Welcome to the on-line home of Rutley Ventures Ltd.
Rutley Ventures is a father-son Social Innovation practice, based in Victoria, BC, Canada. We started working together in the spring of 2006, and incorporated in July of that year.
In the four years since we set up shop, the question of how to describe who we are and what we do has returned again and again. We’ve always trusted our wisdom and abilities, but we were challenged to put into words our organic and emergent process.
We’ve concluded that our success lies in the combination of a few strengths.
1. We ask good questions, and we keep asking them until we’ve reached clarity and understanding. We don’t rely on a favourite approach: we ask probing questions, stupid questions, open questions, pointed questions, appreciative questions, challenging questions, practical questions, reflective questions - each one in its own time.
2. We learn. We learn about the people and organizations we work with, we learn about the world around us, we learn about ourselves. As we learn, we help others learn - about themselves, about their organizations, about their values and priorities, about how to take meaningful action.
3. We get people engaged. With individuals, we get them engaged to take ownership of the direction of their lives, and their relationship to their world. With organizations, we get members engaged in creating the organization’s future, and we get organizations engaged with the broader community.
4. We’re experts in insight, rather than detail. We know that the people and organizations we work with know their trade, and we help them to trust their own expertise. When appropriate, we help them find other sources of data, but we act as conduits of understanding, not vessels of knowledge.
5. We have a full toolbox. We don’t rely on a hammer, so we don’t see every situation as a nail. We have worksheets, processes, frameworks, and models, but we never let the tools dictate the work. The tools stay in the toolbox until the right moment, and they’re put away quietly when they’ve served their purpose.
6. All that we’ve learned, we love to teach. We love to help people and organizations learn to do for themselves what we do for them. The greatest success is to no longer be needed.
So, here we are. We’ve been blessed to work with many wonderful people and organizations along the way, and we look forward to many more years of working with others to shine happiness, prosperity, and fulfillment on our world.
Thank you.
Ryan Rutley BA
Bruce Rutley PhD PAg