A garden on the farm

* Interest in gardening
* Joy of experimentation
* Colleagues:inside, Team
* Balcony, roof terrace, courtyard, outdoor area in the company
* Procurement of materials and plants
* Persuasion time


Do you have a herb bed or other edible plants in your company? Why not, actually? How about basil and tomatoes in the summer? Add some delicious mozzarella and lunch is almost ready... Besides, such a planting bed is a wonderful team task (setting it up and also taking care of it) and promotes communication as well as the feel-good factor in the company. What more do you want?

Talk about your idea in the next team meeting: a raised bed can be built in a very small space. To get started, even a few converted flower boxes can be useful. It is best if one person puts on the responsible "gardener:in hat" and coordinates the setting up and planting. A small survey can also be started among the colleagues to find out which plants are desired. It is also nice if there is seating around the bed and thus a lively center is created. Plants stimulate many thoughts and conversations: about appreciation of plants and food, about nutrition, about one's own purchasing behavior, or simply about the beauty of nature. : )

Anyone who grows their own vegetables knows how proud and satisfied the harvest can make them, and how delicious it can be - no matter how small.
Ideally, you already have a few examples of how the planting bed could look like, and know what materials are needed.

Small tip
Maybe there is also an "urban gardening project" in your place. Just drop by there and find out about the bed possibilities.

We are very curious about the experience with this recipe.

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Kerstin Seeger

Help shape the next workshop

* Desire for good workshops
* Courage to speak in front of several people
* Colleagues:inside, Team
* Talk about the agenda
* Preparation time


Are you tired of boring workshops in your company? Which topics really occupy your employees? What is the meaning of one's own activity? How can we act for the good of the community, the environment, the suppliers? Where do we want to start? All these questions lead to the core of a change in the company.

Have these topics included in the next workshop. Discuss in your organization how and when this might be possible.
Tip: Ask an experienced expert to design the workshop or to give a keynote speech. Preferably a person who is active in the field of social-ecological transformation, common good economy, joyful work, soulful entrepreneurship or similar.

Modification

Before or after the workshop, set up a "round table" in your organization. Start with 3-4 interested colleagues and talk about the possible change in your organization. It is best to discuss this with the management or invite them right away!

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Tea kitchen or lunch break remodel

* Tea kitchen and/or lunch break
* Colleagues:inside, Team
* Fairtrade and organic products
* Courage
* Persuasion time
* Changeover in purchasing


What does the kitchenette (if any) or the lunch break look like in your company? What kind of coffee comes out of the coffee machine? What other drinks are available? How is the refrigerator stocked?

If we think about the ECONOMY, we can start with the seemingly small things in our everyday work. You will see that once a small start has been made here, a stone will start rolling, and colleagues will start thinking about bigger things, too!

Encourage the use of organic and Fairtrade coffee in the future and suggest to look for organic and Fairtrade goods in the tea kitchen and at the common lunch break. Perhaps you are a team or company leader? Then you can influence purchasing even more easily, if necessary.

Raise the issue at the next team meeting. If persuasion is necessary, point out the eco-social consequences of conventional products and make it clear that you care about the conditions under which they are produced. In the best case, you can already recommend a particular brand or store to buy from. It should be in the company's neighborhood or on the driving route, and it should be practically feasible. So don't immediately recommend the coffee roastery on the other side of town....

Even if some colleagues initially dismiss the topic as "not that important," the bottom line is that you will benefit from paying attention to everyone's well-being and not displaying a "don't care" mentality. Give your colleagues some time and keep at it.

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Impulses - contribute to the development of the company

* Desire for impulses on the subject of WIRtschaften
* prepare a short presentation
* Colleagues:inside, Team
* Impulse time in the company meeting
* Conversation with management


There are many ideas and approaches to doing business differently: the common good economy, post-growth approaches, degrowth, commoning, care economy, living economy, soulful entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, eco-fair supply chains, sustainable procurement, and much more....
How about starting an impulse series on the approaches in the (monthly) overall meeting. In each meeting, a self-selected approach / idea / piece of the puzzle would be briefly presented (approx. 20 min.). In this way, alternative approaches can become visible and a conversation about the innovative further development of one's own company can develop.

