Inspiration Officer and euforian from the very first day, Jerónimo feels that euforia has turned into a stable, healthy organization with no need for charismatic leadership. In a careful selection process, he has helped to build a strong team over the past years and at the same time started focusing on new personal goals. Now he believes the time is ripe to leave operations and take on an advisory role in which he will continue to support euforia’s growth. At the same time, freeing up the majority of his time will give him space for new projects further developing his vision on moving business towards sustainability, bringing more wellbeing to the social change sector and co-creating a global movement of neotribes – with euforia as a living example.

Also, our Chief Euphoric Officer Chantal is reducing her workload and leaving to new oceans. After building up euforia’s corporate circle over the past years, she feels it’s time to hand over part of her responsibilities and make space for new learning. Chantal is going to shake up the finance world, joining the innovation lab team at Raiffeisen in the role of a New Business Innovator – rocking now from the inside, still with the same mission of creating real change. At the same time she will stay on the team as a coach.

We want to thank those two beautiful people for their euphoria, passion, love, craziness and rock’n’roll. We are very happy to still have you on board of this crazy ship as coaches and benefit from your expertise and experience.

Leading with Imp!act Teaserevent

Die steigende Komplexität, Unsicherheit, Ambiguität und Konkurrenz einer sich immer schneller entwickelnden Welt, die generation-übergreifenden Konflikte und die zunehmende Bedeutung der Nachhaltigkeit und Innovation verlangt von Führungskräften und Unternehmen ein tiefgreifendes Umdenken.

Leading with Imp!act ist ein Leadership und Change Management Programm, das jungen Menschen und erfahrenen Führungskräften die Werkzeuge, das Mindset und den Raum für Austausch und Erfahrungen bietet, um gute Vorsätze in echtes Engagement zu verwandeln. Wir kreieren ein innovatives, hierarchiefreies, kreativ-verrücktes Umfeld, in dem erfahrene Manager gemeinsam mit jungen Menschen ihre eigene Führungskultur hinterfragen, um die Generation Y als Kunden, aber auch als zukünftige Mitarbeiter besser zu verstehen, und ein innovationsförderndes Arbeitsumfeld mit zu gestalten.

Anders als bei traditionellen Weiterbildungen steht nicht Theorie, sondern erfahrungsbasiertes Lernen im Mittelpunkt. Im hierarchie-freien Austausch mit engagierten jungen Menschen lernen Teilnehmende, eine menschenzentrierte Führungskultur zu schaffen, die Innovation, Selbstbefähigung und Nachhaltigkeit fördert und so ihr Unternehmen langfristig zu einem attraktiveren Arbeitsplatz macht.

Interessiert? Erleben Sie in unserem Leading with Imp!act Teaser eine Mini-Version des Programms, um unsere Ansätze, Methodik und Euphorie kennenzulernen:

Mittwoch, 13. Juli 2016, von 17:00 bis 20:00
Stadthausquai 15, 8001 Zürich

Anmeldung und weitere Informationen bei Valerian Stalder: 077 432 14 88, valerian@euforia.ch

Welcome to the new EUFORIA BOOSTERS!

The euforia family has grown! Nine “euforia boosters” officially joined the many motivated and inspiring euforia volunteers, interns, trainees and staff in this movement of change makers!

The boosters are part of the newly created Impact Career Academy (ICA). Working in small teams and equipped with new ideas and great amounts of enthusiasm they will tackle different projects in various areas of euforia. This new type of co-creation between boosters, staff, and volunteers will hopefully become a structure of working together that spreads to other businesses and workplaces!

Have a look at the profiles below to get to know the new euforia boosters and to see which part of euforia they will be boosting!

The EvalNinajas — Luís and Nicoletta
The EvalNinjas will unleash the potential of evaluation to constantly improve euforia and all its programs.  Luís and Nicoletta live by their motto “Making evaluation sexy” ;)

Luís became a booster at euforia because he has just too much energy and happiness that needs to be shared with the rest of the world. He gets his own energy from human kindness and nature and if he were a natural energy booster himself he would be singing all day long. Originally fromPortugal, now living in beautiful Annecy, France, he brings Yoda´s patience to the EvalNinjas.

