5 Ways Counseling Theory And Practice Apply in Organizational Development
Organizational development is a critical aspect of business success that involves identifying and implementing strategies to improve productivity, communication, and overall effectiveness within an organization. While counseling theory and practice are typically associated with individual therapy, these same principles can be applied to organizational development to improve our teams and achieve better outcomes. Here are 5 ways I have used counseling theory and practice in maneuvering organizational change:
1. Family therapy and systems theories help navigate organizational structure.
Family systems therapy provides a tool much like an organizational chart that maps out relationships, their history, and how personalities influence the larger system. This is known in family therapy as a genogram. While we may not be a family at work, we remain parts of a larger system. And in that system there are learned behaviors that we gain through the observation and imitation of others, also known as the social learning theory. Understanding the dynamics that take place within our teams are crucial towards identifying our weaknesses, strengths, opportunities and threats, that can ultimately work towards the proper implementation of strategies and achieving success.
2. The Humanistic Perspective highlights the importance of individual strengths when building a successful team.
The humanistic perspective basically gives full respect and freedom to persons in order for them to decide on their own directions. Carl Rogers, who coined the term Unconditional Positive Regard, believed that by giving someone 100% trust that they were fully capable of accessing their own resources to heal and learn, therapy therefore became the catalyst to allow those strengths to emerge.
In an organization, I find that positive psychology, rogerian psychology, and some elements of solution-focused brief therapy emphasize the importance of focusing on an individual’s ability rather than their weakness. By identifying their strengths and enabling their best characteristics, we can create a more positive and empowering environment that encourages growth and development.
3. Choice theory / reality therapy are the foundation for building integrity, accountability, and trust.
While it's important to focus on strengths, it's also important to recognize that we can never fully control a person. Whether they do or do not do what is expected of them all boils down to their own sense of personal work ethic, integrity, and accountability. Choice theory and reality therapy propose that individuals have the power to make their own choices and decisions, and that we cannot force someone to change. Instead, we must work towards creating an environment that encourages positive change and growth.
How? William Glasser, founder of Choice Theory, posits that there are 5 needs that drive our total behavior - fun, love / belonging, freedom, survival, and power. When we want any of these 5, we have complete agency over how we are going to get there. By understanding personal behavior and motivations, choice theory teaches us that we can create pockets wherein organizational values resonate with personal beliefs and desires.
4. Adler’s clear delegation of tasks in Individual Psychology advocates for the whole person that comes to work.
Individual Psychology is a psychological approach developed by Alfred Adler. The Adlerian school of thought looks at each person as a whole, integrated unit. We are shaped by our social context, the way in which we experience it and behave in it contributes to our pursuit of goals. Adler’s perspectives ultimately remind us that people come with their own stories, and that they take their whole selves to work. So, in pursuing their own deliverables, Individual psychology urges boundaries in asking “is this task mine?”
5. The Group Therapy format builds better teams through vulnerability.
If Brene Brown’s work on Vulnerability has taught us anything, it is that it builds better teams. But vulnerability taken out of context can also be destructive. This is where grounding in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive practice is important to build personal awareness towards career growth. It’s knowing what to say and when to say it in the context of the work. Creating a safe and supportive environment that encourages vulnerability and openness builds a stronger team.
Openness allows us to cut through the near misses by being transparent on where we tend to go wrong. Vulnerability shows us that even as leaders we can be honest about bad days, and trustworthiness allows us to own up to our mistakes, all through the power of conversation within a group.