Chapter 12: Comparing Psychotherapists’ and Change Agents’ Approaches to Change: Reflections on Changing People and Changing Organizations¹

Management consultants and psychotherapists have traditionally worked in separate arenas, crossing each other’s paths only infrequently. Occasional meetings between the two, however, can turn into lively conversations that result from a recognition of each other’s ideas and activities. This is especially the case when the consultants are specialists in change management and when the therapists stay clear of a medical model. As meetings between these professionals and their professions begin to increase, the overlap of their interests also becomes increasingly clear. Few would dispute that organizations can make people sick and that people, in turn, can damage an organization’s health. Psychotherapists are spreading their wings beyond the health care system and are offering their services to organizations, while management consultants are attempting to change therapeutic institutions. Given this context, what can change agents and therapists learn from one another?