The Hedge: Protecting the Conditions for Growth

If we want healthy soil, we need to protect it.

And that means having boundaries.

Not walls of stone or concrete, but something more like a hedge: living, permeable and adaptable, while still providing a clear boundary.

Since returning from holiday, this is something I've been hearing repeatedly in coaching conversations.

For many of us, summer brings wonderful moments of restoration. But the energy gained can disappear remarkably quickly. Emails multiply, meetings return and projects accelerate.

There is something helpful about the return of structure. Children go back to school, colleagues return to work, routines re-establish themselves. But very quickly our boundaries can disappear.

For leaders in their 40s and 50s, there can be demands coming from every direction: work, children, ageing parents, relationships and community.

And for many women, menopause can add another layer, affecting energy, sleep, concentration and emotional wellbeing at precisely the time when demands are already high.

There can be a lot of extraction, with very little replenishment.

If we continually extract from soil without protecting and restoring it, eventually its capacity to support healthy growth diminishes.

So perhaps we need our own version of a hedge.

As we move into autumn, look at your diary and ask:

What are the one or two things I need to protect?

• What is consuming energy unnecessarily?

• Which meetings could you decline?

• Where could you create space to think, recover or simply pay attention?

In coaching conversations, we've sometimes literally gone through calendars and weeded the patch.

One unnecessary meeting removed can create space for strategic thinking, better conversations - or simply enough capacity to arrive with more energy and attention.

The purpose isn't to build higher walls around ourselves.

It's to protect the conditions for healthy growth.

So, as autumn begins, perhaps start with your hedge:

• What needs protecting?

• What needs keeping out?

• What do you want to create space to grow?

A hedge is never finished. It grows, changes and needs tending.

Perhaps our boundaries should too.

Warm regards,

Mark

P.S. If you’re planning a team day or strategy away day and want to do something a little different, we’d love to help.

We can design a day in a beautiful natural setting that gives your team the space to think deeply about the season ahead, or even the next two seasons through to spring.

If that sounds useful, please contact us here.