Abstract
Café Séneca, the largest affinity chapter of the Uniandinos Alumni Association in Colombia, is dedicated to the wellbeing of older adults and led by retired members. Despite its popularity, the chapter lacked a strategic design structure, relying on inertia to shape its activities and limiting its ability to evolve sustainably. This paper presents a reflective case study of SenSilver, a situated participatory strategic design framework developed for organizations led by and for older adults. Combining business, positive, and empowerment-oriented design with biological, social, and psychological dimensions of aging, the framework was applied through a research-consultancy process with Café Séneca. The case revealed a dynamic of symbiotic behaviors, in which members continuously alternated between leadership and participant roles, shaping both organizational value and internal tensions while also countering the invisibilization of older adults’ contributions and agency in society. The study contributes a context-specific framework for strategic design in later-life organizations.
Keywords
aging leadership, Silver Economy, user-leadership behavior, silver organizational dynamics
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.355
Citation
Gómez, J., González, M., Pedraza, T., and Riveros, L. (2026) Symbiotic Behaviors and Strategic Design: A Situated Participatory Framework for Organizations Led by/for Older Adults, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.355
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Symbiotic Behaviors and Strategic Design: A Situated Participatory Framework for Organizations Led by/for Older Adults
Café Séneca, the largest affinity chapter of the Uniandinos Alumni Association in Colombia, is dedicated to the wellbeing of older adults and led by retired members. Despite its popularity, the chapter lacked a strategic design structure, relying on inertia to shape its activities and limiting its ability to evolve sustainably. This paper presents a reflective case study of SenSilver, a situated participatory strategic design framework developed for organizations led by and for older adults. Combining business, positive, and empowerment-oriented design with biological, social, and psychological dimensions of aging, the framework was applied through a research-consultancy process with Café Séneca. The case revealed a dynamic of symbiotic behaviors, in which members continuously alternated between leadership and participant roles, shaping both organizational value and internal tensions while also countering the invisibilization of older adults’ contributions and agency in society. The study contributes a context-specific framework for strategic design in later-life organizations.