A Different Kind of Growth and Development

The development industry is BOOMING.  The field I work in, organisational psychology, centres largely on development - coaching individuals, developing teams and enhancing organisations.  How many of us have been on a leadership development program or attended a training workshop through our company?  Development in the corporate world is kind of a given. We expect to attend a course or two each year, and often how much development a company is able to offer is an attractive part of the employment package. Coaching, personality profiling, team away days, enhancing creativity and so on are all integral to the organisational system. Similarly, many of us actively seek out self development/improvement, turning to yoga, meditation, spiritual podcasts and therapy to name just a few. 

Now let’s consider our romantic relationships. How many of us have spent time learning who our partner really is? What our partner really wants from life? What their dreams are? And what that then means for ourselves, our relationship and our future together?

How many of us have learnt to navigate the defensive patterns (which we all have!) and actually learnt how to communicate more effectively with the person we love, without slipping into blaming, shouting, silence or denial?

How many of us have sat down and looked at the strengths of our partnership and how we can leverage them to live a more creative, full life?

We will sit down and strategise at work.  We will write a comprehensive business plan. We want success for ourselves, for our team, for the organisation. Imagine if we did this for our relationships?!

An important part of being human and being successful lies in how we manage our relationships.  Yet this is a dimension that is often overlooked or taken for granted.  And it’s not until things reach crisis point that couples can turn to therapy from a reactive stance of “help, how did we get here?!!!!”.  

Imagine if we proactively worked our relationships? And learnt improved ways to navigate life with our partner? I’m very excited by this new opening in the development realm, and the potential it carries for us all.  

By Claire Devine, registered organisational psychologist and coach, via Couplet.co