Alder – The Adaptable One

🦊 The Story of Alder

Alder lived a little further into the woodland than the other companions.

He knew almost every path.

Not because he always followed the signs, but because he was very good at noticing things.

Gaps between the trees & bushes.

Streams that changed direction after a heavy rain.

Fallen branches that meant the usual path was blocked.

Or a tiny track through the bracken that most creatures hadn’t noticed.

“Alder is our adaptable guide, showing us that when the path changes, we can pause, look around and find another way forward.”
That feels particularly fitting for a fox - they are highly adaptable and can live across a wide range of habitats.

Alder had learned something over the years : There is rarely only one way forward.

He didn’t always take the obvious route - Sometimes he took the long way around, every now and then he stopped completely, occasionally he went back the way he had come.

Every so often Alder discovered a path that nobody else knew existed . . .

When Alder first met Rowyn, Rowyn was getting frustrated, he had been trying to complete something in exactly the way that he had been shown - But it wasn’t working for him.

Rowyn noticed Alder watching and said : “I can’t do it.”

Alder looked at what Rowyn was doing, He then studied the instructions & glanced back at Rowyn.

He didn’t say : “You need to try harder.”
Or say : “This is the way everyone else does it.”

Instead, he asked : “What if we tried a different way ?”

Rowyn looked surprised - “Am I allowed to do that ?”

Alder just smiled saying - “Why wouldn’t you be ?”

Alder began to notice something :

Sometimes people weren’t struggling because they lacked the ability to do the task.
More often they were struggling because the route they had been given didn’t work for them . . .

A different explanation may be better.
Visual guides might help.
More time would be beneficial.
Breaking something down into smaller steps.
Talking while walking might help with thought process.
Writing something down themselves might assist.

Or perhaps the person simply needed the opportunity to try it for themselves.

Alder became fascinated by this . . .

He started noticing that changing the route wasn’t the same as lowering the destination, And that became one of the things he cared about most . . .

Alder became the companion who would often say : “What other ways could we try ?”

When Rowyn couldn’t see how to do something, Alder looked for another feasible route.

When some said : “But everyone else does it this way.”
Alder would ask : “Does that mean it is the only way ?”

While many assumed that adapting something meant making it easier, Alder would quietly challenge them :  “Or does it mean making it possible for anyone to show what they can really do ?”

And when someone reached a blocked path, Alder never treated it as the end of the journey, He would look around.

There might be another path . . .

Alder represents something really important in our mentoring philosophy : Adaptation without lowering expectations.

He reminds mentors that the question doesn’t always have to be : “How do we get this person to fit our way of doing things ?”

It can be :

“What could we change about the way we work together so this person has a genuine opportunity to demonstrate what they can do ?”

That’s the difference between making someone fit the pathway and making the pathway more accessible . . .

“Alder reminds us that there is more than one way to reach a destination. Changing the route doesn’t mean lowering the expectation - sometimes it simply gives someone the opportunity to show what they can do.”

Alder's motto :

“There is always another way.”

I think that makes Alder particularly lovely alongside Bramble.

Bramble says : “Slow down. Look closer. Listen well.” 🦡
Alder says : “There is always another way.” 🦊
Rowyn says : “There isn’t just one path.” 🌿

And together, these three individuals already tell a huge part of the Celtrose story. ❤️

“Success isn’t overnight. It’s when every day you get a little better than before . . . It adds up”
Dwayne Johnson