Butterfly & Co: Transformation as a Living Practice
In Belgium, Butterfly & Co has built a reputation for guiding organizations through transformation in a way that is as practical as it is human. What sets it apart is a dual identity: it operates both as a consultancy and as a transformation school. This structure reflects a core belief, that meaningful change is not something done to an organization but something cultivated from within by people who live it every day.
This blog post is part of 80+ case studies of progressive organizations we created for the ZeroDX awards 2025. These organizations embody the principles of RenDanHeYi in their work structures:
Zero Distance to customer: Decision what to build is based on insights from the marketplace
Autonomy: Small teams with full decision-making autonomy enable speed in execution
Shared Rewards: Everyone in the micro-enterprise participates in its financial success.
The team describes itself as a “living laboratory.” Every tool or method they use with clients is first tested internally, ensuring that their work is grounded in lived experience rather than abstract theory. The purpose is clear: to helporganizations develop the capacity to adapt and renew themselves, so that transformation becomes an ongoing practice instead of a finite project.
Their approach connects personal growth with collective evolution. This often means coaching leaders to articulate a purpose that inspires others, equipping teams with the skills to resolve tensions without reverting to hierarchy, and redesigning structures so that they reinforce rather than undermine desired cultural norms. These elements echo theRenDanHeYi principle of zero distance, working alongside the people who will live the transformation and shaping itwith them rather than imposing a fixed model from outside.
One way to understand Butterfly & Co’s transformation work is to see it as a set of interconnected entry points, often explored in parallel. The coaching team starts by helping client organizations face the fears that tend to block change, such as losing control, status or identity, while building psychological safety in everyday work situations. They then encourage teams to replace rigid planning with cycles of experimentation, guiding individuals to design their own processes before expanding them collectively. Attention is also given to ensuring that the right people are in place to influence and model change. This step often begins with the Sherpa method, in which a small “first circle” of trusted internal volunteers, typically 15 to 20 percent of the organization, are identified to act as early guides, much like mountain Sherpas helping others navigate difficult terrain. Finally, the team works with leaders and employees to adjust organizational systems so that incentives, performance evaluations and other structures reinforce rather than undermine the desired culture.
Internally, Butterfly & Co applies the same principles. Decision-making adapts to the context: strategic choices involve the associate group and sometimes external advisers, operational matters sit with the coach responsible, and collective consent is used for issues with wide impact. All decisions are checked against two constant points ofreference: whether they benefit the planet (“Gaia”) and whether they serve Butterfly & Co as a living entity. Roles are clear but flexible. “Spinners” lead transversal mini-companies such as events, R&D or documentation. “Referent coaches” steward client relationships, oversee project results and share information across the team. “Shiftmakers,” often graduates of their own school, act as change catalysts in client systems.
The creation of the “Shiftmaker” school was a natural extension of Butterfly & Co’s mission. Founded and run by the same team, the school is an in-house academy dedicated to developing transformation capabilities inside clientorganizations. Its role is to ensure that the cultural and structural shifts started during a consultancy engagement cancontinue and grow long after the external coaches have stepped away. The flagship Shiftmaker program equips participants to become catalysts for change within their own systems, able to move fluidly between the psychological and organizational dimensions of transformation.
The learning journey is immersive, with as much emphasis on personal growth as on technical skills. Participants work on their own self-awareness, courage and relational capacity so they can influence without relying on formal authority. Learning journals from recent cohorts capture moments of transformation: finding the confidence to speak openlyabout vulnerabilities, moving from complaint to constructive action, letting go of control to trust a group’s collective intelligence, and reconnecting with creativity and playfulness. When they return to their workplaces, graduates often initiate new practices such as creating safe spaces for dialogue, bringing meta-reflection into meetings and modelling adult-to-adult relationships that sustain distributed leadership.
Experiments inside Butterfly & Co often lead directly to innovations in client work. One example is the “Oxygen Project,” which explored how to recognize and reward contributions to internal activities not directly tied to client delivery. Through collective intelligence, the team tested different remuneration models for “spinners,” seeking a balance between fair recognition, financial sustainability and entrepreneurial spirit. This in-house trial provided practical experience before offering similar solutions to clients.
The results of Butterfly & Co’s transformation approach, which combines consultancy work with the capacity-building of the “Shiftmaker” school, have been both measurable and cultural. At Euroclear Bank, their involvement contributed to a 30 percent increase in employee engagement, efficiency gains of up to 70 percent in certain processes andmodernization efforts accelerated by half. The organization also recorded 20 percent cost savings, a 255 percent return on investment and a marked reduction in operational risks while maintaining high quality standards.
For Butterfly & Co, transformation is only complete when it becomes self-sustaining. Indicators include greater psychological safety, new shared language that reflects ownership rather than blame, collaboration across boundaries and the point at which internal shiftmakers take on responsibilities once held by external coaches. At that stage,change is no longer an initiative, it has become part of the organization’s identity, resonating with RenDanHeYi’s vision of companies as self-evolving systems.
Whether working with large corporates, humanitarian organizations or smaller enterprises, Butterfly & Co adapts its methods to each context. Success is measured not by ongoing dependence on their services, but by the ability of theclient system to keep developing on its own, a form of zero distance in which consultant and organization learn together until the distinction between them fades away.
