As a workplace and commercial mediator, I see many different cultures in organisations. Frequently I am engaged to help resolve a specific conflict in the workforce or governing body that has been supposedly caused by a “triggering event”. But often the “conflict” is merely a symptom of a much deeper-rooted problem: that the organisation is lacking human consciousness. In this article I will explore what it means to be a soulful organisation, how one can be created, and what are the benefits for the organisation itself, those who work there, and society. I will also draw on an anonymous example of a workplace conflict where the lack of soul in an organisation manifested itself in a need for mediation and how the mediation helped in some way to transform the organisation. Finally, I will suggest a new technique for interventions by a mediator and others supporting parties to the mediation to go to the root of the issue and help to create a soulful culture, as well as resolve the issue at stake.

So firstly, what does it mean to be a “human conscious” organisation? I would venture that it means that the organisation is aware of its place and contribution to the larger system in which it exists. This is developed through an organisation’s social responsibility, ethics, culture, corporate values, and the spiritual, soulful, and conscious mindset that the stakeholders (leaders, employees, customers etc) bring to how they work and interact.

How can a human conscious organisation be created? Einstein once famously stated that problems cannot be solved with the same level of consciousness that created them in the first place. In Reinventing Organisations,  Frederic Laloux wrote “perhaps we need to access a new stage of consciousness, a new world-view, to reinvent human organisations”. In 2014 he said this has happened several times in human history, and there are hints that another change of mindset – and thus organisational model- may be just around the corner. I believe glimmers of these changes in mind set are becoming visible now as organisations reinvent themselves after the pandemic.

So, what does this change of mindset look like? The key breakthroughs are:

1. Self-management: where team based, peer relationships exist rather than a hierarchical structure.
   “A radical inner transformation and rise to a new level of consciousness might be the only real hope we have in the current global crisis brought on by the dominance of Western mechanistic paradigm.” Stanislav Grof
   There are no formal leaders. Rather, the structures support self-management.
2. Wholeness: bringing our whole selves to the workplace – emotional, intuitive, spiritual. The expression work-life balance has no place as it implies that work is not a part of our lives.
3. Evolutionary purpose: having a purpose we serve from a place of inquiry rather than a structured, planned, and controlled approach.

Since the traditional management paradigm is based on a hierarchical structure, control, power, and predictability, to embrace these elements requires a disruption to most people’s belief systems. At both the top and the bottom, organisations are often playfields for unfulfilling pursuits of our egos, inhospitable to the deeper yearnings of our souls. This way of conducting business has outgrown our planet. Rather than thinking: “what’s in it for me and what can I take from the organisation?” it is necessary to listen to the organisation and ask: “what’s best for the organisation right now?”

What are the benefits of this approach? For the organisations themselves that are adopting it is enormous success both from a P&L account and a softer skills stock-take. Laloux’s real life case studies offer examples of organizations living in a new stage of development that he calls “TEAL” and realizing high profits, market share and success. These organizations range in size, sector, profit or non-profit, with the largest example in his study having 40,000 employees. To those working within such organisations, the benefits are a greater harmony between work and life – since one is a part of the other and they are inextricably connected. The benefits to society of the advent of Teal organisations are organisations that are of service to the world, who believe that is their true purpose and aim. On a grander scale, if we accept there is a direction to human evolution, then we hold something extraordinary: the blueprint of the future of organisations, the blueprint to the future of work itself.

As a mediator engaged to facilitate a resolution of a conflict, it is important for each of the parties to be encouraged to use all three of their brains - not only the massive brain in their head, but the smaller brains in their heart and gut. Although the heart and gut brain are much smaller, they are fully autonomous nervous systems that can drive decision making. A good decision involves listening to all three brains, and the mediator can help people to access all three brains by the Socratic questions they ask.

For example, a recent mediation I facilitated was between a subordinate who alleged their manager had discriminated against them. They had made a formal complaint that had resulted in an investigation and a full enquiry, at which the manager had been exonerated. Curiously, it was only at this point that the mediator was felt to be needed. (Although the complainant said during the mediation, they wished the matter had gone to mediation much earlier, indeed before the complaint was taken to its full investigation, and if they had known what the formal process involved, they would not have started it.)  The purpose of the mediation was to seek to rebuild the relationship between the two individuals since they needed to continue to work together after the process had finished. An awkward situation for both by most people’s standards. At the mediation, the manager said that while they had had their life turned upside down by the complaint, and it had led them to re-evaluate their relationships both within and outside the workplace, they felt no malice towards the complainant, believing they had brought the complaint from a place of fear and due to that person’s personal and professional circumstances. The subordinate on the other hand could not believe that the manager genuinely felt no malice towards them, and they were ridden with guilt at what they had done and the effect it had had on the manager. They also felt publicly shamed that they had pointed a finger at someone and been found to be wrong to do so. Two very conscious human beings operating without ego.

