Excelling in the Midst of Adversity (Part Three): Thriving as a Strategy

A collaboration between Chaordic Design and Estonian Life

This week’s theme is “Thrive”.

A key part of Chaordic Design’s mission is to help organizations and communities realize their inherent potential to innovate and thrive.

Thriving is seen as important in innovation contexts – and increasingly in the personal, organizational and community spheres. It is identified as a positive psychological state – one that adds more than it subtracts, enabling adaptation and resilience.

After all, how we feel tends to affect our engagements. Thriving can be infectious – on both the interpersonal and collective levels. It supports collaboration, builds trust, and helps to establish a sense of shared belonging.

A 2014 article in the Journal of Organizational Behaviour links the experience of thriving at work, to a certain type of “psychological capital”.

In this sense, a psychological experience of thriving is seen as an important organizational asset. Much like access to clients, resources, or markets.

One way to understand thriving is to see it as a joint expression of “learning” and “vitality”. The learning component makes it easier to acquire knowledge and apply new skills. The vitality component indicates positive feelings associated with having energy and zest.

From this perspective, thriving is also connected to the notion of “net positive”.

In the sustainable development and design field, Positive Development (PD) theory argues that to truly thrive, we must go beyond being merely sustainable – and must ‘give back’ more than we take, to our physical environment and communities. A key precept of this approach is to ensure that our actions are designed to increase future options for all participants.

How might one design for thriving?

A perfect example of this is the development of the Estonian community in Canada.

They emerged through a conscious effort designed to support adaptation, amplify future possibilities, and enable inclusion through arts organizations – thus empowering collective thriving.

When Estonians fled their homeland and emigrated to Canada, they thrived by founding countless organizations and social groups. These organizations corresponded to each aspect of their lives back in Estonia, including: athletics, academia, cuisine, choirs, orchestras, Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, and dancing. When the schoolhouse on 958 Broadview Avenue was obtained on the 1st of April 1960, it enabled the meeting of veterans and pensioners. For children, it allowed for the development of a weekend school and kindergarten.

This building and these organizations amplified the social life, support, culture, and memories of home before being displaced. It goes without saying that losing loved ones, losing one’s home to war, and then restarting your life in a new continent is difficult.

The fact that a completely different language had to be learned, too, meant that many Estonian refugees with specialized careers could not carry on professionally as they had before. But by working together and pooling resources, the community could thrive even with so many new challenges.

One means through which Estonians could transcend those challenges in the Estonian house was through the founding of arts organizations. From the beginning, women have been key figures in these organizations.

The Toronto Eesti Maja Kunstikomitee (Estonian House Art Committee) collects and curates hundreds of paintings, sculptures, and photographs from Estonian artists to display on site. With the leadership of Eda Sepp, TEMKK help us take pride in our heritage through art.

Benita Vomm was a founding member of Eesti Kunstnike Koondis Torontos (EKKT – the Society of Estonian Artists in Toronto) in 1956. EKKT provides a social network and platform for creative expression through gallery exhibitions, workshops, social gatherings, and art excursions. Benita’s daughter, Mai-Reet Vomm-Järve, has continued to support EKKT with her ingenuity and leadership since she joined in 1960.

In the next installment of this series, we’ll hear from Margi Taylor Self, owner of Creative Events Management Ltd.; about the strategies and concepts that have underscored her path as an artist and business owner.

1. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ doi/abs/10.1002/j.2162-6057.2009. tb01313.x

2. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ doi/abs/10.1002/job.1907

3. https://www.routledge.com/Net- Positive-Design-and-Sustainable- Urban-Development-1st-Edition/ Birkeland/p/book/9780367258566

Society of Estonian Artists in Toronto.

Photo: Hannes Oja