Organisations
Organisational Dynamics & Culture
As an organisational dynamics, culture and leadership consultant, Ales helps organisations, teams, and leaders to tap into the unconscious patterns of organisational behaviour. Analysing such patterns and becoming aware of what impacts organisational dynamics, culture, organisational identity, a sense of purpose and meaning, are some of the most important steps towards organisational change and cohesion.
Organisations are not merely a group of independent individuals. Powerful psychological group processes cause organisations to have their own collective identity—one that is independent of the leaders’ aspirations and one that will influence not only the success and performance of the organisation but also the collective sense of meaning, and the collective experience that one will have as part of the organisation.
The dynamics of the organisation are, contrary to the belief of some, not determined by leadership—they are predominantly influenced by the forces of the entire collective and, at best, only steered through leadership.
Abundance of research points towards powerful unconscious dynamics that tale place in organisations and within teams. And it is these unconscious processes that determine the felt experience of the organisational culture.
Ales combines his professional knowledge in the nature of human psyche, group and organisational dynamics with his experience from corporate, political, and entrepreneurial settings.
Leadership
Leadership is not a cognitive process or a matter of knowledge. It revolves around a person’s ability to convey a sense of safety, purpose, direction, inclusion, and a point of identification. Many of these aspects are emotionally-predetermined and often unconscious.
The traditional models of leadership emphasise cognitive, behavioural, and educational elements in its development. However, these aspects play a minor role in determining the leadership potential of an individual or a team. Much of the leadership potential and potency is directly related to how the team identifies with the leader’s unconscious attributes and their shared perceptions.
Leadership, culture, and organisational processes, are dynamic forces that influence each other. The personality of a leader (or even a team member) may dramatically influence the collective psychological makeup of the team—even entire organisation. Conversely, the collective identity of the organisation can substantially shift the sense of self and the behaviour of a leader or any individual team member.
Conflict Resolution
Similar to how the rational actor paradigm is fundamentally flawed in determining the behaviour of an individual because it disavows the two main forces often present in decision-making: emotions and the unconscious, the approach to conflict resolution cannot rely on negotiation of business or professional needs but necessitates taking into account one’s motivations and emotional factors, which can often be unavailable to immediate awareness.
A successful resolution of any conflict will need to entail addressing and resolving the “affective charge” that is present within a relationship or a group—something that is even more important when resolving long-lasting and persistent conflicts.
Mental Wellbeing
Mental wellbeing is a prerequisite to performance and effectiveness in organisations. Affective and unconscious psychological processes do not distinguish between personal and professional—they are the undercurrent to cognition, rational processing, and behaviour. Disruptions to mental wellbeing, such as high levels of stress and psychological pressure, not only influence one’s quality of performance but can also influence the dynamics and the felt experience of teams and organisations as a whole.