At the mediation decisions as to what to say to the other (or perhaps more often what not to say) were explored with me in private session predominantly from the heart and the gut. Logic and analysis (input from the brain in the head) was minimal. Space was held by me in a joint session for the two people to speak, hold silences, and be truly reconciled. There were tears on both sides. Since the mediation, I am told the two people now work harmoniously and more productively than ever before. Those in their team are functioning and performing better too. The organisation has changed its complaints procedure to introduce mediation at an earlier stage and has raised awareness of it amongst stakeholders.

This is an example of an organisation and its stakeholders becoming more soulful and listening to what is right for the organisation. Yes, the “after the main event mediation” took time and resource, but the process was not about time or profitability. It was about the eco of the organisation (in its broadest sense), not the egos of the individuals. About creating a place where two individuals felt comfortable to work, and as a result shine a light on those around them. Because you can imagine how their colleagues must have felt to see the complaint being carried through and investigated, and the consequent exoneration, and to wonder how the individuals could possibly co-exist after. Their example transformed the organisation. A culture of openness had been fostered. More importantly, the organisation was subscribing actively to the belief that even if something unexpected happens or if we make mistakes, things will turn out alright, and when they don’t, life will have given us an opportunity to learn and grow.

I am inspired by the technique of encouraging parties at a mediation to engage increasingly with the brains in the heart and the gut as well as the head. This is not only in workplace mediations but also a wide range of disputes where I am frequently appointed such as for example contentious probate, family business, minority shareholder, etc. As a result, I am currently exploring whether techniques such as breathwork that assist people to access the subconscious and thereby connect with those two important brains could play a part during the mediation session. Sometimes people need to breathe in different ways and at different paces to create space and to allow their subconscious to reveal an outcome otherwise unobtainable merely through words or logical thought or analysis. The breath can influence the mind. I see a time when parties to a mediation may come with a breathwork instructor in addition to an advocate, or indeed instead of, if they are unrepresented. Indeed, in addition to pre-mediation zooms I may in the future offer breathwork sessions to the parties as part of their preparation. I commented recently to an HR professional (I had been authorised to do so by the individual) that one of the parties to the mediation they asked me to facilitate needed to breathe rather than to speak. They replied it was probably an acute observation and they could see a future role in this approach.

As Anthropologist Margaret Meade once said: “Never underestimate the power of a few committed people to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has”. Those people have often felt lonely and isolated at the time of their inventions or discoveries – think of the plight of Ignaz Semmelweis who discovered bacteria, whose life was so masterfully portrayed recently in the eponymous play.3 If I am at the moment a lone voice in advocating these approaches as a mediator (and indeed I have not met another proponent of this concept yet) so be it. But if you or your organisation would like to give these techniques and interventions a try, I am ready to do so.

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Rebecca Attree is an experienced workplace, civil and commercial mediator with IPOS Mediation. After many years of practice as a solicitor in the City of London she is now a full-time mediator engaged in mediating a wide range of disputes for companies, public bodies, and NGOs. Speaking fluent Italian and good French, accredited to mediate in the US, and with insightful cross-cultural awareness, her mediations often involve an international element. Rebecca recently qualified as a yoga teacher with Yoga Samaadhi school in Thailand. The course included learning pranayama (breathwork) skills and studying the philosophy of yoga. She is now training to be a breathwork instructor with Yogalap. More information about her mediation practice can be viewed at mediate.co.uk/mediator/rebecca-attree/

References

1 Stanislav “Stan” Grof is a Czech-born psychiatrist.  Grof is one of the principal developers of transpersonal psychology and research into the use of non-ordinary states of consciousness using among other things Holotropic Breathwork for purposes of psychological healing, deep self-exploration, and obtaining growth and insights into the human psyche.
2 Reinventing Organisations - A Guide to Creating Organisations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness by Frederic Laloux.
3 Dr. Semmelweis, masterfully played by Mark Rylance at the Harold Pinter Theatre, London, 2023.

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