The annual acquaintance marathon is one of the highlights on our calendar. As a team, we head deep into the woods for two days, away from the daily hectic pace of consulting assignments. Between the trees and with our phones on airplane mode, we get the space to think about the broader aspects of our profession and the precious time to shape topics and ideas that have long been buzzing around in our heads. For our colleagues Ilay Beeldsnijder This was his first knowledge marathon, where he not only participated in various workshops but also developed his own ideas into an article. In this article, he gives you a glimpse into the knowledge kitchen and shares his experience.

As a brand new team member, I was asked, “Ilay, do you have a goal for the knowledge marathon yet?” To which I replied that I wanted to write something about intention versus impact. My theory was that the focus of the conversation in conflicts depends on the duration of the relationship. The longer the relationship continues, the more weight conversation partners place on the impact of an action. Conversely, the shorter the relationship, the more important the intention behind an action is.

For example, if a new colleague disadvantages you, they can say the first time that they did not intend to harm you. If it happens a second time, it is not enough to say that they did not mean it that way. If they want to improve the relationship with you, they will have to demonstrate this time that they truly understand the impact it had on you. For mediators, it can be a tool to determine where they should steer the conversation. The image at the top of this article could be an accompanying graph.

Although I wanted to finish my article, my colleagues' knowledge sessions were too informative and interesting to skip. Especially the sessions about Anchoring environmentally focused work The topics caught my attention. We spoke extensively about how to move from environmentally conscious individuals to environmentally conscious organizations, and thus how to prepare a company to seriously consider the interests of external stakeholders for major challenges, in its own interest.

During those sessions, I noticed that the issue of anchoring is also about intention versus impact. An organization can describe in its mission statement that it intends to work in an environmentally focused manner. However, as we all know, good intentions on paper are not enough. It's ultimately about the impact you make. And that's only felt when that intention is truly lived out in daily practice, in every conversation, and in every decision. If an organization expresses the intention to consider stakeholder interests but nothing comes of it in practice, the entire organization loses its credibility.

The article on intention versus impact is now available. However, how it came about and what it contains is very different from what I initially envisioned. Instead of just writing in silence, my colleagues (the environment) brought me to new insights. It taught me that the gap between intention and impact can also be viewed from another perspective, namely as the heart of many organizational issues. The solution? Bridging that gap through anchoring. Because only then will a noble intention be converted into actual, positive impact on society.

Consultant

Ilay Beeldsnijder