Values and Guiding Principles
Our business is built upon values and guiding principles contained in the Ensemble Charter.
The core values which inform our behaviours are:
Trust
Honouring one’s word or promises; demonstrating integrity and positive intent in one’s actions and interactions; taking on responsibilities for which one is competent in order to deliver results that create value. Being accountable for the achievement of outcomes; accepting consequences for failure to achieve outcomes; operating according to the laws of the land where Ensemble works.
Respect
Being punctual; considering the effects of one’s actions on other people, on the organisation’s financial position and on the environment; acknowledging that each person’s perspective and experience is 100% valid to him/her; providing all necessary information to all core members to allow as full an understanding of Ensemble issues as possible; allowing each person to voice his or her opinion without interruption.
Goodwill
Assuming that the actions of others are motivated by honesty and integrity and that they are attempting their work to the best of their knowledge and capability.
Responsibility
Fulfilling that which one has promised.
Unity
Different people undertaking different but concerted actions towards a shared goal. The desired outcome of decision-making is agreement (a unified decision), rather than identification of a wrong or right answer (which establishes polarity between members).
The guiding principles that illuminate our thinking are contained in the ideas of:
Communicative connectedness
Clearly identified pathways and formats of formal communication, complemented by open networks of informal communication between all parties.
Systems thinking
Systemic approaches to sense-making and decision-making, with systematic approaches to action-taking, delegation of responsibility and accountability.
Fractality
Appreciation of simultaneous self-similarity at different scales of focus; in this case, the fractal is a ‘human entity in its environment’, where that ‘human entity’ is the individual, one’s family, one’s community, Ensemble, other organisations, etc. The environment includes but is not limited to our shared physical actuality where we effect our actions.
The generative nature of language
Understanding the generative nature of language and its power to create new worlds.
The genius of 'and' rather than the tyranny of 'or'
Always seeking the genius of ‘and’ rather than the tyranny of ‘or’.
We value democracy, community and connection. We look to the words of Walt Whitman for inspiration:
" We have frequently printed the word Democracy. Yet I cannot too often repeat that it is a word the real gist of which still sleeps, quite unawaken'd...It is a great word, whose history, I suppose remains unwritten, because that history has yet to be enacted. It is, in some sort, younger brother of another great and often-used word, Nature, whose history also wait unwritten"
Walt Whitman
Vision
Our vision is to create workplaces fit for human beings.
Such workplaces nurture and cultivate environments fit for being a whole human at work, fully actualised, in right relationship with others, creating value.
The industrial age has created organisations that have dehumanised work and stripped it of its dignity. Our highest aspiration is to catalyse the transition from industrial age leadership and management practices to ones where the individual is recognised for their unique contribution to the whole.
Mission
Our purpose is to lead for all this good earth the creation and growth of self-sustaining environmental, social and economic eco-systems.
The profound calling of our organisation, indeed of our time, is to facilitate the creation of an enduring and reparative bond with earth. Nature is the place where we are authentically reconciled across the chasm of our world views and experience. We are all indigenous peoples of this planet. As citizens of this good earth we must fully engage our heads, hearts and hands to this healing. The industrial age's legacy of destruction begs our full attention to answering the powerful question about what we want our future to be.
How do we find the means and will to co-create a new socially, environmentally and economically sustainable Earth for all of us who have nowehere else to go?
Our mission is a noble, challenging and exciting one. We believe it is a genuine response to the greatest need of our time.
Call us on +61 2 9387 3955 to find our more.
