The Healing Organisation Principle #6 | Grow the ‘whole human’

Leader-managers in Healing Organisations see the growth of the individual as paramount.

The question is what do we mean by growth? Before we answer that, let’s explore some of the challenges as to what human qualities we can actually develop.

Researchers have found that the best predictor of individual work performance is general intelligence (g). There are further studies suggesting that general intelligence is 50% determined by our genes and tends to remain stable over our lifetime (a .66 correlation).

Aside from general intelligence, or its proxy IQ, there has been much recent discussion about the importance of Emotional Intelligence, or Emotional Quotient — “EQ”. Emotional Intelligence can predict work performance, although perhaps not as well as the hype may have suggested.

So if we accept that IQ is our best predictor of work performance and it’s both largely genetic and static over someone’s lifetime, then it would appear that there are limitations to how much an employer can do to improve this. Further, whilst EQ is often cited as an area where people can develop, it may not be a reliable source of workplace performance enhancements. This begs an important question: beyond technical skills training, why invest in developing people?

As a principle for the Healing Organisation, the developmental growth that I’m referring to is not classical intelligence, nor emotional intelligence. I am talking about a broad ongoing improvement in an individual of their emotional health and resilience.

This shows up as the absence of the tendency to “Act In” or “Act Out”. By acting in, I mean the tendency to withdraw from the world when faced with “triggering” situations. By acting out, I mean the tendency to compulsively engage in behaviours to alter feeling states when faced with the same. In both cases, we see people disconnecting from reality. Mental healthiness in this context is the ability to stay connected to reality in all situations; the ability to “be real”.

I’d like to note that this concept of mental health is not equivalent to Emotional Stability — one of Goleman’s five elements of Emotional Intelligence. It is quite possible be emotionally stable, at least at a surface level, whilst being highly defended and poorly connected to reality. The measure we are referring to here is the degree to which we are not defended from reality. Whilst this field of measurement is immature as compared to IQ and EQ, therapist and author Dr Ingeborg Bosch has developed a test of defences here. It covers the defences discussed in Principle 2 | Embrace Pain. This may not be exhaustive when considering all the possible ways a person can Act In or Act Out, but is nonetheless may give us some indication as to someone’s core level of mental health.

This type of emotional health is especially important when organisations are faced with complex change challenges — when they are moving from one set of competencies to another for example. As discussed in Principle 4| Ask for help, a person’s ability to stay real, to stay connected during the transition will determine their level of endurance and their ability to remain effective during the inevitable chaotic phases of change. The healthier the individual, the better able they are to deal with changes.

There are those very fortunate individuals who arrive at adulthood having had highly nurturing upbringings. They join organisations with a very high level of emotional health. However, many of us are carrying significant unresolved emotional issues that hinder our ability ‘stay real’ when faced with change and leadership challenges.

Leader-managers of Healing Organisation are called upon support people doing deep work on their unresolved past issues. This is unlike the types of interventions typical of mainstream psychotherapeutic and counselling approaches. I’m not talking here about “mindset” training, or short, sharp ‘re-boot’ counselling. I’m talking about allowing the individual to heal in their own time, following their intuition to engage in whatever therapeutic approaches enable them to access their deepest emotional blocks and to resolve them over time. This might mean prolonged absences and significant professional help. The degree to which managers in a Healing Organisation would support an individual’s journey financially would obviously be a question for each context.

Are organisations in general ready to provide this level of latitude and support to employees today? Of course not. Perhaps to some extremely valuable employees, but as a rule no. However, I believe the Lean example is instructive here. Lean is a philosophy that is counter-cultural to much of modern corporate culture. Additionally, when people come to fully comprehend the commitments made by Lean organisations, the levels of internal investment seem extraordinary. And yet, over the past half-century, we have evidence of the equally extraordinary financial returns of fully committed Lean organisations.

I believe that we are moving into an age where the most emotionally and psychologically evolved individuals will be of the utmost importance to companies. It will be these people most able thrive, manage and lead in a turbulent world of constant flux. The future will belong to the healed.

For the entire series on the Healing Organisation, start here.