What you practice, you become.

At Org School we believe every organisation is a school - a universe in microcosm - hiding in plain sight. In organizational life, when we pay close attention, we get to learn about who we are and what gifts we have to offer. We learn to navigate and cocreate. We teach each other, challenge each other, and accompany each other in suffering. And we explore the deep purposes that call to us and that give our lives meaning. Still, for so many of us, organisational life often feels constraining or draining. It doesn’t have to be this way.

At Org School, we believe that even the smallest shifts start to repattern what’s possible for everyone. A planetary transformation in consciousness is underway, and our organizations have a vital role to play. When organizations rediscover our innate potential, we begin to liberate ourselves and each other.

Our Story

In 2023, Organization Unbound, a global community of practice experimenting with expressive social change, and The Institute for Collective Wellbeing, a nonprofit exploring the deep roots of mutual wellbeing, merged to form Org School. We had become increasingly aware that the workshops, retreats, programs, and interventions that organizations relied on for their learning could spark powerful openings but struggled to sustain them. And we wondered if there was a new way for organizations to learn. (You can read our early reflections on this question in the Stanford Social Innovation Review.)

Our Method

At Org School, the organization - not a leader or an individual - goes to school.  Learning happens relationship by relationship, team by team, cluster by cluster through the ordinary, daily work the organization is already pursuing. Over the past two years, we have been prototyping this approach with a diverse group of pioneers - from a social fintech business in the Middle East to a large network of social justice groups in the U.S. Using simple micro-practices, the organization begins to notice where there might be blockages to authentic connecting. Over time, this awareness work shifts stuck energy, releases waves of innovation, and attunes us to the deep sources of shared wellbeing that were there all along.

Going to Org School: Current Offerings

The Awareness Portrait - a way of seeing our organizations more intimately

Organizational wellbeing is rooted in shared awareness of how we are experiencing our work together. Org School’s Awareness Portrait is an internal survey exploring the three awareness patterns at the heart of organizational wellbeing: appreciative awareness, compassionate awareness, and intuitive awareness. Findings can catalyze organization-wide reflection on such questions as: Where can we increase our creativity and sense of agency? What actions can we take so our entire organization - not just particular individuals - experiences greater wellbeing? The Awareness Portrait is free to any organization committed to a social purpose (businesses, nonprofits, public agencies, or community & movement groups).

Discovering Organizational Wellbeing (DOW) - our flagship course, designed to deepen and sustain organizational wellbeing

DOW begins with the assumption that the wellbeing we crave is already in our organizations, even if it is deeply buried or forgotten. In this course, organizations learn to access that wellbeing by micro-shifts in the way that people pay attention to their work and to each other. In small groups, during the normal course of work, we experiment with practices that make that work more honest, more authentic, and more human. These practices cut across the power and role boundaries that divide us. They enhance our creativity and deepen our relationship to purpose.  Unlike a traditional course, where individual participants are the learners, in DOW participants are more like co-teachers, helping the organization itself to learn.

The Open Series - an online gathering place for kindred learners

Join us in 2026 for our monthly dialogues, open to anyone keen to learn more about Org School’s approach. We’ll spend time with researchers and practitioners exploring the frontiers of organizational learning for social change, and we’ll hear from organizations that have already begun their own learning journeys.

Contact Us

To learn more about us and our work, please reach out to one of the people below. We’d love to hear from you!

Timothy Hartley
Co-Founder | Director of Org School - Scotland
tim@tifcw.org
LinkedIn

Ren Nilsson
Co-Founder | Director of Organizational Learning
ren@tifcw.org
LinkedIn

Ncedisa Nkonyeni
Co-Founder | Director of Org School - South Africa
ncedisa@tifcw.org
LinkedIn

Rebecca Paradiso de Sayu
Co-Founder | Director of Org School - United States
rebecca@tifcw.org
LinkedIn

What’s Next for Org School?

In November 2025, we will publicly launch Org School at online events where we’ll share more about the offerings we are bringing into the world. To learn more about our launch events and learning opportunities, email us at orgschool@tifcw.org. We’d love to hear from you!