Perhaps you can kick off with the first impulse, and interested colleagues can then continue the series. Alternatively, you can invite topic experts to give a keynote presentation.

Modification
In parallel, establish a "round table" in your organization. Start with 3-4 interested colleagues and talk about the presented impulses and possible changes in your organization. It is best to discuss this with the management and invite them to participate!

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Making sharing socially acceptable in the company

* Something to lend / give away
* Colleagues:inside
* write a short article with instructions
* Intranet / Messenger or similar
* Conversation with management
* Discussion with IT managers


Sharing is a key to system change. There are several advantages: We can conserve resources, save money, and don't have to do without absolutely anything. On top of that, we get more contact with our fellow human beings and more space in the basement or storage room, because we don't have to own everything ourselves. (Especially since we need a lot of things only very rarely: The average effective usage time of home drills is 15 minutes per lifetime, yet almost every household has one).
In many people's minds, however, the idea still prevails that sharing is somehow "uncool". The opposite is true! In innovative communities, the idea of sharing has long been common practice. In the mainstream, the idea is slowly seeping through. Be a pioneer and establish a lending and giving platform in your company!

This requires a list of things that can be loaned or given away. Start a call: Who has something to give away, who can lend something? It's a great occasion to try out the sharing and giving economy. As an alternative to giving things away, offer things with a "pay-what-you-want" price tag. This is also an approach for new impulses.

Important: It's not about making profits, it's about saving resources together.

Variation 1
Establish a "giveaway shelf" in the coffee kitchen or break room if it's not possible digitally or doesn't make sense for your business.

Variation 2
If it doesn't work on your company's web platform, you could set up a "search-bid group" on your Messenger app and invite colleagues to join.

Variation 3
- for particularly innovative organizations: The sharing platform is also made available to partners, suppliers and customers.

Variation 4
In addition to things, also share skills - in the sense of "neighborly help" (changing a tire, drilling a hole in the wall, etc.).

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Convert working time to friendship time

* Working time
* Rescheduling: Finish earlier
* Friends, family
* Telephone or nice meeting place, such as picnic area / urban gardening project / cafe / pub.


For years, Australian nurse Bronnie Ware accompanied terminally ill people in the last weeks of their lives. When she asked the patients what they regretted in their lives or what they would have preferred to have done differently, the same five topics usually came up.
In second place, "I wish I hadn't worked so much."
Without exception, this came from every man Bronnie Ware cared for. Even some women expressed this regret. The fear of not earning enough money or the pressure of having to make a career are more widespread in our capitalist world than ever before.
Rank 4: "I wish I had kept in touch with my friends."
Many regret that they have given too little time and attention to their friends, their family. Job, career, house and stuff were often more important.

Plan a "private work time reduction" in which you then devote yourself to your loved ones or your friend:in. For example, you could plan to finish 90 minutes early every Tuesday and then start a nice evening. And not, as may be usual, completely exhausted and exhausted, but relaxed and open for a nice evening. Plan this shortening in your schedule and inform your colleagues and maybe even your boss about it (surely you have enough overtime to try this out for some time). For longer-term schedules, plan a month in advance and inform your colleagues. Who knows, maybe you can infect others with this idea...?

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Change of perspective - looking at colleagues with different eyes

* Colleagues:inside
* Workplace
* Change of perspective
* Perceive feelings and moods



Next to family and / or partnership, the workplace is almost the most important place of a person! At least it is a place where you spend the longest time of your day. Every person comes to work every morning with their own very personal issues. That is, each:r brings his whole story every day. Everything that makes him happy and everything that is in turmoil right now. Ask yourself for one day: How is my colleague really doing today? What do you think he/she brings? What language do their eyes speak? Are they fearful, angry, or sad? Some say that in each of us there is also an inner child – a little boy or a little girl. When shining and bright eyes meet us, we may see the child in our counterpart. Do you discover the child in your colleague?
Feeling can also mean: "Go and feel" Perceiving feelings starts with a person and changes teams, departments, companies and the world.

Modification
* If colleagues are not available, you are welcome to try it out with acquaintances.

