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The Single Most-Powerful Process in Business (and How It Applies to Therapy)

The Strategic Change Compass - Part 2 of 3

The most important single thing I learned in business school is a strategic process for managing change. It works for creating change at the highest level executive functions within a business. It works for the most basic projects.

It also works in therapy.

Why does this transformation process work at all levels of business and even at the level of individual people?

Because organizations function in a manner that reflects how individuals function.

Strategic planning and management is a best-practices process for how to create and manage change. It’s a process for transforming an organization and it can also be a process for transforming an individual.

In this article, I’m going to present the basic strategic planning and management model, illustrating how it applies to therapy. However, if you’re involved at any level in leadership, management, or project and program development then this is a process you should know.

What people have discovered in studying business is that there is a basic strategy to creating transformational change. There’s a basic process to unifying people to all work together with the same purpose. While there are different models to strategic planning and management, the following diagram presents the basic approach that has proven itself to be effective over and over again:

Strategic Planning & Management Flow

Again, it doesn’t matter whether you’re at the highest level in a complex organization, or a therapist working with a single particular client. This model suggests certain steps and actions if you want to maximize your chances of being a successful change-agent.

Step 1: Principles

Establish and communicate the mission, values, and vision that are intended to drive and guide the change process. For a therapist,
that translates into early work that you do with a client to create a shared understanding of:

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The Bear Clan Path of The Chief (3)

The Practice Effect

To change your own brain, practice is essential.

This video explains how practicing something results in the same neural pathways in the brain being used. As these pathways experience more and more electrical activity, they grow larger and increase in their capacity to carry a charge.

We all know that practicing a behavior makes it easier to do that behavior.

It works the same way for emotions and cognitions.

The more we experience specific emotional states, the easier it becomes to enter those states. “Practice” being angry, and you get “better” at being angry. You’ll be able to get angry more easily.

“Practice” various negative thoughts, and those thoughts will more easily pop into your head.

So make sure you practice positive feelings and positive thoughts.

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When Deer Had Rabbit Clear the Brambles

The Strategic Change Compass - Part 1 of 3

buffalo on white flipped

One day Deer went to Chief Buffalo with a problem. “Chief Buffalo,” said Deer, “there is an important part of the forest that is so thick with brambles that it forces the deer into just a few paths. This makes it too easy for wolves to catch us. What can be done about this?”

Buffalo thought about this for a bit and said, “I am a creature of the open plains. While it is true that I am Chief of all the hooved animals, you, Deer, must act as a chief for the forest animals. Who among the forest animals is going to want to help you with your wolf problem? You should ask that animal for help. A Chief needs to be able to delegate.”

“That is a very good idea,” said Deer, excited at the prospect of being able to delegate this problem to someone else. “I will ask Rabbit. I’ve noticed that Rabbit spends a lot of time in the brambles, hiding from the wolves.”

The next day Deer went and spoke to Rabbit about the problem created by the brambles. Rabbit pointed out that one reason the paths through the brambles remain clear is because rabbits will eat the young vegetation that sprouts up along the path edges. However, to completely clear out the brambles would be a huge job and would require a lot more rabbits.

Deer went back to Chief Buffalo for more advice.

“I think that you need help in learning how to manage a project and how to delegate,” said Chief Buffalo. “It is important that you have a clear understanding of your values and what you wish to achieve.”

“That’s simple enough,” said Deer. “I want to get rid of those brambles.”

“I thought you said the problem was the wolves finding it too easy to catch you deer?” asked Buffalo.

“Oh, I see what you mean,” said Deer, who was becoming very excited at the idea of acting like a chief. “What else do I need to do to delegate this problem?

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The Bear Clan Path of The Chief (2)

The Four Parts of the Brain

Any journey, whether physical or one of inner transformation, can go better with a bit of preparation.

In the language of Cognitive Psychology, the Path of The Chief is the path toward strengthening the brain’s executive skills. These brain functions include things like planning, working memory, metacognition, response inhibition, task initiation, goal-directed persistence, and especially self-regulation of feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. See the Bear Clan Domain Compass for a fuller explanation.

In the language of Depth Psychology, the Path of The Chief is the path toward strengthening the archetype of The Chief. People are born with an innate, universal, and hereditary understanding of various concepts. Archetypes are like phone apps or computer subroutines or even sub-personalities.

These mental constructs are in charge of different aspects of our minds. It can be an unruly collection of different “voices” that we all, at times, have speaking in our head. It’s The Chief’s job to plan, organize, coordinate, and lead the parts of the brain that are in charge of emotions, cogntions, and behaviors.

In the language of Shamanism, the Path of the Chief begins in the East, the domain of Eagle (see the Shaman’s Compass). We begin with trying to give a client a vision of where the journey is headed. This vision needs to be inspiring enough to provide some sense of hope and motivation to walk the path, to do the work. We begin to tell the story of the heroic journey that is about to commence.

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The Bear Clan Path of The Chief (1)

The First Step - Make a Decision

Welcome to The Bear Clan Path of The Chief Video series!

This video’s an introduction to the series. The material in this series is designed to:

  • reinforce teachings for students I’m currently mentoring.
  • give child therapists and other helping professionals a chance to see one way to present Bear Clan teachings to kids.
  • present Bear Clan teachings in a style that is intended for kids.

 

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Bear Learns Systematic Muscle Relaxation

Walking the Path of The Chief

Stretching Polar Bear
Long ago, Bear wanted to walk the path of The Chief. After speaking with Chief Buffalo, Bear sought out Cougar for some advice.

