By Rowan Putman
The power of dispersion: how diversity strengthens us
A deeply held personal conviction, and now an undeniable reality is that an organisation that serves all parts of the world should be made up of people that come from all parts of the world. Logic and ethics haven’t necessarily been enough to advocate for the tangible benefits a local perspective can bring, particularly for international organisations, such as E Co. that are designing tailor-made solutions to local challenges.
That is why we look beyond the ethical imperative of fair representation, and make cultivating a diverse workforce a necessity. In our interconnected, competitive global economy, diversity is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’ but a ‘must-have’. Organisations that fail to embrace this, risk being left behind, unable to flex and adapt to diverse and changing markets or attract the right people. When colleagues from different backgrounds and within different contexts learn from one another, it fosters an unparalleled exchange of knowledge, enhancing cultural intelligence and mitigating risks. An understanding and appreciation of our differences fuels innovation, leading to richer problem-solving and more creative solutions. So we move beyond a headquarters-centric model to genuinely thinking and acting globally, leveraging the full benefits of human and lived experience towards impact.
We have learned that true power lies in incorporating individual perspectives with real insight into their local contexts. These unique experiences and viewpoints, allow us to genuinely understand cultural nuances and behaviours, local practices and norms, unwritten rules and complex regulatory landscapes that outsiders often miss. This other level of understanding, often overlooked in project design and delivery is the key ingredient to what makes a solution workable in that context.
While a diverse and remote workforce brings clear commercial advantages, it also plays an important role in helping individuals manage their personal and professional lives more effectively. This model offers unparalleled flexibility, enabling colleagues to seamlessly integrate work with personal commitments. It provides the autonomy to structure one’s day around family needs, doctors appointments, or simply working when most productive, rather than adhering to rigid office hours. This flexibility often translates into increased well-being, reduced commute stress, and a greater sense of control over one’s life.
Why gather?
However, whilst such an approach is proven to offer a positive evolution to work-life, ensuring strong connections between international team members becomes a priority. It’s a priority we view as an exciting opportunity to innovate how we collaborate and support one another. So, fostering this environment of flexibility requires us to ensure that connection, and the wellbeing benefits it brings, are maintained.
As a result, we are careful to schedule opportunities for connection into our worklife – 5 minutes here, 15 minutes there; every moment counts. It brings humanity to what we do. In addition to this, in 2022, as the Covid-19 pandemic eased, and two years of fully remote working was completed, it was decided that a themed company retreat would be a rich and connective opportunity to reconvene. During this time, we reflected on what it meant to be a team, discussed company priorities, and took time to reflect on the importance of in-person connection. Four years later, and now, my third retreat at E Co., we’ve taken this concept further. The retreat is an exceptional opportunity to advance relations and team dynamics, unite around a common purpose and ambition, and catalyse initiatives to take our organisation to the next level- this year around the theme of “Achieving new heights together”.
This year, we went to a wonderfully tranquil hotel called the Maglian, in Divčibare, Serbia. It’s located in the mountains, surrounded by nature, beautiful forests, and, what become, ski slopes in the winter. The location was the perfect place to get back to what is important for us; as individuals, as teams and as a company.
Building the experience: How our retreats come to life
At E Co. we work together towards our vision for a world sustainably transformed. Six core values – driven, delivering excellence, impactful, empathy, diverse, and connected – form the basis upon which our whole culture is built. As leaders, they guide our approach to doing business. As employees they dictate how we interact with one another, our partners, experts and of course our clients.
When it comes to designing our retreat, these values are paramount. We firmly believe that the needs and the concerns of every individual attending is as important as those of the company and teams within the business. No one’s view in the organisation is any less valuable than any other in our shared success.
This ethos guides our approach: we consult. Each perspective brings with it unique insights which can be invaluable in the success of the organisation. What is working? What is not? How are our strategies and company initiatives landing? Where as a leadership team could we do better? Are key messages truly resonating with the team? By embedding this consultation process, we ensure that our company retreats are not just management-driven events, but truly reflective spaces where every voice contributes to our collective growth and future direction.
This year team connection was important, including time just to talk and be. There was also a need for in-person time for the team to also have authentic conversations with company leadership, in a non-pressured environment. Many also expressed a desire to have opportunities to work closely and in-person with immediate teams.
