La Fageda

When Cristóbal Colón first entered Spain's psychiatric hospitals, he was horrified. Patients with intellectual disabilities and mental illness lived in cells, naked, sleeping on straw like animals. Some were chained to beds. The lack of hygiene was total. People suffering from mental disorders had been misunderstood, mistreated, and ostracized from society throughout history.

Cristóbal decided to dedicate his life to improving conditions for those on the fringes. He specialized in labor therapy, understanding the rehabilitating value and dignity that honest work provides. He envisioned a humane working community where people across a full range of abilities could be truly seen and valued. La Fageda was created to accomplish this mission.

What started as landscape and gardening services became a unique socio-economic project offering healing and employment to more than 400 people, many with mental handicaps, mental illness, or from vulnerable backgrounds. La Fageda produces yogurt, ice cream, and jam sold throughout the La Garrotxa region of Catalonia, competing directly with large multinational corporations.

The Unimaginable Challenge

Operating diverse activities, dairy farm maintenance, food production, gardening, occupational therapy, job training, while welcoming 50,000 visitors annually to their secluded campus would be difficult under any circumstance. Doing so while empowering individuals society assumes are unemployable, and competing in a market dominated by multinational corporate giants, is nearly unimaginable.

As Cristóbal reflected: "How is it possible that a group of people society says are disabled, useless, unable to do anything, can compete effectively with large multinationals?"

Executive Team Tensions Threatening the Mission

Despite La Fageda's powerful social mission and growing business success—producing 10 million yogurts annually with €20 million in revenue—the executive team faced serious internal challenges that threatened sustainability.

Executive team members felt like individuals separately addressing different issues rather than working as a unified leadership. Internal tensions consumed energy that should have been directed toward the complex challenges of running a social enterprise. Entrenched disagreements had persisted for years without resolution, creating competitive maneuverings and disgruntled team members.

The Complex Tension: Profit vs. People

La Fageda faced a tension most businesses don't encounter,enhancing commercial endeavors without sacrificing their people-centric social mission. Where many businesses focus primarily on profit, La Fageda had to balance financial viability with providing employment opportunities, community structure, and therapeutic offerings for people society had marginalized.

The causes were interrelated. Financial viability provided the employment opportunities and therapeutic services that would otherwise be inaccessible for many employees. But helping employees with varying capacities experience the satisfaction of contributing in ways that aligned with their abilities while enabling business success required complex navigation.

Strategic Clarity Lacking

The executive team struggled to cultivate a unified vision for the future. Without strategic clarity and agreement on direction, the organization couldn't navigate the complex and changing business landscape effectively. The internal conflicts prevented the collaboration and innovation necessary to expand La Fageda's positive impact.

Cristóbal knew that while seeing the humanity in others was already at La Fageda's core, they needed to operationalize this mindset systematically. After reading "Leadership and Self-Deception," he sought out an Arbinger public workshop, believing Arbinger's capacity to operationalize an outward mindset would be crucial for La Fageda to continue thriving both as a business and as a social mission. 

La Fageda elected to have their leadership become trained to deliver Arbinger's training programs internally, ensuring every manager would participate in ongoing training led by Cristóbal with support from Arbinger coaches and consultants.

Building a Common Language

The training regimen established deep awareness of mindset's ubiquitous influence, how perception becomes distorted, how to recognize and shift unproductive conflict patterns, and how leaders can best help others change.

Having a common language to tackle problems and guide daily interactions enhanced the executive team's capacity to collaborate and innovate while staying grounded in core values. This became essential for navigating the complex tension between commercial success and social mission.

Addressing the Root of Conflict

Rather than managing symptoms of executive dysfunction, the training addressed underlying mindset issues. Team members began increasing awareness of one another's responsibilities and how they could offer support. This led to deeper interconnectedness within the leadership team.

Spreading Throughout the Organization

Beyond the executive team, Arbinger principles were disseminated throughout La Fageda. Executive team members implemented Arbinger tools within their respective teams to increase individual accountability and improve communication efficiency.

The process became ongoing, with La Fageda continuing to consult with Arbinger facilitators while refining onboarding, job training, and employee engagement practices. The goal: institutionalizing an enduring culture that elevates the humanity of each employee while promoting business excellence.

Arbinger training helped La Fageda's executive team reduce internal tensions and function more smoothly. Rather than feeling like individuals separately addressing different company issues, they increased awareness of one another's responsibilities and means to offer support.

Entrenched Conflicts Resolved

This deeper interconnectedness allowed entrenched disagreements to become cooperatively addressed. Issues that had been sources of conflict for years were resolved without competitive maneuverings or disgruntled combatants.

The culture at La Fageda quickly became an exemplary culture within the world of social entrepreneurship, demonstrating that a social mission and business excellence could coexist and reinforce each other.

Strategic Direction Unified

The team reached increased clarity and agreement regarding La Fageda's overall strategic direction. This provided synergy and optimism for the future, essential for an organization navigating the complex challenges of competing with multinationals while maintaining a people-centric mission.

With unified leadership, La Fageda could continue expanding its positive impact while maintaining financial sustainability.

Operational Excellence with Social Impact

La Fageda's business results demonstrate the power of their approach:

• €20 million in annual revenue
• 10 million yogurts produced and sold annually
• 400+ employees, many society deemed "unemployable"
• 50,000 visitors annually to their campus
• Successful competition with multinational corporations in the regional market

The improved executive team cohesion enabled La Fageda to continue its expansion beyond the original 40 employees hired from psychiatric hospitals. They now employ people with intellectual disabilities, severe mental disorders, and those at risk of social exclusion—providing not just jobs, but dignity, community, and purpose.

Sustained Commitment to Mission

Cristóbal believes that partnering with Arbinger has been crucial for institutionalizing an enduring culture. Armed with the perspectives, frameworks, and tools of an outward mindset, La Fageda continues producing quality products and changing lives.

The organization demonstrates that when executive teams resolve internal conflicts and align on strategic direction, they can accomplish what seems impossible: competing effectively with multinationals while empowering people society has marginalized, proving that social mission and business excellence reinforce rather than contradict each other.

La Fageda proved that even organizations with powerful social missions face operational challenges that threaten sustainability. Executive team tensions, entrenched conflicts, and lack of strategic clarity consumed energy regardless of mission purity. When La Fageda's leadership resolved years-long disagreements and achieved strategic alignment, they unlocked the capacity to compete with multinational corporations while employing 400+ people society deemed unemployable. The lesson: addressing how leadership teams see and work with each other isn't a luxury for social enterprises—it's essential for fulfilling social missions at scale. Without resolving internal conflict and achieving strategic clarity, even the most noble mission remains limited in impact.