Helping people flourish since 1992

We believe in piloting new approaches to create a more equitable and humane way of working. Founded by Becky Wright in 1992, we have always sought a sustainable business model that serves the wellbeing of everyone connected to New Leaf, running an Associates Model for many years. More recently, we have embraced the concept of ‘Next Stage Organisations’ – which has no model – but whose principles of wholeness, evolutionary purpose and organisational self-management dovetail beautifully with our long established collaborative approach to business.

Inspired by Frederic Laloux, author of ‘Reinventing Organizations’, we have engaged in a process over several years to become a ‘Next Stage Organisation’. Supported by Nick Park – RSA Fellowship Reinventing Work Network – we have pursued this new approach to business organisation and been recognised as a leader in this field, winning an award for ‘Innovation in Business’ at the Sedgemoor Excellence in Business Awards 2019.

The idea is that all individuals who are needed to operate a business become self-organising and contribute to, and benefit from, the business without the traditional hierarchical structures. There is no model to follow – the whole point is that individuals take responsibility for themselves and organise in a way that works best for themselves, the business, those the business serves and the wider community in which we all operate.

The result is that New Leaf Workplace Wellbeing exists as a uniting identity, connecting together a series of collaborations, each contributing to the overall success of the customer, whilst maintaining their own creative freedom and automony. Each supporting and strengthening the others.

This is business evolution – increasing our strength and scope, providing personal and social impact and growing the economy, all whilst creating a working culture of inclusivity and collaboration. The point is to make work more enjoyable, more productive and profitable for all.

New Leaf founder Becky Wright explains:

The organisational structure has an organic nature, able to grow in relationship to the environment … always looking for where the light is and enriching the soil in which we are anchored. We are not one single company, but many, collaborating under a united identity. This is captured visually in the following diagram which you can download as a PDF here for improved legibility.

Since adopting the ‘Next Stage Organisations’ approach, we are engaging with more and more businesses who value the way we work. Our collaborating teams bring increased satisfaction and support to each other and we are enjoying the new found freedom that comes from losing the shackles of traditional management, instead embracing the fresh free-thinking that has become our new driver.

Those organisations who appoint us to deliver work with their employees benefit from this beautiful energy, contributing to an evolution in business organisation, demonstrating a commitment to their employees to create a healthy workplace culture that supports wellbeing, and indirectly supporting the many community and environmental projects that we are involved in.

Our ambition is no small thing. With increased awareness of mental-health and its correlation to environmental health, more and more organisations recognise the value in a heart-centred compassionate approach, realising that support for a person’s internal and external reality creates a healthier, more creative and productive culture for all. The limits of the human imagination are endless, we have the ability to creatively solve our problems, we just need to learn to care for and nurture the best of what each individual has to offer. New Leaf has been instrumental in the creation of industry evolving conferences, in both construction and farming, where attitudes towards mental-health are in need of much work. We continue our commitment to support employers create more conscious workplace cultures that their people will want to spend time in and give their best to.

Find out about the many ways we engage in Conscious Social Responsibility here, or check out a few favourite projects below.

As part of New Leaf’s conscious social responsibility, Becky had wanted to create a place of wellbeing that people could visit and engage with. Whilst following a babbling brook near the side of a lane on a steep hill, she stumbled upon a long forgotten well house that was obscured by brambles in the corner of a field near Cothelstone. Backed by grants from the Quantock Hills Sustainable Development Fund, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the local council, Becky partnered with the Huntspill Project and Bridgwater College to engage and benefit local young people from the experience of conserving this local landmark, working on its restoration and communicating its provenance to visitors.

Debbie McKenna became the project lead and helped to develop a key outcome of the restoration project – the development of a free app that tells the story of the well and the project’s vision for its future via film and sound. Alongside the recorded stories and a video of the final ceremony, a ‘sound walk’ of the journey up to the well and the surrounding area was recorded by Alex Roland from Your IT Now (which provides care and support for people with learning disabilities) with one of his clients who is an expert in 360-degree filming. Check out a short video here.

Through the raised profile generated by the project, St Agnes Well is now included in the Cultural Secrets of Exmoor listings and has since received a Certificate of Commendation from the Historic England ‘Angel Awards’ for ‘Best contribution to a heritage project by young people’.