What happens when business leaders expand their skills in service to thriving that is greater than just the success of one organization? The Integral Community hopes and dreams that leaders will transfer their leadership skills into their organization and impact the success of their employees. In turn the improvement of leadership skills throughout the organization should impact how business departments operate successfully. In turn, both internal and external stakeholders enjoy the benefits of greater effectiveness, more efficiency and authentic caring. And when they work together within a sector and even across sectors, everyone in the city can be set on a road to success and thriving. This grows opportunity in a virtuous circle.

Business Voice Catalyses 4 Voices of Durant

Business Voice Catalyses 4 Voices of Durant

The five segments of the stakeholder model

[employees, customers, partners, communities and stakeholders] are interdependent and equally influential over one another, and as such shape the business ideals of our organization. (Quotation from First United Bank website.)

This is what happens when leaders, organization and employees notice that their city needs to join hands to improve the wellbeing of the whole system using a multi-stakeholder approach they have learned builds success in their organizations have implemented. In Durant Oklahoma, it turns out that two business leaders set out to find a way to apply the integral principles of leadership and organization development to other stakeholders in the city. Greg Massey of First United Bank and Gary Baton of the Choctaw Nation, working together. inquired how could they  make a difference that will make a difference at the scale of the city of Durant?

Following a suggestion from their organizational development consultant and coach, (Stagen) they invited in Integral City Meshworks for a discovery tour of the city. The 2-day tour brought together the 4 Voices of the city (1) into several dialogues that inquired:

  • What works well around here?
  • What is not working so well around here?
  • What do we envision for the future of our city?

By the end of the tour the business leaders had demonstrated that bringing together the 4 Voices of the city coalesces authority, power and influence in service to a cause greater than any one of them could accomplish alone – namely the wellbeing of the whole city. Greg and Gary, as conscious business leaders have started to pay forward the core lessons of their own leadership and organization development, acting as catalysts for collaboration across the sectors, voices and values of the city. Now they are broadening the involvement of other businesses and organizations in the city in order to prepare for a visioning process that will embrace all 4 Voices of Durant.

This is a powerful role for the Voice of Business to initiate and support in any city – aligning the whole city system to co-develop a strategy for future development that involves all 4 Voices in the city.

Endnote:

(1)     4 Voices of the City: Citizens, Civil Society, Civic Managers, Business