There’s an old maxim that we have to meet people where they are. Nowhere does that seem more apt than in the quest to introduce transpersonal psychology into the corporate world.
Hartelius (2022) frames transpersonal psychology as seeking to cultivate post-conventional states of consciousness, take a whole-person perspective and generate transformation. Well, most organizations I work with certainly yearn for transformation (as evidenced by the ubiquitous Transformation & Change departments), but the toolkit they turn to is often biased to external, surface-level levers – restructures, new branding, new product development, new objectives, new mission statements.
But what about the deeper, invisible forces? How might transpersonal perspectives reveal a different path for modern business?
Ultimately, organizations are made up of humans, and many of the people working in the corporate world have their own profound experiences of awakening and their own deep spiritual practices.
But I typically find that even these people are reluctant to explicitly translate personal psychospiritual growth into professional choice-making; it just doesn’t ‘fit’ with the hyper-rational, masculine energy of most corporates. So, what I explore in this article is specifically how transpersonal perspectives can be brought into the context of modern business.
However, if we start proposing plant medicine journeys on company offsites, we risk alienating the very people we want to walk alongside – leaders and influencers in organizations of all sizes, who are integral to the health of our society. So how MIGHT we talk about spirituality and consciousness expansion with corporate audiences, in a way that meets them where they are?
For the last few years, I’ve been reflecting on this, holding the inquiry question: how do we make space for the sacred in corporate life?
This inquiry led me to co-found the leadership development collective, Leading Deeply. Our vision is of leaders who value and harness the full range of human knowing – cognitive, emotional, somatic, spiritual and interpersonal – in service of a more equitable planet. It’s early days, but we’ve been sharing our approach in sectors such as law, pharma and energy, have held experiential workshops, and are delivering our first 6-month corporate programme called ‘Cultivating the Being of Leadership’.
Throughout, we seek to take people inwards into a deeper connection with their own self, and outwards to an expanded consciousness of the interconnectedness of all things. Here are four specific ways we introduce ancient wisdom to modern business, in a way that meets leaders where they are:
Knowing, Beyond the Brain
The model at the heart of Leading Deeply is the mandala of human knowing, which invites people to recognise, experience and value all five ways of ‘knowing’. We use embodied practices to experiment with somatic knowing (e.g, how do two different approaches to challenging a client feel in your body?) and archetypal tools such as Tarot to invite spiritual, or collective, ‘knowing’. This expanded knowing helps leaders access new choices in the face of ambiguity and change.
Copyright, Leading Deeply, 2024
Slowing down
The corporate world is MANIC! Value is linked to productivity and busyness, and it’s common to be in back-to-back meetings for 8+ hours a day. In this rhythm, it’s near-impossible to access any state of consciousness beyond basic survival. So, we start every Leading Deeply experience with a simple ‘transitional pause’, often an open awareness practice (Dangeli, 2019) to support leaders to slow down, regulate their self system, and expand their attention to the collective. It might sound very basic, but it’s exceptionally rare.
Working with Cycles
Our hope is to support leaders to move beyond their individual egoic understanding and to experience themselves as part of something bigger. An accessible starting point is to consider themselves as part of nature, moved by the same cycles of expansion and integration as a blossoming tree or a hibernating animal. We introduce the idea of ‘inner seasons’, similar to the cycles of creativity proposed by Ferrer et al (2005), inviting leaders to connect with what inner season they are in at that moment, and what flows easefully from there. Typically, we find that this reduces the risk of burnout, and allows for more effective choice-making.
Listening to the system
Organisations are complex entities that have often existed and shapeshifted over decades or even centuries. It is common for a leader to be at a loss as to why a particular experience is so difficult, because they are viewing it through a narrow lens – ‘me’, ‘my team’, ‘now’, ‘here’. We seek to expand the field of consciousness to include the voice of the wider system. There are many techniques to support this, from the modern field of systemic coaching as well as wisdom traditions. But even inviting a leader to expand their definition of the system, and to ask the question “what does the system need from you in order to thrive?” can be transformative.
My hope is that these four practices demonstrate how ancient wisdom – expanding the self beyond the egoic mind – can strengthen the capacity of modern business leaders to respond to complexity and change in a different way. And, ultimately, to foster sustainable impact that promotes the health of the entire system – self, team, organization, society, planet.
I would love to hear how other transpersonal practitioners are meeting corporate leaders ‘where they are’. And if the Leading Deeply approach feels like it would be valuable in your own organization, please just get in touch (hello@leadingdeeply.co.uk).
References
Dangeli, J. (2019). The Open Awareness Handbook. Retrieved from https://jevondangeli.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Open_Awareness_Handbook_Jevon_Dangeli.pdf
Ferrer, J. N., Romero, M. T., & Albareda, R. V. (2005). Integral Transformative Education A Participatory Proposal. Journal of Transformative Education, 3(4), 306-330
Hartelius, G. (2022). What is transpersonal psychology? A concise definition based on 20 years of research. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 41(1), 5
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