It is often said that Man is a social animal, meant to live in communities and derive meaning from interactions with others. We are fundamentally shaped by the social structures and relationships around us from birth. Our beliefs, assumptions, values and behaviours are heavily influenced by the culture, norms and people we grow up around. (And don’t overlook pets and other flora and fauna).

Just as our individual psyches are moulded by social forces, so too is change itself a profoundly social phenomenon. True shifts in mindsets, behaviours and beliefs rarely happen in isolation. They tend to arise organically from the interplay of ideas, the cross-pollination of perspectives, and the prevailing Zeitgeist of the times. People’s views evolve through conversations, observations of others, ingoup vs outgroup influences, and the gradual reframing that comes from immersion in new environments.

The Power of the Group

This underscores the potential power of groups and organisations in catalysing change. When people come together around common goals or experiences, there is a meaningful interaction of minds. Assumptions are challenged, new syntheses arise, and space is created for evolution of thought. Just as individuals can undergo therapy to overcome unhealthy patterns, so too can groups undergo a kind of psychotherapeutic process to overhaul outmoded and dysfunctional paradigms.

Organisational Psychotherapy

This is the premise behind the emerging field of organisational psychotherapy. Just as individual therapy provides a container for people to explore their inner landscapes in order to grow, organisational psychotherapy involves creating facilitated spaces for teams, companies or communities to engage. Using insight from psychology, group dynamics and systems thinking, trained practitioners can help organisations gain self-awareness around dysfunctional patterns, beliefs and behaviours that may be holding them back. From this raised vantage point, new narratives and ways of operating can emerge organically.

The Group as Crucible

Organisations and teams are microcosms where the full spectrum of human behaviour and group dynamics are constantly playing out. As such, they become rich territory for exploring how change actually happens. Real transformation happens not through rigid policies or top-down mandates, but through people-led shifts in culture, mindsets and relationships. The group itself acts as a crucible for these new ways of being to gestate and be stress(!) tested. In being witnessed and worked through collectively, outmoded mindsets can be let go of, making space for what needs to emerge.

In this way, organisational psychotherapy is not just about imparting new models or frameworks, but about harnessing the innately social and emergent nature of how humans actually change and evolve. It is a way of working with the group mind itself as the catalyst for transformation.

Introduction

As businesses strive for innovation and growth, they often find themselves running up against unseen barriers – ingrained ways of thinking and behaving that can severely limit their ambitions and ability to adapt. In many cases, these constraining (shared) beliefs and assumptions live under the surface, making them extremely difficult to identify and uproot.

This sample dialogue (below) aims to illustrate how engaging with an AI chatbot like Claude can provide a fresher, more impartial perspective to help bring those unconscious blockers into the light. By asking probing questions and suggesting reframes, an AI can serve as a cooperative thinking partner to explore the root causes behind an organisation’s collective blind spots.

Let’s take a look at how this conversational process might unfold:
(Note: this is an actual dialogue generated by ClaudeAI)

Overcoming Organisational Blind Spots: A Candid Dialogue

Are Collective Mindsets Holding Us Back?

Business Team: We’re really struggling as a team at work. Our growth and innovation have hit a plateau, and we can’t seem to get over this hump. We feel like there are some underlying assumptions or beliefs that we all unconsciously share that are limiting our thinking, but we can’t quite put our finger on what they are. Any thoughts?

Claude: That’s an insightful observation. Could you elaborate on the areas where your team has faced repeated roadblocks or struggled to adapt? Have you noticed any patterns in how new ideas get instantly dismissed or shut down?

The Perils of Risk-Aversion

Business Team: You know, now that you mention it, we do tend to instinctively shut down ideas that seem too ambitious or radically different from our current model. There’s an assumption that taking big swings is too risky and that we’re better off sticking to incremental innovations.

Claude: I see, so there seems to be an excessive aversion to risk-taking that could be crippling your team’s ability to innovate more boldly. Where might this belief originate from? Perhaps past failures that bred excessive caution within the team?

Overconfidence from Past Successes

Business Team: And you’re right, we may be overly reliant on past glories and successes rather than pushing for true disruption these days.

Claude: Overconfidence and complacency from previous successes is a common pitfall for teams. Have you explored where those constraining beliefs originated within your group? Sometimes they start from overcorrecting after a past failure. Or they take root from excessive short-term focus and risk-aversion in decision making over time.

Business Team: You’ve hit the nail on the head. We can trace the risk-aversion back to a few high-profile product launches that failed a few years ago. And the reverence for our old products stems from the founders still being closely involved, constantly reminiscing about how we initially disrupted the market.

