The world we live and work in grows increasingly complex and uncertain. The waves of challenge can appear relentless. Every day in my work I see the ripples caused by the way our contexts keep shifting and shocking us. I also see the creativity and resourcefulness that enables individuals and organisations to persevere, and do good work.
The Covid pandemic, the climate emergency, economic and political turbulence, the seeming impossibility of providing inclusive leadership in a divided world, wars and the fear they create, are all shaking our sense of certainty and coherence, our trust in the future, our optimism and energy.
My psychology practice often involves working within an organisation at a number of different levels (individual, group and executive level for example) at the same time, while helping organisations navigate this turbulence.
I use my experience of these different levels to keep drawing together overarching themes to illustrate key dilemmas within organisational life now. They are summarised in the bullet points below which I have found to be relevant to a wide range of organisational contexts.
I aim to respond to the pervasiveness of these dilemmas by enabling leaders to name them, and to then create holding points and experiences of containment for themselves and their staff which allow them to reconnect to themselves, recalibrate, and continue to balance realism and hope in order to persevere, stay on task and do good work. The solutions I design are supportive, provide solace and clarity, reduce tension and conflict, and re-energise individuals and the systems they work in. I use the questions below to create the initial focus within which to began to craft creative and hopeful interventions.
What do we hold on to now to allow us to persevere, endure and do meaningful work?
How can organisations provide a sense of containment and certainty to their employees while they themselves are struggling to survive and to respond with agility to a rapidly changing and threatening external environment?
How can we ensure that staff stay connected to values and identities that are motivating and nourishing for them, and can sustain them over time even as the world in which they began their careers and the experience of work continues to change dramatically?
How can we provide restorative opportunities for leaders to process and make sense of their work experiences, to reset and recalibrate in order to move from reactivity to wise and thoughtful responsiveness?
How can we make sense of what we are experiencing in a way that continues to make good work possible and meaningful, and organisational life and the conflict and emotions stirred up by work seem less overwhelming and more manageable?