“A phenomenon remains incomprehensible as long as the field of observation is not sufficiently broad to include the context in which the phenomenon occurs.” – Paul Watzlawick.
Perplexed by our brave new world ?
Organizations face significant perplexity regarding resource efficiency due to several interconnected challenges (complexity overload, boundary confusion, multi-stakeholders partnership, lack of appropriate metrics, etc.). Resource efficiency benefits are often diffuse making traditional business case development challenging and creating decision-making paralysis. In the meantime, rapidly evolving regulations, changing market conditions for secondary materials, emerging technologies, and shifting social expectations create a landscape where organizations fear making wrong strategic bets on resource efficiency investments.
A twofold approach..
Sustainable Synergies is dedicated to helping organizations overcome the complexity trap and progress from awareness to action. To achieve this, it employs a twofold approach: an expert-driven advice and a systems analysis methodology. As illustrated in the table, these two approaches each have their advantages and disadvantages, so they complement each other harmoniously
| System-thinking | Expert | |
| Process | Expanding (it starts from a core to be enriched by iteration) | Centralizing (it aims to extract a synthesis from a mass of information) |
| Purpose | Regulation (why ?) Bird-eye view | Processes (how ?) Sectoral view |
| Attitude | Observation | Reasoning |
| Key focus | Patterns / Archetypes | Facts / Evidences |
| Position | Independent observer (balanced judgement articulated around black boxes) | Inside view (technical certainty with no protection against biases) |
Utilizing these tools allows me to engage with the experts as an integrator capable of recognizing recurrent patterns related to resource efficiency, building a unified vision that leverages organizational synergies, and implementing collaborative projects to make value chains more circular.
The added value
- Extend the network of partners and participate in multi-partner projects whose excellence is recognized at European level.
- Get away from emotions and discuss with stakeholders on the basis of an overall vision of the issues at stake.
- Overcome your own cognitive biases, which can make you blind to some of the ongoing developments.
- Prepare for the unexpected by detecting weak signals that may reveal turning points in the evolution of the system .
- Understand how tensions can build up within the system and lead to disruption.
- Capitalize on knowledge in a format that is easy to understand and transmissible.
Sustainable Synergies 