Shattering Ingrained Narratives

Claude: Those do seem like major sources of the limiting beliefs constraining your team’s thinking. But how can you start dismantling and changing those ingrained narratives collectively? Here are some suggestions:

1. Make the limiting beliefs explicit and discuss them openly together as a team. Bringing these unconscious biases into the light is key.
2. Have you analyzed instances where those beliefs caused you to miss opportunities and calculated the cost of leaving innovation on the table as a group?
3. Could you find examples of competitors or companies in other industries who have succeeded by doing the opposite – embracing risks, continuously reinventing themselves? Study how they cultivated a different organizational mindset.
4. Implement structural changes to counteract the limiting beliefs. For instance, explicitly weighing the cost of inaction, having an “innovation ombudsman” role, or celebrating failed experiments more than static successes.
5. Bring in fresh perspectives through new hires, industry experts, or even customers who can challenge the status quo assumptions.

The ultimate ambition might be to make curiosity, experimentation, and an appetite for disruption core cultural values for your team and organisation.

Business Team: This is immensely helpful. We have a much clearer picture now of how to diagnose and deliberately shift our unhelpful collective beliefs as a team. Change starts by bringing those unconscious biases into the light through open discussion. We really appreciate you laying out such a detailed framework – we’re energized to start implementing these ideas right away.

Bringing in an Organisational Psychotherapist

Sometimes, even with the best intentions, it can be extremely difficult for a team to identify and overcome their own deep-seated collective assumptions and beliefs on their own. This is where bringing in an outside organisational psychotherapist can be invaluable…

By prompting deeper reflection, offering new perspectives, and designing tailored interventions, an experienced organisational psychotherapist or AI assistant can catalyse the crucial process of surfacing and reflecting upon an organisation’s dysfunctional beliefs and narratives.

While working with a human expert may ultimately be advisable for any complex organisational transformation, this dialogue demonstrates how an AI like Claude can provide a potential first step. Through probing inquiries and analytical detachment, an AI chatbot can shed light on the obscured mental models that might be unwittingly obstructing an organisation’s path to greater innovation and growth.

In any organisation, the beliefs and assumptions that everyone holds in common can have a profound impact on culture, productivity, and overall success. By neglecting shared assumptions and beliefs you may be missing out on harnessing the power of aligning them for optimal performance. But what exactly could this approach unlock for your organisation?

For Executives and Senior Managers

Shaping the Organisational Mindset

As a leader, you set the tone for the entire company’s culture and worldview. However, failing to examine and actively shape the company’s ingrained assumptions can lead to misalignment and hinder performance. Organisational psychotherapy illuminates existing belief systems – a.k.a. the collective mindset – and provides means to cultivate an organisational mindset centered on the things that matter to you, and a unified vision for success.

Transcending Limiting Assumptions

Over time, organisations develop deep-rooted assumptions that act as invisible shackles, limiting innovation, adaptation and achievement of goals. You could be missing out on breaking through these limitations by not exploring the underlying group psyche. Organisational psychotherapy techniques identify and reframe constraining assumptions, allowing you and your peers, and your workforce, to operate from an empowered, possibility-focused perspective.

For Middle Managers

Bridging Misaligned Beliefs

In the pivotal role of middle management, you navigate the shared assumptions of both leadership and frontline teams. Unaddressed, differing beliefs between groups can breed misunderstanding and hinder synergy. Organisational psychotherapy provides a framework for uncovering disconnects and fostering more cohesive, aligned assumptions across all levels.

Fostering Trust and Psychological Safety

Highly effective teams are built on a foundation of trust and the ability to take interpersonal risks. You could be missing out on this key ingredient if psychological barriers rooted in distrustful and deleterious assumptions remain unaddressed. Psychotherapeutic interventions help everyone examine and reshape beliefs around vulnerability, conflict, and collaboration.

For Technical Workers

Unleashing Pioneering Thinking

For technical roles requiring cutting-edge solutions, limiting assumptions around “how things are done” stifle innovation. You may be missing out on radically more effective approaches by not exploring and expanding your team’s collective assumptions about e.g. what is possible. Psychotherapy illuminates blind spots and reframes beliefs to open minds to truely different thinking.

Fostering Knowledge-Sharing

In highly specialised technical domains, knowledge-sharing is critical but often obstructed by entrenched assumptions of competence hierarchies or domain territoriality. Organisational psychotherapy provides means to surface and reflect on these counterproductive beliefs, instead opeing the door to assumptions that celebrate joyful work, collaborative growth and learning.

