TENSEGRITY
Tensegrity is a well established principle in the fields of architecture and osteopathy. Tensegrity comes from the combination of the two words, tension and integrity, and describes a state of integrity under tension. The word Tensegrity was invented by an architectural engineer, R. Buckminster Fueller (1949).
The Tensegrity principle is the ability of any living structure to find, step by step, a steady state in managing the forces of tension and contraction it undergoes... The best example is our human bodies: we are well alive, our body is made for finding a steady state after undergoing tensions that life brings us. And, we experience tensions every day, every hour,... either physically (like a bad cold, a broken leg, a sore back, but also emotionally or mentally, as joy, happiness and ecstasy... all these "tensions" (positive or negative) have an impact on our balance in both human being and thus on our "performance" as a mom/father, husband/wife, collaborators, sportive,... Our challenge is to retrieve as quickly as possible this “equilibrium State” where we are in our full potential. (remember the last time that you the make an important presentation and you had the flu, or that you hardly slept...)
If we transpose this principle in business... One can easily imagine that an organisation, as a living structure, lives tensions (internal and external) in today's changing world... manages to find easily its "steady state" i.e. its performance, its full potential, "integrity" so that it undergoes continuous tension from its stakeholders... staff, suppliers, customers, shareholders, etc.
And this happens at all levels; your team or Department, it is the same thing. Your team can be completely efficient while it undergoes tension on the part of... his superiors of its members, other teams, but also the economic situation of objectives to be achieved...
Tensegrity allows a structure to free its full potential. Tensegrity applied to organisation can free its full potential while creating dynamic ties.
The Tensegrity principle inspires us a solution to work on in organisations, a living structure as it is a sum of human beings.
What have all living structure in common?
Tensegrity is then what differentiates a living structure from a “machine" … indeed everything which lives in our universe is governed by this universal principle; the universe with its force of attraction and the biosphere, nature and its ecosystem, our human body and even our cells. These living structures have in common that they are all powerful, resilient, and sustainable. Isn't it what we are looking for our business, for our departments, for our team, for us…
And if these structures are efficient in the long term it is because they all demonstrate flexibility, integrity, interconnectedness and transparency. They are FIIT:
CFR FIIT for a living structure and an organisation (powerpoint)
These are critical success factors for any living structures to be efficient and sustainable . As your business is a living structure, it must therefore be able of:
1 / Be flexible enough to adapt
2 / Anchoring strength in its integrity
3 / Capitalize on interconnections of its ecosystem
4 / Leveraging transparency to increase its effectiveness
It means:
It is around these 4 characteristics and this FIIT approach that we have developed our service offering.
Flexibility, integrity, interdependence and transparency are found in our approach and in our service offerings.
We support organisation/companies to anchor their strength in their integrity, redefining their “raison d ' être” and their values, who they are, in order to have a purpose for their ecosystem. So that the various components of this ecosystem (customers, suppliers, the environment,...) may be forces of proposals and innovation, develop solutions where each is winning body, i.e. where there is creating value for all (value to be defined by each - in nature, ecosystem tree serves food or shelter,...). furthermore, we assist companies in understanding the challenges of today in an alternative manner (flexibility)in order to identify sustainable opportunities.
The whole purpose of working with tensegrity is, therefore, to find the equilibrium between these stimulating and obstructive forces in order to create a whole that is stronger than the sum of the parts. And in which the whole enables each constituent part to develop its talent to the benefit of all.