In the 80s, I held a senior position at one of the world’s leading management consulting firms – in the German office. Many of us consultants & most partners enjoyed at least four weeks of off-site business trainings yearly. These trainings had the purpose of improving the efficiency & effectiveness of each of us individually and our consulting teams working at the clients.

At some point, the Office Manager recognized that these tailored consulting tool trainings could not improve our capabilities to produce world-class business recommendations beyond a certain point. We had reached a maximum on that efficiency curve.

The partner group discussed the issue and came up with an unorthodox proposition. They wanted to test a psychological training to foster team cohesion, hoping to enhance team efficiency to the next level further. Consultants should explore whether a team works more efficiently & effectively if the team members know & understand each other on a deeper and more trusting level – their strengths & weaknesses, preferences, psychological hindrances, motivations, and dissatisfactions.

A mixed group of consultants – associates, partners, directors – was elected to attend the first experimental psychology training. I was amongst them. The group convened on an ancient renovated Dutch farmhouse on a remote island on a lake. An individual psychologist – a scholar of Viennese psychiatrist Alfred Adler – conducted the ten days of intense psychological training. It was mentally exhausting.

Once back home, the training yielded profound effects. The test team bonded strongly. And after practicing what they learned in their separate consulting teams, these test group participants noticed a dramatic change. Team cohesion rose, mutual understanding & consideration grew, partnership-based thinking developed, the dysfunctional competitive rivalry between team members decreased, and team efficiency increased again.

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aboutuz is far from being a psychological tool – but it allows you to know each other beyond the surface level, to make each other feel recognized, appreciated, understood, and valuable.

And that in turn increases our motivation in helping & caring for each other.

Download the app & recommend it to your family, friends & business partners.