Can Organisations Afford not to be Aware?

Many organisations I work with and have worked in, operate in a reactive sensory mode. Some are somnolent. Very few are truly responsive to client, employee and other stakeholder needs.?

The 5 Forces framework of Michael Porter, which did not consider employees as a force, which they are, and as well a competitive advantage, is even more under pressure with future generations of clients and environmental, which are factors one cannot even foresee. One needs a fly’s eye with 6000 lenses to even glimpse the future, let alone predict it.?

In Organisational Development framework, a system at its simplest level consists of at least three elements, as self, team and organisation. How does awareness differ between the three elements, the spaces between them, and in what context??

Coaching in the systemic context requires interaction with all the stakeholders involved in each element of the system, the dynamics between and within the stakeholders, and how the values and beliefs of these individual elements impact one another in terms of their mindset, actions, and the outcome of the total system.

Surprisingly, the ancient scripture Mandukya Upanishad provides a template for us to look at the systemic awareness within and outside its elements. This is not traditional interpretation of either the Mandukya Upanishad’s states of consciousness or that of coaching competencies. In the Upanishad these 4 states are explained with reference to the primal energy in the form of the sound AUM. Coaching competencies speak of self, situation and solution, when speaking of awareness. Here, one looks through the systemic lens.

When working in a system, the first element is the self, the individual. The awareness one seeks to create in an individual coaching space is the mindful sensory, emotional and cognitive awareness. Clients are explored reflectively, through somatic and ontological inquiries, to elicit conscious and unconscious information that may be interfering with their performance and empowerment. In a systemic approach, client exploration expands beyond the client into the space of team and organisation, members of which impact the client and whom the client impacts. In the Mandukya Upanishad this is termed as Wakeful state awareness.

At the next level, a coach may engage in visualisation and deeper exploration to elicit subconscious and unconscious level memory information. In cases of trauma, these memories when recovered cause emotional and sensory responses psychically, and yet nothing that leaves a mark physically. In systemic coaching work, as an extension of individual exploration, this can be used in a collective sense. If used with dynamics of conflicts the team is experiencing, there could be resolution through safe release of one’s emotions. In Mandukya Upanishad this is termed as the Dream state. One can view this as the Freudian Jungian subconscious.

At the third level, there can be a deeper exploration both sensorily and emotionally through metaphors and stories of the collective unconscious in Jungian terms. What are the shadows, the limiting collective beliefs? What archetypes are coming through? In what is known as Constellation work is groups and teams such exploration across time and space can yield powerful responses. In Mandukya Upanishad this is termed the Deep Sleep state.

In the final Fourth state of Collective Consciousness, the team and stakeholders come together in a state of intuitive collaboration for optimal engagement and performance, in a Flow state. This is a state of collective culture, in which the unsaid behavioural meta norms override written down regulations. While there may only be a few, there are organisations that operate at this level. Mandukya Upanishad terms this as the Fourth disengaged witnessing state of acceptance and gratitude.?

When we work with a team, instead of the individual, the concept remains the same, yet the practice is more complex. The coach needs to work with multiple data points from different team members as well as stakeholders, be aware of the space between them and the dynamics within, be peripherally able to see and hear, and process. There is lot that is intuitive and energetic. Probably one of the reasons why coaches, who rely on their cognitive abilities alone, find it challenging to work with teams.

The process, when one trusts it, has a power of its own. Our experience with the proprietary Coacharya SPEED process shows that this is where the future of coaching lies. The systemic team process costs the company less, addresses its goals more effectively, and most importantly helps build teams.?

A simple advice to coaches aspiring to be leadership coaches. Become proficient in team work using the systemic approach. Watch this space where I shall be posting on systemic approach to coaching every Thursday. Look forward to your responses.??

Do read the newsletter Coaching the Spirit to go inwards https://www.dhirubhai.net/newsletters/coaching-the-spirit-7005142848333393920

Ram is co-founder and mentor at Coacharya?https://coacharya.com . Ram's focus is integration of Eastern wisdom with modern science, spiritually, systemically and sustainably.