Process support for reorientation of the Berg- und Naturwacht Styria

With its commitment to animals, plants and habitats, the mountain and nature guard is an important body in nature conservation. The numerous mountain and nature guards not only do educational work and raise awareness, but also make an important contribution to compliance with the legal requirements and prohibitions in nature conservation. The reconciliation of these two tasks often poses great challenges to the guard bodies in practice, and in some cases the structures within the organization are no longer up to date, which makes the work more difficult. In 2020, the province of Styria therefore launched a process for the reorientation and organizational development of the mountain and nature guard. Among other things, the task profile and the operational areas of the Styrian mountain and nature guards are to be sharpened and clear goals and measures for a reorientation are to be defined.

In an organizational development process, an external view can help to identify encrusted organizational structures and to sort out and defuse conflict-laden issues from a neutral perspective. Our support is intended to help the actors to clarify the essential questions for a reorientation and to develop new perspectives and ideas in a consensual manner.

We chair a total of three process workshops initiated by the province of Styria, in which the current challenges facing the Styrian mountain and nature guard are identified. Subsequently, solution-oriented goals and measures are developed together with all parties concerned. We also support the mountain and nature guards with orientation talks around the renewal process.

^{The photos were provided by the Styrian Berg- und Naturwacht.}