Psychodynamic group coaching

Group applied psychoanalysis

Abstract

Any organization is structured according to the roles and tasks that are necessary to achieve its goals. The psychological state of people in an organization can become a serious obstacle to the realization of these roles and tasks and can threaten the organization's integrity and viability. Psychodynamic coaching helps people, groups and organizations see and establish contact with this psychological side of business, namely, to understand their experiences and explore the unconscious assumptions that influence their decisions and behavior. Being aware of unconscious emotional processes and revealing their meaning helps people better understand their underlying motives, gain self-confidence, release energy and get the opportunity to choose consciously. A person is considered to be a socially oriented being in a psychodynamic approach. They are undoubtedly characterized by biological unity, but their fundamental psychological quality is the group. Each person is defined by the world they live in, and this world is represented by different groups and communities. The relationship of a child with its mother is the first social relationship, and a family as a group turns out to be the first social environment where everyone finds their identity. The experience of primary socialization continues in kindergarten, school, sports section, higher education institution, etc. A person makes their conclusions about how the world functions, how relationships are built, they get their experience of leadership and follow the leadership of other people, the experience of distributing roles and staying in certain roles that are taken consciously and/or unconsciously. Therefore, when it comes to developing interpersonal interaction and leadership skills, the group format of work has a clear advantage over the individual one. There are other people in each client's request for coaching, and most of the clients’ challenges are about the sphere of interpersonal or group interaction. Loss of confidence, inability to take leadership, low efficiency, communication difficulties, burnout, etc., occur in the presence of important others, these important others look, think, draw conclusions, form an attitude, evaluate. Therefore, in a group, everyone has a chance to meet their challenge in the presence of another person, to test this challenge with another person, to get feedback, and most importantly, to see what's behind the curtain of the other person and find out what he/she really sees, how he/she relates to it and why. This article will be useful for coaches who work in a psychoanalytic way individually and would like to expand their practice through working with groups. The presented material may also be relevant to experienced professionals who work in the format of group coaching, but are looking for ways to deepen their practice by gaining additional knowledge in the field of individual and group psychology.