Greetings from a conference venue packed with shiny suits, touch screen displays, overflowing bowls of sweat, and just one big, red and inviting Heartstyles Heart (for those of you that don’t know, this is a character development tool that is currently deepening all the work I do – www.heartstyles.com)

We are exhibiting at this conference for the second time, and I wanted to share the shift in momentum and interest that I have observed from colleagues in the field.  Thus far this conference has been a fascinating check on the pulse of the field of organisational psychology, psychometric assessment, leadership development and coaching, and in the main I have been disappointed. The persistent desire to place an ‘=’ sign against every person and assumption about people, has made the field seem more narrow and irrelevant than ever.

The palpable anxiety around the full human experience has been counter balanced by an obsession with measurement and prediction and the ability to sell anything that ranks, ticks, orders and even condemns people. It was a worthwhile reminder that the field emanated in this country from the mining industry – exploiting resources seems to be in its DNA – and not much seems to have changed.

In this field there seems to be no space for the magical, for the unearthed potential, for curves of growth and learning that shift and meander like all organic things do. There is an avoidance of the blurry and unpredictable expressions and sources of emotion. I also haven’t seen so many black leather jackets in one room since a Michael Jackson ‘Bad’ concert.

But there have been glimmers. As if stumbling across an elephant swimming at sea (that actually did happen recently – but rather go with the metaphor), there has been surprise and intrigue at what we do with Heartstyles. Without fail, each person that hears of our unashamed celebration of humanity and heart in the workplace – grabs an info sheet and leaves me their name wanting to know more. From miners, to retailers, bankers and consultants, they all light up, as if we have given them permission to go with their intuition and embrace what really matters – seeing people as people and allowing them to question the reductionist approach to everything else being peddled in the hall.

Its as if we were permission givers to celebrate potential and humanity within the lines of the balance sheets and organisational organogram. I must say, it felt good, and we seemed more relevant than ever!