The Nine Principles of Organisational Psychotherapy – 2nd Ed.

It’s been nearly ten years now since I first penned the original version of the Nine Principle of Organisational Psychotherapy. In the intervening years, I’ve had the opportunity to reflect on that post, and this second edition attempts to clarify a few things, mainly in the preamble (i.e. not in the nine principles themselves).

Foundational Premise

The foundational premise of Organisational Psychotherapy is that every organisation’s effectiveness is a function of its collective assumptions and beliefs. The practice of Organisational Psychotherapy engages with organisations to support them – through the person of the therapist, with their special skills and knowledge – in surfacing and reflecting on those collective assumptions and beliefs. With explicit scrutiny, client organisations may choose to examine and reconsider some aspects of their collective assumptions and beliefs.

With assumptions and beliefs better suited to, and more closely aligned with organisational purpose, organisations can flourish and become great places to work, super-effective at pursing their chosen purpose.

Definitions

“Psychology is more of the ‘let’s figure out what is going on’ (scientist) and psychiatry is more ‘let’s treat whatever is going on’ (physician)”.

In this regard, we might regard psychotherapy as a subset of psychiatry. Whereas the psychiatrist has a range of treatment options open to them – talk therapy, pharmacology, and so on – the psychotherapist typically focuses on some form(s) of talk therapy. According to the APA, the terms “psychotherapy” and “talk therapy” are essentially synonymous.

Whereas the focus of psychotherapy is mostly on the individual (sometimes, on couples or families), the focus of Organisational Psychotherapy is on the organisation as a whole (often referred to as the group psyche, collective psyche, or organisational mind).

Aims

Organisational Psychotherapy aims to increase an organisation’s well-being and, as a inevitable consequence, its effectiveness. Organisational psychotherapists employ a range of techniques based on:

• experiential relationship building
• emotional support
• dialogue
• communication
• behaviour change

Organisational Psychotherapy posits that application of such techniques may improve the “mental health” of an organisation, including the improvement of relationships – both individual and collective – within the organisation (and often, between the organisation and external parties, such as its customers and suppliers, too).

Distinctions

Although there is no clear division, organisational psychotherapy differs from e.g. organisational psychology in that psychotherapy is generally focussed on “treatment”, whereas psychology is primarily focussed on study, research, and the addressing of presumed workplace needs such as e.g. creation of systems, policies, and etc.

From my perspective, as an “organisational psychotherapist”, organisational psychology most commonly aligns to the Analytic mindset, whilst Organisational Psychotherapy has much more in common with the Synergistic mindset. YMMV.

Put another way, Organisational Psychotherapy involves inviting the organisation “onto the psychiatrist’s couch” and working through its issues using e.g. listening, questioning and conversations.

Note: The principles listed here are my principles – as a practising Organisational Psychotherapist. Other folks may work to different principles. When enquiring about the approach of a particle Organisational Psychotherapist, you may wish to enquire about their principles.

Treatment or Support?

In the past, psychotherapists referred to clients as “patients” and therapy was seen as a means for treating those with mental health issues, where the patients “have something wrong with them that needs fixing”. Nowadays, psychotherapists recognise the flaws in taking such a treatment stance, and favour a role more aligned to supporting clients – where every client has an innate capacity and desire for change and personal growth.

Organisations are not people. And the psychology of organisations is much less well understood – and less easy to get at – than the psychology of individuals.

Much as we might like to “section” some toxic organisations, this option is not (yet) available to us (society). Even “voluntary commitment”, or therapy, is something that few organisations even yet perceive as being an option open to them.

We have some way to go yet before organisations come to consider Organisational Psychotherapy as “acceptable”. In California, for example, most folks regard (personal) therapy as a perfectly normal response to the travails of life. There’s little or no social stigma associated with having a personal therapist.

Such cannot be said of psychotherapy for organisations. Organisations rarely recognise they have a collective “mental state”, let alone perceive the nature, characteristics of that mental state at any given point in time.

I posit that even organisations that are relatively healthy, mentally, can benefit from therapy (much as “well-adjusted” individuals so benefit).

The Nine Principles

The following are the nine principles that I work to when acting in the role of psychotherapist for any given (client) organisation:

1. Risk Awareness

Cognisance of all the things that could go wrong during the therapeutic intervention. Knowing these risks, the therapist may choose to take steps to manage them on behalf of the client – at least until such time as the client chooses to manage them for themselves.

