Your Business – in Therapy
Step back, close your eyes and imagine your business as a person. What could this person get from therapy?
Let’s consider this person from four perspectives.
The Body. How healthy is this person’s actual human resources? Do they feel cared for and nurtured or are they stretched beyond their limitations? Are they comfortable at work or do they exist in a state of tension and unease?
Others. What role do Others (authority figures) occupy in this person? Do they jump quickly and nervously in relation to instructions or are there spaces and techniques for them to become calm and considered? Do the historical circuits of expectation between Body and Others limit the way in which this person operates?
Thinking. Does this person actually think or are they reproducing old cognitive patterns that give them the illusion of safety? Is this person inspired to be creative and innovative? If not what limits their approaches to business? Do they have a distance on their thinking or are they bullied by it?
Emotions. What role do this person’s emotions play in the business? Is the environment one in which the emotions have an accepted role in decision-making or are they considered a risk and are therefore discounted?
These four elements can be considered as a compass. The Body to Others represents the vertical axis and Thoughts to Emotions the horizontal axis. The interaction of these elements constitutes the way the business-individual goes about his or her work.
The Workshops
We offer a one day workshop which is split into three parts.
In the first session we Explore the (BOTE) Model.
We begin by illustrating how the model has proven effective in therapy with a number of businesses. By exploring the links between Body and Others we have revealed some unacknowledged elements linking performance pressures to bodily health which inform how the business operates. By considering the Thinking to Emotions axis we learn what may have held the business back – for example by ‘over-thinking’. This phrase reveals the ways in which emotions keep informing thoughts to the extent that he no longer thinks clearly and begins to obsess about various imagined outcomes. Once the BOTE model has been explained participants now take an objective view of the organisation by placing certain words on the business compass. This quickly uncovers hidden tendencies and pressures.
In the second session the Problem is recast.
A common problem many organisations suffers from is the failure to move quickly and creatively to new challenges as they appear. For example: the first session may have revealed some hidden qualities in the leader. How has the organisation (though the body) sought to keep up with the boss? Do they work in tandem or is something holding them back?. What may be revealed is a tension between the boss trying to move in one direction and a body that has become invested in its own stability. The vertical axis bends but does not move. The business stagnates. Alternatively the business may rush ahead into a new adventure with Thoughts, Emotions and Other all connected in upward pursuit of the opportunity. But when the Body is ignored or disconnected from this pursuit it may dig in its heels or become exhausted thus depriving the other functions of the energy they need.
In the third session a Solution is Offered.
The solution is co-ordinated change. We return to the data acquired at the end of session one. To what extent can or do individuals recognise where they are on the business compass? On the vertical axis: to what extent do the Others acknowledge and appreciate what it is that the Body does? On the horizontal axis: how can individuals be integrated into the decision-making of the organisation or are they so deep in their habits that they cannot be shifted and thus remain functionally limited? Is the emotional aspect of the business sufficiently utilised or does it remain peripheral, marginal to decision-making?
Our aim is to help create a more integrated workforce – one better able to recognise that by utilising and integrating all four BOTE functions the business has a much better chance to become more responsive and effective.