Skip to content
The Nature Conservancy logo. The Nature Conservancy logo.
A collage of conservationists, land, and decorative loops.

Practices for Adaptive Teams

The Agility Lab promotes these 11 practices, which we have seen enhance team effectiveness and wellbeing. This list is imperfect and incomplete, and it is our working version for now.

×

  1. PRIORITIZE IMPACT

    We embrace audacious goals and measure progress as we go so we can let go of less effective approaches and invest in more effective ones.

  2. BUILD TRUSTING RELATIONSHIPS

    We invest in respectful, supportive relationships - within and beyond our team - so we can bravely share mistakes, ideas, and questions in service of the work.

  3. START SMALL TO DE-RISK QUICKLY

    We dream big and start small, focusing first on our biggest uncertainties so we can learn more about what works and what doesn’t before bringing a solution to scale.

  4. LEARN BY DOING

    We use quick, lightweight tests to invalidate (or validate!) our most critical assumptions while we deliver value to our customers and other key partners.

  5. REFLECT AND ADAPT

    We pause on a regular basis to incorporate feedback, confirm lessons learned, and account for changes in the world around us in order to reprioritize our work.

  6. MAKE EVIDENCE-BASED DECISIONS

    We use direct evidence to make clear decisions about adjustments to our work. We continually reprioritize in service of conservation impact.

  7. CO-CREATE WITH HUMBLE CURIOSITY

    We embrace first-draft thinking and feedback to collaboratively develop solutions, and we continually improve our work rather than letting perfectionism delay our progress.

  8. CELEBRATE PROGRESS

    We make time to applaud small and big wins along the way. Learning is progress, failure is progress, saying no is progress — and we celebrate all of it.

  9. STRIVE FOR EQUITY

    We increase our chances of achieving enduring conservation impact by sharing power with historically excluded peoples and communities.

  10. SAY NO

    We say no to work that is not leading toward enduring, equitable, accelerated impact so that our yeses are more powerful.

  11. WORK IN WHOLE, DURABLE TEAMS

    We come together in dedicated teams to focus on big goals that require all of us to accomplish — rather than splitting our time between many different strategies.

Collage featuring abstract, decorative imagery and a blue background.
Home Page Collaborate Banner Abstract collage featuring a mesa, hands, and sticky notes. © 2023