InterOctave's Approach

Consciousness capability is innate and hard-wired into our uniquely human brain at birth. It stays latent and wasted, however, if not developed. As a society we do not develop much of our potential consciousness.

Some individuals pursue consciousness-building practices but run in to the limits of trying to develop consciousness alone, without the infrastructure needed for sustained, remarkable results. (Like farm kids training for the Olympics without the benefit of coaching, mentorship and the latest technologies that boost performance.)

As a rule, the infrastructure needed to build individual and group consciousness is simply not established in our families or organizations. InterOctave has the expertise to establish infrastructure that awakens consciousness capability in individuals and groups and provides phenomenal benefits to both.

As with most infrastructure initiatives this can’t be accomplished in one-shot seminars or three-day offsites. It calls for intensive, frequent and “over time” work (since the brain was built to have development processes start day one) usually at least 9mos. to a year of bimonthly meetings which varies depending on the objectives. One Harvard Research study says real change happens over 12- 36 months and that is our experience also. (Why does permanent change take so long? See White Paper, PDF format)

How can any organization afford that kind of time? Two ways. One, this work pays off from the beginning. Two, everything we build and everything we do is done in the context of the real work, in other words you are working on exactly what you’d be working on anyway— strategic direction setting, market/portfolio development and management, leading the organization through change, redesigning work—real work. There are no “lemonade stand” examples for practice. The difference is that you have improved ways to think about these topics and you have more capability to do it better in the future.

 The work is demanding, challenging and meaningful. It is also permanent and pervasive. You cannot take it out of people or the organization.

We use a rich “Human Systems Technology” with many dynamic facets. This technology is ours alone. We have researched, applied (and evolved) it over the past 30 years to develop individual and group consciousness, primarily at companies such as Clorox, DuPont, Colgate-Palmolive, etc. It is highly effective at building capability and infrastructural support for consciousness.

We usually work with whole organizations. At minimum, we work with a whole business/organizational unit. (We need not work directly with all members of the organization – usually 5-10%, see below.)

Each engagement is unique, but here is an idea of who we work directly with in an organization, broken into efforts around Strategy, Leadership, Operations and Resources:

• Strategy:Initially we assemble a strategic leadership unit and build capacity for consciousness around executive work. This is intended to produce a more conscious executive team and, at the same time, produce a more competitive direction for the business. If we’re working on a whole company with a portfolio of businesses, our starting point might involve executives from every business. This phase will last 8-12 months depending on the group and the business. The resulting executive team will be capable of bringing a phenomenal level of differentiation to their businesses—year after year. They will have the first phase of their new direction in hand and know how to execute on it.

• Leadership:Another team we engage is a representative group of top and mid-level leaders who have accountability for translating the new business direction (s) into the organization. The intention is to bring a higher degree of consciousness to the strategic alignment process. This strategic execution work is about building spirit and will in the organization—engaging fire in the workforce from top to bottom. The intention is for the whole workforce to discover, understand and value their role in producing success and to have self-accountability for applying their full, unique being and ableness to it. This phase is also approximately 8-12 months. It tends to follow the execution of the strategy work above. Building consciousness into the leadership of an organization happens best in real time – not as a classroom or post-planning activity.

• Operations: The operating teams who execute on the strategy in their day-to-day activities are the third group from which members are selected for development and involvement. Without the ability to be conscious of the effect of every action on downstream work and outcomes, operational teams require constant guidelines, direction and feedback. Programs for improvement, rewards and incentives, performance management, and training and development are brought in (and might help temporarily) but are truly falling on well, unconscious beings, so to speak. Operational teams must be flexible, resilient, and creative— all abilities which require consciousness as a foundational capability. Without it, managers and supervisors are locked into reciting regular and detailed guidelines on what work is to be done, how well it is going, and where improvement is needed. With consciousness as a core capability across all operating teams, people can see when, where, what, why, and how to move their work to a new plane and nature. They do this without the oversight needed by workforces who are not yet able to self-manage (individually and collectively) their own actions (thoughts and deeds) toward a strategic direction established to escalate business performance.

• Resource Development:Concurrent to the other groups, we work to build an internal cadre of people from all levels who begin to understand the working of “Consciousness at Work”. This is not a Train the Trainers program, because Consciousness at Work cannot be trained. It is more equivalent to a Coaching program, but instead of Coaching individuals, the Resources primarily coach teams and organizations in the use of the Human Systems Technology building consciousness infrastructure as they work.

We have found that InterOctave associates only need to involve approximately 5-10% of the organization in Education/Work sessions to create the consciousness infrastructure desired. The work becomes imbedded into the day-to-day way of working by the people who participate directly, and spreads. Resource group members, who are developed as organizational coaches for day-to-day work, also foster and sustain it.

What happens in a Seminar/Workshop?

Materials and processes of engagement are introduced to provide an education on the abilities relevant to the development of consciousness and the infrastructure that enables it. Subject work is also introduced (e.g. executive work, leadership work and or operational work). The consciousness materials and processes cross over all levels and roles of work giving a shared language and approach across the whole organization. When subject matter crosses over, it is offered in a way that is related to the team involved in the immediate work. In the sessions, we are simultaneously working on learning the new way of thinking, working, and behaving while participants apply the new approaches—immediately— to their real work. They "Learn and do"— simultaneously— which is part of the character development process and ultimately makes an organization more flexible and agile in the face of rapid change and aggressive strategic initiatives.

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