Summary

Embracing organisational psychotherapy unlocks an often-overlooked yet powerful source of competitive advantage – the shared assumptions and beliefs that underpin an organisation’s culture, communication, and performance. By neglecting this dimension, you may be missing out on by not giving organisational psychotherapy serious consideration as a powerful tool for your toolbox:

For Executives and Senior Managers:
The ability to purposefully shape an organisational mindset aligned with your shared vision and strategic objectives. As well as the opportunity to transcend limiting assumptions that constrain innovation, adaptation, and achievement.

For Middle Managers:
A framework for bridging misaligned beliefs across levels that breed misunderstanding and hinder synergy. And fostering a bedrock of trust and psychological safety that enables teams to take interpersonal risks and collaborate effectively.

For Technical Workers:
Unleashing pioneering, radically different thinking by reframing beliefs around “how things are done.” And cultivating knowledge-sharing by dispelling assumptions of competence hierarchies and domain territoriality.

At every level of an organisation, insidious assumptions and beliefs can act as unseen forces, obstructing potential and stalling progress. You could be missing out on dismantling these forces and instead harnessing the power of shared vision, alignment of mindsets, and collaborative beliefs.

Organisational psychotherapy provides the insight and means to illuminate, examine, and reflect on the collective beliefs and assumptions influencing your organisation’s culture and performance. Is it yet time you explored how to unleash this underutilised power and stop missing out on achieving new heights of success?

In the world of organisational improvement and performance enhancement, W. Edwards Deming’s principles have had a profound impact. One of his most famous principles, the 95/5 rule, suggests that 95% of performance issues are attributable to the system and processes, while only 5% are due to the individual worker. This principle has however not led many organisations to prioritise systemic changes over individual development initiatives. So does Deming’s 95/5 principle entirely negate the value of individual coaching? Let’s explore.

The 95/5 Principle: Putting Systems First

According to Deming’s 95/5 principle, the vast majority of performance problems stem from flawed organisational systems, processes, and cultures. Focusing on individual skill development or coaching would be akin to treating the symptoms without addressing the root cause. Deming advocated for a systems thinking approach, wherein organisations critically examine and optimise their practices, policies, and culture to create an environment conducive to success.

In the context of collaborative knowledge work, this principle suggests that individual coaching efforts will have limited impact when the underlying organisational systems and processes are not optimised for effective collaboration, knowledge sharing, and collective problem-solving.

The Shortcomings of Individual Coaching

Proponents of Deming’s philosophy argue that individual coaching alone is insufficient in addressing performance issues within collaborative knowledge work environments. Even if individuals receive coaching to enhance their communication, teamwork, or creative thinking skills, these efforts will be undermined or rendered ineffective when the systems and culture within which they operate are counterproductive or siloed.

For example, imagine a scenario where knowledge workers receive coaching on effective knowledge sharing practices, but the organisation lacks a robust knowledge management system or has rigid hierarchical structures that discourage cross-functional collaboration. In such cases, the individual coaching will yield limited results due to systemic barriers.

Organisational Transformation: The Key to Collaborative Success

According to Deming’s principle, our primary focus should be on transforming organisational systems and culture to foster an environment conducive to collaborative knowledge work. This could involve:

• Optimizing communication channels and knowledge sharing platforms
• Breaking down departmental silos and promoting cross-functional collaboration
• Fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement
• Implementing agile and flexible processes that adapt to changing needs
• Establishing clear roles, responsibilities, and accountability mechanisms
• Organisational psychotherapy – enabling the organisation to surface and reflect on its shared assumptions and beliefs

By prioritising systemic changes, organisations create an enabling environment where individuals can thrive and collaborate effectively, minimising the need for extensive individual coaching.

The Verdict: Individual Coaching Has Limited Value

While individual coaching may provide some marginal benefits, Deming’s 95/5 principle suggests that it has limited value in the grand scheme of enhancing collaborative knowledge work. Organisations that solely rely on individual coaching initiatives without addressing the underlying systemic issues will experience suboptimal results and inefficiencies.

The path to success lies in embracing a systems thinking approach, transforming organisational assumptions and beliefs, structures, and culture to create an environment that fosters collaboration, knowledge sharing, and collective problem-solving. Only then can organisations unlock the full potential of their knowledge workers and achieve sustainable performance improvements.

