The Soul Quadrant

The Introduction

For the upper-left quadrant we are looking at the organisation through the INDIVIDUAL – INTERIOR lens, or the “I”.

Although The Conscious Organisation relies on activating all quadrants, this one is arguably the most important indicator of the consciousness of an organisation.

In the SOUL of the organisation we are dealing with the deepest subject matter, questioning how the organisation perceives itself, its intentions and what values it holds dear.

The Lines

The Primary lines that we are concerned with in the Soul Quadrant are:

PURPOSE

The impact the organisation is trying to create in the world.

VISION

An inspirational view of what the organisation could look like at a specific time in the future.

VALUES

How should the organisation act in its relationships on a daily basis, and how it should behave.

The Benefits

As we develop the SOUL quadrant, we are investing in the organisations long-term future. These are the most meaningful concepts in an organisation and can influence decisions at all levels.

The SOUL can be used consciously and subconsciously by leaders and employees alike. Used consciously, the elements can be surfaced and brought to the front of mind when developing strategies or unblocking decisions. The more we integrate these concepts into our daily lives, the more we can trust that we are calling on these subconsciously in all our work.

Depending on the scale of the organisation the SOUL can directly influence the PERFORMANCE quadrant, or if there are a large number of employees then it can directly influence CULTURE.

Once the SOUL is developed, Strategy work becomes more exciting, easier to develop and resonant with everyone involved.

The Challenges

Challenge 1

Without many employees there isn’t a critical need for focus in the lower 2 quadrants, and many organisations focus much of their energy in the upper-right PERFORMANCE quadrant.

This isn’t a mistake, and is a necessity of many organisations, particularly those in the existence and survival stages of growth. However, it can be a trap, and be hard for organisations to grow out of.

Developing the SOUL quadrant can require more reflection, or stepping back from the day-to-day task based work. It can be hard to find time and headspace to do this in a young company. In order to create meaningful progress in this quadrant it may be necessary for leaders to begin creating patterns of working on the business vs in the business first.

Challenge 2

At a certain scale many organisations get to a point where they realise that they need to align employees around concepts such as PURPOSE, VISION, VALUES and they go through a process of development to get these in place.

Unfortunately this is where it ends. Once published values sit there on a website and a staff handbook achieving nothing, and employees know that the culture doesn’t align. If organisations don’t eventually push through to the integration level in the SOUL area, or move on to develop CULTURE in line with SOUL then the work can be slow to yield benefits.

The Summary

Summary

To evolve the consciousness of your organisation it is critical to develop the SOUL quadrant. By doing so you can influence the culture, structure and performance of the entire organisation on a deep level.

But it can be challenging. It takes a different skillset to wok on the SOUL rather than working on the output of the company and leaders may need some support in changing leadership style to accommodate this work.

If the challenges can be overcome then you will be truly on your way to developing a Conscious Organisation.

Resources

Book –
Purpose – Nikos Mourkogiannis

Book –
The Vision Code – Oleg Konovalov

Video –
How great leaders inspire action – Simon Sinek

Article –
The 10 Buffer Values and How We Act on Them Every Day

Article –
Zappos 10 Core Values