7 Reasons why nature should be your strategic workspace

Most leadership teams, whether SME or C-Suite, aren’t short on intelligence, experience or ambition. What they are short on is the space to think clearly.

Over the years, I’ve watched talented, capable leaders struggle to make good decisions. Not because they lack vision, but because the environments they’re working in actively undermine clear thinking.

Traditional offices, for all their efficiency, are nearly always the worst possible place for strategic thought, idea generation and getting long-term perspective.

Here are 7 reasons why, when you want to get clarity of thought, you should swap the office for time in nature:

1)      The built environment works against productivity

Modern offices are designed for productivity, not clarity or innovation.  Except, in reality, and more often than not, what they actually deliver is constant interruption. Even private offices are saturated with noise: emails, Slack messages, calendar alerts, people knocking “just for a minute”.

The built environment keeps leadership teams in a reactive state. There’s no real separation, or time, to differentiate between strategic thinking and day-to-day firefighting. Thinking becomes fragmented, rushed and shallow.

And from a biological perspective, when your nervous system is constantly on alert, you don’t think strategically. You’re in survival mode. You default to what’s urgent, familiar and safe.

2)      Constant distraction erodes deep thinking

When was the last time you had a clear, uninterrupted hour to explore ideas? I’m talking about turning off your phone. Putting DND on your laptop. And sitting (or better still walking) with an idea. Because in today’s world, we have a serious problem. Every notification you get pulls your attention away from deeper thought. Every interruption resets focus. Which means leaders rarely get enough uninterrupted time to connect ideas, explore uncertainty or just ‘sit’ with complexity.

The world is busy, messy and complex. And the strategic thinking required to understand a path through it is reliant on time, uninterrupted flowing conversation and space - three things most offices are structurally designed to eliminate.

Instead, teams jump from topic to topic, on multiple zoom calls, solving surface-level problems while missing the long term, underlying strategic patterns that actually matter. It’s not good for our mental health and it’s certainly not good for our ability to tackle big strategic challenges. Like the interconnect poly crisis and how it’s going to affect your business, your infrastructure, your people and your brand.

3)      Hybrid teams add an additional layer of cognitive strain

Hybrid working has brought flexibility for many, but it’s also introduced new challenges for teams and their leaders. Conversations that should be nuanced and relational are flattened into one dimensional screens.

Body language is missed. Energy is diluted. Misunderstandings multiply.

The sense of disconnection can be very real indeed. Presenteeism, where individuals show up for work, but aren’t really productive, because they are not feeling well or just disengaged from the team and/or project, is a very real problem.

Add on to all of this, the challenges of stress, burnout and zoom fatigue, where chronic stress narrows perspective, burnout reduces creativity and zoom fatigue drains emotional bandwidth, and we have a perfect storm of HR, strategic and creativity issues all coming together.

When leadership teams are tired, overloaded and overstimulated, they default to short-term thinking – and that is a huge problem in the face of the climate crisis and a rapidly changing world, where businesses risk being irrelevant in 5 or 10 years time if they don’t adapt quickly. When focusing on the short term, risk tolerance drops, innovation feels threatening and difficult conversations get postponed or handled poorly.

And yet we keep asking our C-Suite teams and leaders to “be more visionary” without ever changing the conditions they’re working in - somehow expecting them to be amazing visionaries whilst stuck on a doom loop of telephone calls and online meetings.

4)      Nature changes the quality of leadership thinking

Nature does something offices can’t: it slows us down without switching us off.

In natural environments, the nervous system settles, attention softens, thinking becomes broader, more connected and less defensive. Without constant digital (and human) intrusion, leaders can finally hear themselves, and each other, think.

There is lots of research to back this up, but most leaders know it instinctively within minutes of stepping outside.

5)      Shared adventure builds cohesion, communication and collaboration

There’s a difference between working alongside people and truly trusting them.

Sharing a challenge or adventure together, especially in nature, strips away hierarchy and performance. Titles matter less when you’re navigating terrain, weather or uncertainty together. What emerges instead is authenticity, mutual reliance, communication and respect.

These experiences create stories that teams carry back into their working lives. They act as shared reference points that reinforce trust long after the adventure ends.

6)      Space and nature create perspective and a different timeline

When leaders physically step away from their usual environment, mental distance follows. Problems that felt overwhelming in the office often shrink when viewed from a wider horizon.

Nature provides both literal and metaphorical perspective. It reminds teams that not everything is urgent, that systems are interconnected, and that long-term thinking matters. When it comes to nature management, decisions are often made on 10, 20, or 50 years timeframes.

What would it look like if you were to apply that longevity to your business thinking?

Nature is where better questions emerge, not just better answers.

7)      Fewer distractions, combined with rich surroundings, make for better decisions

Without emails, meetings and screens pulling attention in multiple directions, leadership teams are able to focus fully on what matters most. When surrounded by wide landscapes, movement of trees, birdsong, stars, sunsets, seascapes, mountains – whatever your preferred choice of environment - conversations go deeper. Listening improves. Silence becomes productive rather than awkward. Strategy stops being an agenda item and becomes the main event.

Decisions made in these conditions are clearer, more aligned and more courageous.

It's time to rethink where leadership happens

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” A famous quote often attributed to Einstein.

So if we want leadership teams to think differently, to tackle new, rapidly evolving challenges, we need to stop putting them in environments that force them to think the same way as they have always done.

Nature and shared adventures aren’t a “nice to have”.  They are a vital tool for clarity, cohesion and strategic thinking, especially in a world that’s faster, noisier and more complex than ever.

The most effective thing a leadership team can do isn’t another meeting, framework or away day in a conference room. It’s stepping outside, together and giving themselves the time and space to think.