“Hello Cougar,” said Bear. “I wonder if you could help me with something?”

“Greetings Bear,” said Cougar, “Even though I sensed you coming from quite a distance, you surprise me! I don’t think you’ve ever asked me for help before. What can I do for you?”

“Well…,” said Bear, feeling somewhat embarrassed, “I’ve recently decided to try and walk the path of The Chief. I was talking to Chief Buffalo and it became clear that to walk this path, I will need some help from others.”

“If I would someday be a chief, I must honestly look at my strengths and weaknesses. The problem is my temper. Chiefs need to be thoughtful. Sometimes, when I get angry, I cannot control my own feelings and behaviors. Sometimes I cannot think at all. I become angry just because I get frustrated or even having to wait too long for something I want.”

“That would be a big problem if you were a cougar,” said Cougar. “We cougars have learned how to be very patient. We have to lie still for hours waiting for our prey to walk right by. Then, in an instant, we leap!”

“Can you teach me that kind of patience?” said Bear.

“I can teach you the way we teach our kits” said Cougar. “But you will have to make a commitment. It is a skill that seems easy enough to do, but it will only work to change you if you practice every day. You have to train your muscles to tense and then relax.”

Cougar on white

To learn what Bear learned from Cougar, check out Bear Clan relaxation tools on the Tools page. You’ll find audio you can stream or download, text of the Bear Clan Systematic Muscle Relaxation sequence, and a tracking form you can download.

 

 

Do you teach relaxation, meditation, mindfulness, or other related techniques to your child-clients?

What barriers have you found to getting your clients to commit to these practices?

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Kit Asks Raven About Human Beings

Part 1 of The Two-Wolves Story Arc

 


Many years before founding Bear Clan, Kit was still living with Bear. You might know the story of how Kit was found in the forest, all alone, just a small human being. Perhaps you’ve heard about the Great Council of Animals and Bear’s offer to make Kit part of the Bear Family. Now years later, Kit had learned how to live like a bear. Kit felted loved and respected and a strong sense of belonging with the bears.

Only occasionally would a human hunter even come near where Kit now lived. When that did happen, Bear knew every tree in the forest and easily evaded these human hunters, who only saw the signs Bear wanted them to see.

Bear noticed from these almost encounters that Kit seemed to be truly terrified of these hunters. Afterwards, sometimes Kit’s whole body would tremble, Kit would jump at even small sounds, and would have nightmares instead of peaceful sleep.

To Bear, hunting and even being hunted was just a normal part of life for animals. Bear asked Kit why the hunters brought forth such fear. Kit did not know.

“I’m sorry,” said Kit, “I don’t really remember much about what it was like before I was a bear. I don’t like humans.”

“Hummph…,” said Bear. “It is true that you are now a bear. But you are also a human. Do you remember what Chief Buffalo said at The Great Council that convinced me to make a place for you in my family?”

Kit’s eyes got very large but no words came out.

“Kit,” said Bear, “You will always be part of the bear family. Remember your lessons in how to relax. All Chief Buffalo said was that it would be good for the animals if we understood humans better. I have an idea. Raven is known to be a very deep thinker and is always watching other animals, including humans. Why don’t you ask Raven about humans, and then let me know what you learn.”

“I will do that,” said Kit, and soon after set out to find Raven.

When Kit returned, Bear was curious to hear what Raven had said about humans.

“I’m not sure it makes sense to me,” said Kit, “but I will tell it to you the way that Raven told it to me.”

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Using Bear Clan Feelings Maps

So How Do You Feel About That? – “I don’t know.”

Feelings Map ExampleIt’s incredibly difficult for children to talk about their feelings. This is especially the case for children with Autism. I was trying to help a young autistic boy express how he felt when he discovered that his actions had resulted in the death of a family pet. This had been a life-changing incident, directly resulting in years of residential placement away from his family.

When I asked him about his feelings in regards to this incident, I was not really surprised to hear “I don’t know.” My attempts at clarification were almost completely ineffective.  I suggested that creating a Feelings Map could be helpful.

Much to my astonishment, this boy, who never revealed much in the way of strong or complex emotions, rapidly and decisively created a detailed Feelings Map illustrating a dozen different feelings associated with that incident. Furthermore, he was subsequently able to use words to show that he understood the meaning of each emotion and he explained the relative placement of the emotions on the target map!

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Welcome to Bear Clan, LLC

The Elevator Pitch

As a children’s therapist I’ve discovered there are four key roles I need to fill for my clients.

First, I need to inspire my clients. In general, they come to me not really thrilled about “having” to be in therapy. I need to become their muse and inspire them to express themselves and to form a therapeutic relationship.

Second, I need to teach my clients. I need to be effective at teaching coping and emotional regulation skills like relaxation, cognitive skills like how to problem-solve, and behavioral skills like how to get away from negative peer pressure.

Third, I need to coach my clients. I need to help them master new skills and implement new ways of thinking. I need to help them achieve peak performance.

Fourth, I need to mentor my clients. I need to help them develop excellent character, values, and beliefs that will put them on the path to becoming a successful adult.

These kids face incredible challenges in life. The odds are stacked against them. I need to help them become the hero in their own life story.

Inspire. Teach. Coach. Mentor. Help people find balance and transformation. That’s what I write about.

Please explore the website, comment on blogs, send me emails, subscribe to get email updates from me, and become an active participant in shaping the future of Bear Clan!

You can Start Here.