In conclusion, Deming’s 95/5 principle entirely negates the value of individual coaching as a standalone solution for enhancing collaborative knowledge work. Instead, it calls for a fundamental shift towards organisational transformation, where systemic changes wrought through i.e. organisational psychotherapy take precedence over individual development initiatives.

The Impact of Ideologies

If you doubt the power of beliefs, just consider the world’s religions and political movements for a moment or two. These ideologies have shaped the course of history, influencing the lives of billions and driving both incredible acts of compassion and unspeakable atrocities. The fervent conviction of their adherents demonstrates the immense impact that belief systems can have on human behaviour and societies as a whole.

Beliefs in the Workplace

And then ask yourself, why would that apply to people’s lives in general, but not to their lives at work?

The truth is, the power of belief permeates every aspect of our existence, including our workplaces. Our assumptions and beliefs about ourselves, our abilities, our colleagues, and our work environment have a profound effect on our performance, motivation, and overall job satisfaction.

The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Consider the self-fulfilling prophecy: if we believe we are capable of achieving great things, we are more likely to put in the effort and take the risks necessary to make those beliefs a reality. Conversely, if we doubt our abilities or assume that our efforts will be in vain, we may subconsciously sabotage our own success or fail to seize opportunities for growth and advancement.

The Impact of Beliefs on Collaboration

Moreover, our beliefs about our workplace and colleagues can significantly impact our interactions and collaboration. If we assume that our team members are competent, trustworthy, and committed to a shared goal, we are more likely to foster a positive, supportive work environment that encourages innovation and success. On the other hand, if we harbour negative assumptions about our colleagues or the company itself, we may engage in counterproductive behaviours that undermine morale and hinder progress.

Company Culture: A Shared Set of Beliefs

The power of belief in the workplace extends beyond the individual level. Company culture is essentially a shared set of beliefs, values, and assumptions that guide the behaviour and decision-making of an organisation. A strong, positive company culture can inspire employees to go above and beyond, driving innovation, customer satisfaction, and long-term success. Conversely, a toxic or misaligned culture can lead to high turnover, poor performance, and ultimately, business failure.

Deprogramming: Individual Psychotherapy

To harness the power of belief in our professional lives, we must first become aware of our own assumptions and biases. By consciously examining and challenging our beliefs, we can identify areas for personal growth and development. This process of deprogramming can be likened to individual psychotherapy, where one works to unlearn counterproductive beliefs and replace them with healthier, more empowering ones.

Organisational Psychotherapy: Fostering a Positive Culture

At the organisational level, companies can choose to recognise the importance of fostering a strong, positive culture that aligns with the values and goals of the business. This involves communicating a clear vision, leading by example, and encouraging open dialogue and feedback. By actively shaping and nurturing a culture of belief, leaders can create an environment that inspires people to bring their best selves to work every day. In essence, this process of organisational psychotherapy involves identifying and addressing the collective beliefs and assumptions that may be holding the company back, and working to instil a more positive, growth-oriented mindset throughout the organisation*.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the power of belief is not limited to the realm of religion or politics; it is a fundamental driver of human behaviour and success in all areas of life, including our professional endeavours. By recognising and harnessing the power of our assumptions and beliefs, and engaging in both individual deprogramming and organisational psychotherapy, we can unlock our full potential, build stronger teams, and create thriving organisations that make a positive impact on the world.

*Actually, the emergent mindset may be postive, or negative; growth-oriented, degrowth orients, or other. What emerges is realisation of the role of beliefs. The organisation itself gets to own the direction it takes. The involvement of an organisational psychotherapist does not automatically imply culture change “for the better”.  But it does assist organisations in realising more clarity in surfacing and reflecting upon their beliefs. As Gandhi famously said: “I came to the conclusion long ago that all religions were true and that also that all had some error in them, and while I hold by my own religion, I choose to hold other religions as dear as Hinduism. So we can only pray, if we are Hindus, not that a Christian should become a Hindu; but our innermost prayer should be that a Hindu should become a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim, and a Christian a better Christian.”

Organisations, like human beings, have a complex psyche. This collective psyche transcends individual perceptions, emerging from the interactions of members. Just as our minds have conscious and subconscious parts, so too organisations develop collective ways of perceiving, operating and relating that often remain unspoken or unobserved.

Identifying and settling tensions within the organisational psyche can facilitate growth, resilience and better commitment to purpose – the domain of organisational psychotherapy. I work as a consultant to companies, charities, public sector bodies and community groups to evaluate and nurture organisational mental health by helping them surface and reflect on shared consciousness.