2. Do No Harm

Ensure that individuals, in particular (but also groups, and the organisation as a whole) do not suffer any (avoidable) negative consequences from the therapeutic interventions. More than this, work to instil hope in the folks within the scope of the therapy (this in itself is a moral and practical hazard, as some organisations are so dysfunctional as to cynically attempt to exploit such new hope).

3. Organisations Have a Collective Psyche that Responds to Therapies

Organisational Psychotherapy proceeds on the basis that the collective psyche of an organisation is similar in nature to the psyche of the individual, and is similarly amenable to therapeutic interventions (although both the actual techniques and underlying concepts may differ).

4. Mutual Benefits

Therapy sets out to improve the mutual well-being of both the organisation, the groups within the organisation, and the individual within the organisation. In other words, everyone involved is looking for win-win outcomes. Additionally, at the choice of the client, the scope may include other organisations, groups and individuals (and maybe wider society, too) in this seeking of mutually-beneficial outcomes.

5. Trust

Like any other psychotherapy, the process of Organisational Psychotherapy is one of building a network of mutual-trust relationships. It starts with trust between the therapist and the organisation, maturing into trust in and amongst the organisation itself.

Note: Patrick Lencioni, in his book “Five Dysfunctions of a Team” explains the nature – and strengths – of “vulnerability-based trust”:

Folks who are not genuinely open with one another – and themselves – about their mistakes and weaknesses make it impossible to build a foundation for trust, which in itself is a fundamental requirement for the pursuit of mutual benefit and well-being.

6. Well-being First

As in individual therapy, Organisational Psychotherapy has no agenda excepting the general wish to see the client organisation flourish and increase its level of wellbeing. Indeed, the therapist will seek to solicit an agenda from the client, probably over time as their relationship unfolds, rather than bring along any agenda of their own.

See also: Positive Psychology, as described by e.g. Professor Martin Seligman.

7. Work in the White Space

Working on the relationships between people, groups and organisations has much more impact that trying to “fix” individuals. Indeed, some key developments (growth, improvement) can only happen in the context of relationships.

8. Cognitive Harmony

Many organisations, particularly in times of stress or change, suffer acutely from “organisational cognitive dissonance” – feelings of anxiety and discomfort resulting from simultaneously holding contradictory or otherwise incompatible attitudes, beliefs, or sets of assumptions. Organisational Psychotherapy aims to surface such contradictions and provide support to the client in reflecting upon them. This in turn may lead to the client choosing to changing some of these cognitions, and thereby leading to improved “cognitive harmony”.

9. Evidence-Based

“In like manner, if I let myself believe anything on insufficient evidence, there may be no great harm done by the mere belief; it may be true after all, or I may never have occasion to exhibit it in outward acts. But I cannot help doing this great wrong towards Man, that I make myself credulous. The danger to society is not merely that it should believe wrong things, though that is great enough; but that it should become credulous, and lose the habit of testing things and inquiring into them; for then it must sink back into savagery.”

~ William Kingdon Clifford

Evidence of efficacy can provide both reassurance and comfort for those involved in therapeutic interventions. Some number of the other principles noted here (especially Risk Awareness, and Do No Harm) benefit greatly from an awareness of the evidence.

Summary

In summary, then, Organisational Psychotherapy offers a powerful approach to improving the well-being of an organisation, as well as the well-being of the people and groups involved, including those of other organisations who come into contact with the subject organisation. Such improvements translate directly to the organisation’s bottom line.

– Bob

Further Reading

Verywell Mind. (n.d.). How Group Therapy Works. [online] Available at: http://psychology.about.com/od/psychotherapy/f/group-therapy.htm [Accessed 6 Oct. 2021].

Rebellious Wellness. (n.d.). Irvin Yalom’s Eleven Therapeutic Factors for Group Therapy. [online] Available at: https://www.rebelliouswellnesstherapy.com/yalomcurativefactors [Accessed 6 Oct. 2021].

Seligman, M.E.P. (2018). Flourish: A New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being and How to Achieve Them. Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

Lencioni, P.  (2012). The Advantage: Why Organisational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business. Jossey-Bass.

Think Different. (2012). My Organisational Psychotherapy Toolkit. [online] Available at: /2012/11/03/my-organisational-psychotherapy-toolkit/ [Accessed 6 Oct. 2021].

Marshall, R.W. (2021). Hearts over Diamonds: Serving Business and Society Through Organisational Psychotherapy. Falling Blossoms. (Leanpub).

Marshall, R.W. (2021). Memeology: Surfacing and Reflecting on the Organisation’s Collective Assumptions and Beliefs. Falling Blossoms. (Leanpub).