For me, the evolving landscape was something we needed to reflect on. The sustainable development market is undeniably changing, and these geopolitical shifts present profound challenges we simply can’t ignore. We’ve watched, with genuine concern, as decisions significantly altered the flow of traditional development assistance. The US administration’s termination of USAID as an organisation, but also as a funding source sent shockwaves, withdrawing crucial support from those on the frontlines, experiencing and fighting poverty, injustice, and climate change around the world. This concern is amplified by a broader trend: Western nations increasingly re-prioritising aid spending towards defence and domestic concerns. While national security is vital, this reallocation often comes at the direct expense of long-term development initiatives – the very programmes forming the bedrock of climate resilience, public health, and economic empowerment in vulnerable communities. The painful irony isn’t lost on us: as global needs escalate, the resources to address them are shrinking.
While we have been, as yet, fortunate not to have been severely impacted thus far, as some of our industry peers have been, this landscape is dynamic, and we must be ready to respond flexibly and adaptably. Our retreat offers a critical opportunity to confront these realities head-on. It’s a chance to reflect on what this means for us, how we can continue to secure opportunities, demonstrate even greater value-for-money, and innovate our approaches to continue our vital work. This evolving environment is a central theme for how we’ll sharpen our focus, strengthen our resilience, and ensure our unwavering commitment to a sustainably transformed world remains firmly on course.
As we grow as an organisation, we are transitioning from a start-up type structure to one that will reinforce our ability to respond to client needs in an agile way, whilst maintaining our flexibility and adaptability to respond to wider market conditions. Equally, when growing, it is essential that we bring new additions to the team up to speed quickly with what we do and how, so that their impact may be felt as soon as possible and the disruptions overall are minimal. We are continuing to build up our knowledge and skills across the team to deliver consistently to the degree of quality for which we are known – a critical aspect when building out the organisation as we are. As we expand, our values are critical to us maintaining the type of organisation we want to be and level of service we want to offer. The retreat was an opportunity to present what the future structure will look like in response to market dynamics, growing needs and to set out the path we are taking to get there, whilst also responding to questions over what it means for individuals and teams in practical terms.
Taking all these things into consideration, I worked through a design with the lovely Mischief Makers represented by two fantastic facilitators – Charlie and Niels. We worked with Charlie for the first time last year and the team really supported me in bringing the content to life. The challenge for them was to take my 2 ½ day agenda and bring the energy and fun, so that the team feels inspired and energised, ready to take on whatever is thrown at them as a solid, productive team. Once again, they brought that in bucket-loads!
The design of the retreat focused on really taking our wonderful organisation to the next level in its history. Inspired by nature and our surroundings, as well as our core brand, we focused the days around three aspects – “Laying the roots”, “Branching out” and “In bloom”. These themes allowed us to explore our individual strengths, understand our roles and responsibilities, think about what we bring and what we need from others above and below us to be effective, and discuss what it means to “step-up” and “manage-up” as we maintain as flat a hierarchy as possible. The discussions also allowed us to work with our teams.
Moving forward together
The retreat was also an opportunity to communicate, in person, the new organisation structure and the transition towards it. There were lots of questions and the team seemed generally engaged and enthusiastic and willing to give it a go. Many were even buoyed by the prospect of what it could bring – greater opportunity for professional growth and development, mastery of their work and the opportunity to be empowered in areas of interest, as well as gaining greater autonomy and ownership over their work. Some will need more time to digest the news and to process what it means for them.
Change invariably brings the unknown, and in a remote-first world, our in-person retreats become invaluable vehicles. They offer a unique space for our hybrid team to truly engage, to question and challenge, and to work through scenarios with a level of support that’s simply harder to achieve behind a screen. It was particularly refreshing to see our growing team gel, supporting and engaging with one another – an opportunity which inevitably fosters greater trust, especially as we work in such deeply intertwined roles. Last year’s theme, ‘growth mindset’, perfectly primed us to navigate ongoing company restructure and expansion. This year’s retreat was a natural, complementary evolution, consolidating our individual places within our growing organisation.
I genuinely love this team, and change, as we all know, is rarely easy. That’s why I so deeply appreciate everyone’s openness and willingness to consider possibilities, to grow and evolve with whatever comes our way. Some of us naturally take longer to adjust, and that’s entirely fine. We pride ourselves on being unique individuals, on our ability to see things from another’s perspective, and on working together to support one another through every transition. We recognise that developing a growth mindset takes time, but with patience, active listening, and clear, open, and honest two-way communication, I truly believe we can achieve anything, together.
We spent several days working together, playing together, laughing together and bridging the divide that only distance brings. We are closer than ever (possibly closer than a team that sees one another everyday) because when we’re together, whether on the retreat, or travelling for assignments, it matters, we matter.