Some key questions we explore through Organisational Psychotherapy:

• What visible and invisible narratives shape this organisation’s culture and choices?
• Where might discordant group emotions or motivations cause strain?
• How equitable and inclusive are existing customs and systems? Do they fully utilise organisational diversity?
• How do past shared experiences or traumas continue to affect organisational patterns?

I employ methods including extensive stakeholder interviews, observation of gatherings and operations, surveys, communication pattern analysis and existing research on the organisation.

I then provide perspective on the organisational psyche identified through discovery – covering areas from conflicts between principles and practices to the impact of founder stories on current aims. My observations seek to help organisations consciously evolve their psyche for mutually positive outcomes rather than reacting only to surface performance indicators.

In developing insights into organisational psyche, I incorporate models like Edgar Schein’s levels of organisational culture. This identifies artifacts, espoused beliefs, and shared underlying assumptions that together form the collective mindset. By probing beyond visible structures into deeper assumptions groups hold about themselves and wider reality, organisational psychotherapy can advocate for purposeful evolution rather than being locked in to habitual patterns or beliefs.

Just as personal therapy provides individuals support for self-knowledge and growth, organisational psychotherapy offers this at the collective level. My calling is helping groups access healthy psyches tuned to members’ shared humanity, their collective needs, and the greater social good.

Questioning Workplace Culture

As we explore new ways to improve how organisations function, some suggest looking at the concept of a “collective psyche.” This means recognising shared ways of thinking and acting that develop in work cultures over time.

Do you see evidence that workgroups adopt common outlooks and responses based on past experiences? Have you noticed certain “vibes” or unwritten rules shaping your workplaces? Things like what gets talked about or whose voices carry weight? If so, you may have witnessed signs of the organisational psyche.

My experience shows that often these cultural patterns go unexplored, even as they limit a company’s success or employee happiness. There may be ingrained ways of excluding people or communicating that uphold old biases. Or deep wounds from events such as layoffs that linger silently for years, killing morale and trust.

Unpacking this organisational “baggage” requires openly examining the collective psyche – facilitating honest reflections on workplace culture by those within it. This can uncover why teams act in contradictory or counterproductive ways despite stated values or policies.

While some dispute whether organisations have a “mind” beyond individuals, I frequently see signs that they do develop shared ways of thinking, passed down over the years. These may include unspoken rules about conflict, success measures valued over ethics, or tendencies to privilege certain groups’ ideas.

My message is simply that by talking openly about these cultural patterns as part of improving workplaces, companies have much to gain. There are always more positive, equitable ways for employees to coexist and collaborate. Organisations can choose to commit to ongoing self-reflection and evolution to make this a reality.

So may I invite you to notice group dynamics in your workplace. And consider advocating for culture introspection aimed at growth rather than judgment or blame. There is promise in recognising companies as having complex collective psyches inviting continuous care beyond restructuring initiatives. Perhaps it takes a village* to raise an organisation, too.

Note:

“Perhaps it takes a village to raise an organisation too” – is a play on the phrase “it takes a village to raise a child.” The idea behind that phrase is that no parent can single-handedly provide everything a child needs to mature into a well-adjusted adult. Successful upbringing requires an entire supportive community or “village” of people – parents, teachers, mentors, friends etc. – continually nurturing the child’s development.

Here we extend this metaphor to apply to organisations and workplaces as well. Just as a child needs whole communities of support, so too may organisations require more holistic “villages” iaround them to sustain positive cultural change. Relying solely on the efforts of leaders or executives is unlikely to transform entrenched workplace dynamics on its own.

True shifts in organisational psyche need to involve people at all levels engaging in self-analysis and reflection, speaking up on needed changes, building trust, and continuously evolving interpersonal habits and norms. It can’t and won’t be driven through top-down mandates or policy tweaks. The entire workplace community, including customers, partners etc., can become a village dedicated to positive organisational development, health and maturation over time.

In essence, systemic transformation requires engagement and ownership across an entire “village”. Just as healthy childhood development is a communal process, so too may be nurturing organisational culture. It is ambitious and complex work demanding community-driven change rather than quick fixes. But this holistic, village-focused approach holds real promise for creating more conscious, equitable and purpose-driven workplace cultures.

So in summary, I aim to invite readers towards this more collective understanding of organisational development – recognising it as long-term cultural evolution requiring supportive communities, not temporary quick fixes. The organisational village, so to speak, is instrumental in liberating the organisational psyche to realise its full potential.