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Participate in solidarity agriculture (SoLaWi)

* Desire to try out the WIRtschaft in a practical way.
* Desire for cooking & good food
* Regularity
* Desire to help out and think in an agricultural environment


Yes..., is all quite nice and nice - but where is the other economies live and in color!? I mean really different! Organized differently, financed differently and on top of that still eco-social?
You won't believe it - it exists, and it's certainly close by! If you want to get started in a very practical and down-to-earth way, the entry into Solidarity Farming is just right! In a Solidarity Farming (SoLaWi), you switch from the role of consumer to the role of "harvest-sharer" and take responsibility for a LandWIRtschaft. You pay a jointly agreed monthly contribution (this is usually fixed for the coming year) and in return you get what is growing. The harvest of a farm (or several farms) is divided equally among all SoLaWi members. So each week you get a more than ample portion of fresh, seasonal and regional organic vegetables delivered to one of the numerous distribution stations - and in a quality like almost nowhere else. The farmers receive a fixed contribution - regardless of crop failures, etc. They do not have to sell themselves on the market and can thus treat animals, plants and the soil in a completely different way.
In addition, you get to know "your" farm up close and personal, because helping hands are always needed, e.g. for harvesting or delivering vegetables.
In Solidarity Farming, food is no longer sold on the market, but flows into a transparent economic cycle that is organized and financed by the consumers.
Here you can find a SoLaWi near you: https://www.solidarische-landwirtschaft.org/solawis-finden/auflistung/solawis
For more info, contact the Solidarity Farming Network: https://www.solidarische-landwirtschaft.org/startseite
Movies: https://www.solidarische-landwirtschaft.org/mediathek/filme

Modifications
* If you want to set the difficulty to "easy", you can first read about SoLaWi and subscribe to the SoLaWi newsletter (https://www.solidarische-landwirtschaft.org/startseite).
* In the meantime, there are also other industries that are trying out this model (CSX - Community Supported everything). Health insurances and many more can be found here! Also here you can get on board.

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Talking about the WIRtschafts with friends

* Interest in WIRtschaften
* Uncertainty
* Meeting with friends
* an introductory question
* Openness and curiosity

I don't really know where some of my friends stand on the subject of "doing business differently", what they think about it or what they know. Sure, somehow I know that they are not extreme consumers, and that they don't think everything that is going on is okay. But what the will to change looks like, and if anyone has looked into it more... actually, I don't really know. Although I give it a lot of thought, I've avoided this topic so far. Well, I don't want to burden a light-hearted evening with such a heavy topic. And besides, I don't have all the answers myself and have a hard time paraphrasing the topic well at all, so that the most important thing is said in a nutshell....
It is not important whether you yourself are an expert on a particular topic. You can still talk about it and say what moves you about it. Especially when it comes to the economy, no one has all the answers anyway. Besides, it's well known that you can discuss children or dogs, even if you don't have any yourself.
So - just do it! A good introductory question might be: I recently discovered a good website on the topic of ECONOMY. Do you think that our current economy makes people happy? Or: Lately, I've often wondered why our economic system doesn't change, even though so many people are unhappy or even exploited.
It's sure to be an inspiring evening that everyone will remember for a long time. And who knows what will develop from it. Probably more interesting conversations...

Modifications
* The opening question can also be modified into an emotional-personal statement: I get sad when I think about how we treat other people / nature.
* Increase the level of difficulty and raise the issue at the relatives meeting ; )

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Making a movie night about the WIRtschafts

* Interest in other economies
* Time and desire for an inspiring evening
* an Internet-enabled computer (or DVD + player)


"Economics can be this beautiful" - an ironic statement...? In any case, the sentence struck me as somehow oblique. It clearly demonstrated to me what image I have of business. But there are many examples that show: Economy can also be meaningful, cooperative and full of joy. If we shape it that way. A number of films have also been made about this, which are wonderfully suitable for a short film evening.
So - pop some popcorn and get cozy on the sofa.

Now to the FILM TIPS
CAUTION: These films can change the way you think and act!
* Living Economy - In Search of Success and Fulfillment
* From Business to being
* At eye level - showing and strengthening vitality in organizations
* The Quiet Revolution - The film on cultural change in the world of work.
* Tomorrow - the world is full of solutions

>> Further film tips are welcome!

Modifications
Invite your partner or friends and watch together.

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This recipe is from
Kerstin Seeger