What I have found over the past six years as a management consultant is that these skills that I worked with in the therapy environment for years are not so different from our consulting skills that we use with our clients every day during the process of strategic planning. I recently had the opportunity to reflect on these synergies as a book that I wrote with two of my psychologist colleagues was published – Committed Action in Practice.
The process of values clarification and committed action that I’ve used in my ACT approach for decades maps on quite closely to the strategic planning process for organizations, in fact! Writing a vision and mission statement mirrors the process of having individuals write a brief narrative outlining their values in whatever areas are most important to them – relationships, work, education, spirituality, community, etc.
The next step in this values clarification exercise for individuals is to rate how important each of these values domains is to them and then to rate how successfully they have been living their lives in accordance with these individually chosen values. This is like the gap analysis step of strategic planning.
Finally, ACT therapists work with their clients to choose and commit to specific goals, which are broken down into even smaller, achievable steps. Individuals commit to valued actions, and the therapist and client work together over time to determine how effectively they have been able to follow through with these commitments. We identify obstacles (both internal and external) and create plans for overcoming them. In strategic planning, this is known as writing SMART goals and monitoring progress.
I know several psychologists who serve as general management consultants in a variety of organizations. They consistently provide excellent strategic guidance to their clients, informed by their years of experience working with individuals and groups to move forward in meaningful ways. Who knows? Maybe the doctorate in psychology is the next M.B.A…..