Nicoletta brings joy to the EvalNinja team!  If she was a natural energy booster, she would dance till the sun comes up. Nicoletta gets her own energy from remembering people´s happy faces. She joined the booster team with the goal to use her professional skills to improve the beautiful community of euforia.

The (r)Evolutionizers — Natalia, Elodie, Sidsel, Philippa
The (r)Evolutionizers will focus on the eTP structure and – as their name suggests – seek to (r)Evolutionize the eTP to make it more holistic and inclusive. All under the motto “Share & Grow”, be prepared for some big changes and new opportunities to get involved with euforia!

Natalia delights the people around her with a good dose of playfulness and a topping of gratefulness. Born and raised in Mexico until the age of 8, she now lives in Geneva and feels like a world citizen. As a booster she wants to disseminate the euforic culture of co-creation, support and trust and contribute to a more humane society of interrelation and interconnection with an environment that is solution oriented. As a natural energy booster she would be a joy dance and she gets her energy from deep connections with euphoric people or being upside down at Acroyoga.

Elodie loves to sing and – very fittingly – would be bird´s song if she was a natural booster. She hails from France where she still lives and just learned that she is puckish (yeah, you probably have to google that). She joined the boosters because euforia makes her happy and what better way to make other people as happy as she is?!

Sidsel is from Denmark but resides in Switzerland now. She came to join the boosters through a synergy meeting. Her “secret ingredient” is the law of attraction – so watch out! If she was a natural energy boosters she would be a meditation session; she gets her own energy from a variety of things including people, singing, running, being, playing, reading, writing, laughing, and living.

Philippa joined the boosters because euforia is just her perfect cup of tea – the moment she first read about it, she decided that she would work for euforia eventually. Being skinny dipping as a natural energy boosters, she brings bubbliness and zest for action to the (r)Evolutionizers. Creating pretty things gives new energy for new ideas and actions. She is from Germany and will move to the southern part of Germany soon.

The Waitresses — Fränzi and Marietta
The Waitresses will support euforia with its facilitation and businesses services and their ultimate goal is to deliver the best custom-made euforia menu.

Fränzi brings acuity and lenience to the waitresses. Euforia boosts her own life so the next step was to become a euforia booster herself. She grew up in Obfelden, studied in Zurich, is now based in Fribourg but works in Bern. Brunch with friends, sport (yoga and crossfit) and lots of sleep energize her, while she would be a ginger-banana smoothie with cinnamon topping if she was a natural energy booster.

Marietta´s “secret ingredient” is her mint-mango ability to see the good (or potential for good) in everyone. She gets her own energy from watching life and reading/writing in a small cafe, singing with others and feeling beautiful harmonies, and nature. If she was a natural energy booster she would be the feeling of cold water on your face in the morning. Originally from Hamburg but having lived – and maybe returning soon – in Geneva, she joined the boosters because co-creating a world based on abundance, true being, and connections makes her so very euphoric!

Sales & Partnerships — Bibiana
The Sales & Partnership booster will focus on euforia´s business services. The goal is to enhance euforia’s corporate expertise and know-how by enlarging its activites all across Switzerland as well as to establish fruitful and meaningful collaborations, especially in the French speaking region.

Bibiana would be a fresh green juice with an overdose of ginger if she was a natural energy booster. She gets energized through dancing, singing, hiking, morning mediation and yoga. Being part of euforia has already transformed her life in many ways. By joining the booster team she can use her skillset to spread the euforia virus even further, helping the organization grow and scale up sustainably. She was born and raised in Columbia but now lives in Lausanne. She smiles to the world and seeks to be grateful no matter what and to embrace compassion and kindness.

Crazy Lions in les Marécottes — euforia´s first Wellbeing Retreat

Take a deep breath in. As you breathe out, cross your eyes, stick out your tongue as far as possible, leap forward and roar like a lion. Repeat a few times. Notice how a strong and fierce energy fills the room. Also notice the laughter of all the people around you.

