Working Less with Content and Focusing More on Process
The NAOS Institute is an organisation which works across a variety of different disciplines. We spoke to Consultant Psychotherapist, Bernd Leygraf who provides us with information on the company and delves deeper into the services that the firm offers.
Located in London, NAOS Institute are dedicated to the personal and professional development of leaders and change agents within psychology, as well as community building and mental health issues.
In order to complete its mission, the firm offers a variety of services, including a range of nationally accredited training courses, ranging from weekend courses to substantive formation programmes at Diploma level. Furthermore, on offer to clients and customers is high quality executive coaching for leaders within commerce, the not-forprofit sector and government organisations. Lastly, the team are well trained in providing clinical services such as counselling, psychosexual and couples therapy and supervision for professionals in these and related fields.
NAOS Institute is supported through a number of patrons, including Lord Patten, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, to name a few. Within the company, all are global elders and there is a faculty of highly experienced and distinguished scholars in their respective fields, a range of collaborations with accrediting bodies, as well as over 30 clinicians working from our base in West London.
Bernd explains the process that the firm goes through when working with clients, as everyone works together to try and find the best solution for both sides. He talks about the implementation of a strategy as well as the outcome, and how there is a real desire for the firm to help others.
“A normal initial self-referral would involve an organisation or individual completing an enquiry form or by placing an initial phone call, together with a description of what might be requested from us. This may be the development of a trauma response policy for an international bank, or to help a global television production company address women and men equality issues in the workplace, or finally, supervision for a team of therapists working at Grenfell Tower.
“A second step would be a site visit to meet some of the personnel involved; invariably, through this type of data collection, we should then be able to formulate an action plan together with our potential collaborative partner. We have a strong commitment to working, alongside the commercial sector, with non-profit organisations, and our fees normally reflect this.”
Adopting a style which accommodates all, Bernd summarises what is considered to be the key characteristics of the NAOS Institute and the work it does. The firm’s style of work is about helping others, reacting to potential issues and assisting others in overcoming these challenges.
“Here at the NAOS Institute, we respond critically to the prevailing organisational culture and most of our collaborative partners are appreciative of our particular stance on specific issues. Additionally, our organisational and leadership model is participatory, relational and collaborative, hence we support newly emerging forms of organisational culture and organisational change, working less with content and focusing more on process.
“Embracing many types of issues and changes, the company embraces and integrates psychological approaches to working with leadership and organisation developments, with its consultants and agents working across three distinct fields; psychology, coaching and management.
“Working collaboratively, the firm’s training courses tend to bring together delegates from these areas and the dialogue between students are as valued as the teaching input provided. Moreover, our trainings were the first dedicated leadership programmes in the UK and originated in the approach of the national Training Laboratories (US) and the multicultural organisation development programmes of the Gestalt Institute Cleveland, Ohio.
“The great and the good of these two approaches contributed to teaching our first generation of consultants; later on, we added a Jungian approach (Prof. Papadopolous and Prof. Andrew Samuels) to coaching, and integrated Hellingers work (Hidden Symmetry within organisations), as well as neo transpersonal approaches such as Mindell’s process work.
“It could be said that, as an organisation we lean towards idiosyncratic ways of working rather than in a theoretical purist way and therefore see any new request for work as a challenge. Culture change therefore, for us, stems from what we term inner leadership, processes in which every member of an organisation is engaged in.”
Ultimately, indicative of its culture, NAOS Institute continues to help others around it and works with a wealth of clients on a global basis. There are many attributes which the firm boasts, but it is its desire to help others and overcome any potentially challenging issues to clients which really helps the firm to stand out, leaving the NAOS Institute with a bright future.
Contact: Bernd Leygraf
Address: 3 Montpelier Avenue, London, W5 2XP, UK
Phone: 07414 681 553
