Context
My work draws on the richness of the psychoanalyic field, and particular to the pioneering work of Wilfred Bion on processes in groups just after the Second World War, and Jung’s insights into the collective aspect of the unconscious.
The idea is that beneath the conscious things we know we are aware of, there is a rich layer of unconscious material. This can be a deep source for energy and creativity, but can also hold things which undermine what people and organisations are trying to do, or distort their perspective.
Working with the unconscious in individuals and organisations is a way of unlocking seemingly-hidden resources. It is also a way of taking apparently problematic situations and enabling change through learning and understanding. This might include teams that seem dysfunctional, individuals seen as “problems” or a general sense that things seem to keep going wrong.
Methods
Interventions all involve consultants using their experience of being with their own unconscious material to enable insights into a situation. Sometimes this means one-to-one work with an individual to explore their role in an organisation, sometimes it means a small group of consultants working together, and sometimes consultants running workshops to explore how colleagues interact outside their normal context.
One reason for several consultants working together is that it is quite common to find the unconscious processes of the client organisation being echoed in what feels like a “parallel process” within the consultancy team, which provides valuable extra insight.
Foundations
Underpinning this is learning from experience in group relations conferences and workshops, which are temporary institutions which enable people to learn about processes in groups and how they react to them. The best-known of these is the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations’ Leicester Conference; others include Opus’ Making the Difference or the Grubb Institute’s Passion Purpose Potency event.