Organisational therapy for a fit, healthy culture
At Emerging Futures, we realised some time ago that passion (combined with high levels of competency and skills), makes all the difference to the delivery of meaningful services (fit for our family, our loved ones and our communities). We also understood the value of having a clear framework to guide our action and behaviour in accordance with our principles. For us, that framework is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
Organisational therapy
For those new to the topic, ACT is a form of psychological therapy that helps people deal positively with negative thoughts. ACT supports people to learn and understand how their thoughts, feelings and emotions relate to their values and behaviour. So, if you want to deliver therapy you need a therapist, right? And to do it organisation-wide, you need an organisational therapist? With my aversion to all things formal and/or clinical, I’ll admit, having a ‘shrink’ in our midst wasn’t in the plan. God forbid they may start challenging our thinking and the way we do business!
I’ve always been interested in how culture is established and how difficult it is to challenge negative and unhelpful cultures. “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” they say; I couldn’t agree more. Strategy isn’t unimportant but rather a powerful and empowering culture will deliver that strategy sooner. But how do we check our culture reflects our values and ethos?
Instinct versus reflection
Working with Dr Anneli Gasgoyne over the last year, both individually and as a senior management team has been a revelation. I don’t use that word lightly. I’ve always thought management was largely instinctive. You can pick up some useful techniques along the way and nothing beats experience but creating space and time to really consider how your emotions and thoughts impact on your behaviour is more effective than trusting your gut feeling. For me personally, being able to contain my professional dark thoughts, my frustrations and anxieties and convert them into meaningful strategies and tools is making a huge difference. I want to show up as the manager who is supportive, strength-based and solution-focused. ACT is helping me to do that.
Working towards a common goal
I personally believe that ACT has also allowed us to adopt a common language and honest dialogue within the organisation. Being open about how we are feeling, checking actions against our value base and knowing that we are all working ‘towards’ a common goal makes for a great workplace and we know that is directly transmissible to service users’ experience. We invest heavily in staff wellbeing so they can do the best they can with service users. We also need to make sure our organisation is fit, healthy and reflective. Therapy all round then?