The “Crazy Lion” is just one exercise we used during the wellbeing retreat to explore the fierceness and fears within us as individuals and within our group of euforians.

The 3-day wellbeing retreat in the mountains around les Marécottes is one of the ways in which euforia is pushing forward on its quest to make wellbeing an integral part of the organization. What do I need as an individual for my personal wellbeing? How can euforia support the wellbeing of its staff and volunteers?

We explored these and many other related questions by looking at and experiencing different understandings, dimensions, and strategies of wellbeing. While Jerónimo and Michelle had put together a general structure of the retreat, we decided together as a group how to fill the days with discussions, exercises and practices related to wellbeing that were most intriguing to us.

In different workshops we discussed and provided insights to each other about priority setting, energy management, the concept of neotribes, and feminine leadership. Through various mindfulness exercises we focused on the relationship between us and nature and our surroundings in general. Yoga and meditation were offered every day to explore our relationship with our bodies.

Hotel Balance was the perfect setting for all these activities and the beautiful mountains and nearby hiking trails were an open invitation for us to (re-) connect with nature. All meals were vegetarian (with vegan options) and so smashingly delicious that all 17 of us flooded the kitchen on the last day of the retreat to personally thank the cook.

We left the wellbeing retreat with our heads buzzing with ideas and intentions to integrate simple wellbeing measures into our everyday life – at home and at work. As a very first step to spread our insights of the weekend among the euforia community, we are currently putting together a “recipe book” full of “wellbeing hacks” that we collected during the retreat.

However, the greatest lesson of our days together was that finding your personal wellbeing mix is most fun when you do it together and share your wellbeing journey with a friend. Venture out and find a wellbeing buddy or group of friends with whom you want to figure this out together! Enjoy nature together, share with them your meditation or yoga experiences, share with each other what you are grateful for, practice mindfulness together, and - most importantly - be crazy lions together!

The Volunteers circle is born

For quite some time euforia had been thinking at how to include our volunteers more substantially when it comes to taking strategic decisions and paving the way for the future of euforia. After some brainstorming during a meeting of our most experienced volunteers (aka the level 3 eTPers),, the volunteer circle idea was born and a call was sent across the euforia community in Switzerland and abroad. We wanted to find volunteers that were ready to commit to turning this crazy idea into reality. And here they are: Gordon Keay, Manon Pétermann, Nicole Recklies and Osi König are our current members of the very first volunteers circle.

In line with euforia’s tradition, during our first meetings we brainstormed about what we love about volunteering at euforia and what we could change to make our volunteering even better, and we set our priorities and objectives accordingly. Here’s a short briefing. In the coming months, the volunteers circle will focus on 3 main areas: community building, coordination between euforia volunteers and staff and among volunteers, and euforia 3.0.

As euforia is growing, we feel it’s crucial that we focus on our community, so as to make sure that euforic people are connected and our sense of belonging around the euforia vision and values is enhanced. The first concrete step we are taking when it comes to community building is reinforcing connections between euforia volunteers at city and regional level through prototyping local chapters. Local chapters are quite common across volunteering organisations, but of course we’re thinking this the euforia way. Expect more info on this soon.

Our rapid expansion across Switzerland and abroad also means our coordination will be key to make the most of the growth process we are going through. That’s why we set improving coordination among euforic people in all capacities as one of our priorities. We’ll look into ways of improving our knowledge management and we’ll find the best possible way to join efforts when it comes to fundraising.

Finally, we love to think of euforia as volunteer-driven, that’s why through euforia 3.0 we are imagining ways of empowering our volunteers to decide what they want euforia to be like in the future. We are going as visionary as we can and it’s very likely that we’ll soon seek out for crazy ideas. Stay tuned.

If you would like to contribute to the volunteers circle or simply know more about this, please just get in touch with Manon, Gordon, Nicole or Osi. Or email me at massimiliano@euforia.ch.

euforia / HERJI

Check out HERE our first collaboration with a promising young illustrator: Robin a.k.a. HERJI (participant at imp!act 2014).

Be inspired and share this beautiful illustration series!