Our Story
In 2019 in response to the increasing complexity of the world, a group of conscious and committed citizens came together to explore what could be possible in the creation of a school for change makers.
We were eager to find ways of thinking, doing and being which would present an alternative way and a counter-influence to the destabilising and often destructive forces that were making themselves felt in so many forms across society and the planet.
During the two years that followed, we began a series of co-learning and prototyping sessions both in an online and in-person format; this helped us to better understand the needs and motivations of our coexplorers.
We experimented with tools and practices that embedded a deep listening quality and the ability to hold multiple perspectives in a time of growing complexity.
Questa Collaborative was born out of this journey and we found ourselves hosting a range of holistic learning and development experiences that fostered more meaningful relationships.
The intention for these learning experiences was to form a foundation from which collaborative action can be cultivated for projects that will transition humanity towards a more generative future.
Meet the team
Our Why
We imagine a world where people flourish and the planet thrives.
We nurture the interdependent relationships that sustain all life, in society and in nature.
We seek to contribute to the positive change we want to see in the world.What We Do
We design and deliver transformative learning experiences that enrich thinking, enable meaningful relationships and create positive outcomes.
We create spaces for individuals, communities and organisations to be creative, authentic and resourceful. We facilitate systemic change by enabling people to connect at a deeper level, sense their system, explore possibilities, engage in creative emergence and foster agency for action.
How We Work
We think and sense our way through relational and emergent practices. We work in collaboration with you to co-design strategies and approaches that empower people to create the conditions to succeed.
We use frameworks and models that help build the capacity of individuals, communities and organizations to address their needs and achieve their goals. We trust the inherent creativity and resourcefulness of the individual and the collective to explore and uncover solutions that serve their specific circumstances and places. We work differently to traditional consultants. Rather, we see our value is to stimulate generative conversations about possibilities and we work alongside you to grow relational resilience and emergent strategies that respond to the rapidly changing world.
Responding from the emerging future requires us to shift the inner place from which we operate. It requires us to suspend our judgements, redirect our attention, let go of the past, lean into the future that wants to emerge through us, and let it come.
Otto Scharmer,
Leading from the Emerging Future, 2013
Meet The Team
We are systems intuitives and activists from diverse cultural and professional backgrounds working alongside changemakers and organisations towards a better world.
We are a curious collective of collaborators, academics, educators, doctors, facilitators and coaches connecting wholeheartedly for rich conversations, deep learning and reflective inner work.
Dr Rashmi Patel
Dr | Anaesthetist
Elaine Olsen
Community Activator | Eco-system Coach
Mariana Guimaraes e Silva
Creator | Collaborator | Connector
Liz Dare
Collaborator | Connector | Pollinator
Dr Mike Mouritz
Climate | Sustainability | Emergent Strategy
Rod Griffiths
Consultant | Mentor
More About Us
Our Approach
In everything we do, we seek to invite ourselves and others to experience ways of:
- Sensing (exploring self-knowledge/ mindfulness)
- Connecting to deeper sources of knowing (nurturing capacities of deep listening, precise observation, and dialogue)
- Action learning (engaging in practices for creating innovations that generate wellbeing in society)
How We Work
We guide you towards growing leadership capability for collaborative, relational and emergent approaches to working in complexity.
Our learning experiences include the following quests:
- Enhancing leadership and team performance
- Developing the Resilient Organisation: Competencies in Complexity
- Thriving Together: growing personal resilience
- Collaborative Leadership: engaging in the five pillars of sustainability practices
All programs are designed with a focus on connection to enhance our capacities for thinking, feeling, taking action, and respecting and connecting to place.
Co-designed engagements: Together we co-design the process and content to suit the specific needs and culture of your organisation. We collaborate with you to help you develop emergent and relational strategies for transition.
We have a flexible pricing policy that aims to make our work accessible. Contact us for more information.
What We Believe In
- We respect and thrive on uncertainty, complexity and chaos
- We seek to learn at every opportunity and draw on wisdom and indigenous knowledge
- We practice deep listening, build trust and a sense of belonging/togetherness/partnership with those whom we collaborate
- We keep in mind the big picture and impacts on the whole
- We value teamwork
- We contribute to the gift economy
- We strive for magnificence
- We continue to do the inner work that supports us to deliver on our purpose of regenerating life, community and natural vitality
- Being here is enough: we value and promote being as much as doing. We know and trust each other through authenticity and coming as we are.
- The empty chair, which represents all the people who are not with us in the moment (past, present and future), the Earth, the more than human / sentient beings.
Our Sources of Wisdom and Inspiration
We understand that meaningful and lasting change requires systemic, participatory and relational approaches and we draw upon a range of theories, tools and methods to shape and power our work:
- Theory U
- Warm Data
- Compassionate Systems
- Design Thinking
- Kaospilot Methodology
- Art of Hosting Meaningful Conversations
- World Cafe
- Deep Ecology
- Core Gifts
- Blueprint of We
- Sociocracy
