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We work with people, not just performance.

Conventional wisdom leads organisations to set stretch targets and pressurise middle managers to achieve them. This doesn’t work very well. One reason is that everything we do has unintended consequences. For example, we digitise our operation to reduce its carbon footprint, and people may lose their jobs. Sustainability leadership is difficult because it brings us face-to-face with paradox.

To support the necessary transition, we use complexity-adapted tools in our consulting work. We are equally committed to honouring the humanity of the people we work with. To play their professional roles effectively, leaders keep sight of the personal dimension. If we don’t to that, at some point, it interferes.

What might ‘better’ look like for you or your team? If you can put that into words, we can help you move towards it. From online leadership support to nature-based coaching. From sustainability mentorship to powerful team processes that address the dynamics of transition.

Tell us what keeps you awake at night and let us think through the options together.

Simulate the System to Explore the Way Forward

“I found this systemic approach invaluable. Nicola supported me in my wish to hand over the organisation to new leadership with as little disruption as possible.”    Lisa Garson | Founder, Action Volunteers Africa

Have you ever used a coffee cup, a spoon and a saucer to explain something to a friend? You have simulated the system to make it simpler. We can use this approach to help individuals and teams understand the dynamics that prevent them from moving forward. It can also be used to test out options in a safe and controlled environment, before trying it in reality. Known as Organisational or Systemic Constellations, it is breakthrough method and highly valuable for organisations navigating sustainability transition. Here’s an overview of the process by John Whittington of Henley Business School.

Constellations draw on our innate ability to sense dynamics between things. They can be used to explore issues of leadership, strategy, structure and change, making tricky situations explicit and revealing options for moving forward. When working with organisational teams, we focus on roles and functions; when working with individuals, the session may include personal, family and ancestral relationships. Nicola uses them all the time in training and facilitation, but we can set up a specific constellation to address a particular problem or challenge. Find out more from Nicola.

Use Coaching to Reconnect with Nature

Sometimes the last thing we need is more information, tools or workshops.

We want something that reminds us why we do this work.

Nature-based coaching is not a luxury or a way to escape reality. It is a critical part of our practice.

Give us some notice and we will shift your coaching session into nature. With a little more time, we can design and facilitate a bespoke two-day session with your team in a deep nature setting.

We currently run nature-based coaching only within the Cape Peninsula (Cape Peninsula National Park and Silvermine Nature Reserve). We work with partners to facilitate deep wilderness or cultural immersions (five-days minimum) in other parts of Southern Africa.

Please contact Nicola.

Photo of Venus Pools, Cape Peninsula National Park, by Lisa Garson.

Transition is tough. Here’s help!

Chief Sustainability Officers are at risk of burnout. Take passionate people, intractable challenges and organisational inertia. Blend, and turn up the heat…

While burnout can be acute, it’s more commonly felt as a spiral into apathy and depression. Whatever organisation we work for, it can’t afford this and neither can we.

We are here to make the world a better place. Sometimes, that starts with taking ourselves as seriously as we take our work.

This kind of coaching integrates the professional journey with the journey within. It is not easy, but immensely rewarding. I’d recommend it to any practitioner who wants to stop drowning and start swimming. Sustainability Lead, Financial services sector

Before co-founding Incite with Jonathon, I (Nicola) took a five-year sabbatical to focus on the personal work needed to strengthen her sustainability practice. I underwent therapy and ended up training as a traditional healer in Botswana. It turned out to be the most important sustainability training I have ever done.

Email me at nicola@incite.co.za if your professional is becoming too personal. Let’s chat and explore options.

Anglo American, Distell, Freddy Hirsch, Hyprop, Pepkor, TFG and others
For organisations based, operating or interested in Africa
Get a Thinking Partner!

Your passion for sustainability is infectious. Having access to your knowledge and experience has boosted my own learning, and made crafting our roadmap much clearer. Yvette Steyn  | Growth & Innovation Lead, Distell Group

Leading a sustainability transition can be lonely. It is always tough. Imagine having someone with decades of experience to talk to every couple of weeks or a WhatsApp away? Thinking partnerships allow us to support your deep granular insight with our broad experience across many companies and sectors. We invariably use them to support Sustainability Integration processes. Incite thinking partners helped:

  • Distell use Shared Value to support a local brand
  • Hyprop REIT enhance ESG disclosure
  • Tiger Brands focus strategic investment for social impact
  • MMH integrate sustainability across all their business units.

Thinking Partnerships offer you the latest sustainability theory, methods and tools to support any aspect of integration. They are also highly flexible, affordable and the experience stays in the organisation. From one-off chat to year-long engagements, and anything in-between.

Contact Nicola for more info.