Sustainable organizations are very much about working together. Creating an open and warm culture. We at Based On People call it "The Togetherness". Research calls it "Collective Intelligence". Read the article and be inspired by Emilia Liljefrost, Program Manager Sustainable Working Life at the Swedish Council for Cooperation.
We at Based On People believe in teamwork and a corporate culture that creates healthy and long-term development. This week, we have the privilege of discussing this current area with Emilia Liljefrost.

There is a lot of talk about sustainability in the business world. Most of us realize that social sustainability is important. We need each other in the organization. "Alone is NOT strong". What does the research say?
This is an interesting question that can be illuminated from several perspectives. Since the 1990s, our ways of streamlining operations have led to an ever-increasing degree of specialization. In several areas, it is also felt that operations have increased their degree of complexity. This contributes to the need for cooperation increasing within the organizations. We need each other's expertise to be able to deliver. At the same time, research shows that we only marginally become better in a group than we are as individual employees – if we do not actively work with our ability to cooperate. So no, alone is neither strong nor necessarily productive.
Tips:
Collective Intelligence and Warm Groups: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4cYjrAaxbw
Or read: Knowledge Integration. About collective intelligence in organizations (Philip Runsten and Andreas Werr)


What impact does digitalization and technological development have on "social" sustainability? In what way can it be helpful?
The technological development we are in is sometimes labeled as the fourth industrial revolution. There is talk that the development is exponential and that it will affect us in a way that we cannot even foresee today. At the same time, it may be good to remind ourselves that digitalization is a development that has been going on for a long time through computerization, automation and robotization, it is really nothing new in itself. A risk with the technological development that we face is if we only let it happen without deciding in what way we want it to serve humanity. At the same time, there is interesting potential in that technology can even out differences, become tools that create better conditions for participation. Technology is not necessarily neutral, but if created correctly, it can help us to make competence visible without normative bias that we humans have difficulty escaping.
Tips:
Max Tegmark: Life 3.0 | MIT Artificial Intelligence (AI) Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi8LUnhP5yU


How is social sustainability created in a business? How important is it to create diversity?
An important factor is that we see the benefits and the potential gain with diversity. There is research that shows that diversity in businesses contributes to resilience and the ability to handle changes. That in itself becomes hard currency when existence is characterized by volatility and short development cycles. Something that I have noticed as an up-coming trend is universal design of workplaces. It is about us having to change our mindset and stop creating special solutions for groups we identify as deviating from the norm and instead start designing operations both physically and organizationally so that the norm corridors are widened. We are all different and our delivery capacity varies over time. The employers who become good at taking advantage of differences among employees will have advantages and be better equipped to meet the future compared to those who build their business based on narrow conditions and ideas about who and who can work in the organization.
Tips:
Want to know more? Get in touch: https://akademssr.se/UUA