How do you enable employees or yourself to be not only productive, but loyal? Engaged, but not stressed out? Collaborative and communicative, but also focused and assertive? How do you keep the vision and motivation for your business or project? When is it time to implement change and when to be brave and courageous? In the new always-on culture of work, stress continues to grow, and it’s not just the body that needs a shift, but an Organisation as well.
In this month’s newsletter I am talking to Chris Carr, Business Mentor & Life- and Organisation Alignment Practitioner based in the Isle of Wight, about new ways to consult companies to support both their employees and their business goals – with the modality of Organisation Alignment. Organisation Alignment helps business owners of all kinds to be on track with the accelerating changes in the world. This can result in greater strategic thinking, planning and proactiveness rather than a reactive stance – leading to more freedom and empowerment in accomplishing goals for the highest good.
Chris, why are you so passionate about Organisation Alignment (OA)?
I had seen what difference Life Alignment (LA) had made to my wife’s life – Lynne Carr – and to the lives of her clients. I wanted to learn more about it and went to a couple of Jeff Levin’s Open Workshops. I have always been very ‘left’ brained and very sceptical about things I couldn’t see and measure. However repeatedly I began to see tangible and efficient improvements when using the tools of Life Alignment. These tools are always looking at the root cause and energetic relation to a presented issue, whether in a relationship, family or a business environment. I got curious and had to understand more. It was during the many case studies that were required to become a LA practitioner that my ‘connection’ with “universal guidance” grew and this increased confidence in letting go of my logical brain at times and trusting in the dimensions I couldn’t see or measure. I experienced working on the causal level of a presented situation yet seeing visible, physical change.
Life Alignment tools such as the Tree of Life or Circle sequences are incredibly effective for deep exploration of personal vision. Organisation Alignment takes it one step further and allows for efficient exploration of a business vision and how an organisation can make a positive difference. Exactly what I needed to complement my work as Business Mentor. It is a natural progression from Life Alignment to Organisation Alignment, treating the different functions of an organisation in much the same way as the parts of a body.
“Organisation Alignment looks at a business as an inseparable and interconnected whole, taking into consideration all its dimensions and elements. This is a very effective, new approach to help companies and projects move successfully into the future, and as a means of discovering where increased flow is needed.”
Would you say Organisational Alignment became more current now than when Jeff introduced it in 2008?
Right now, communities – whether big business, non-profit organisations, government departments, one man shows and even sports/leisure clubs are in a new era of less personal contact with colleagues and clients and more virtual contact. This was a growing trend with the onset of faster and more available internet speeds, but the recent pandemic really entrenched this virtual community model. This has opened up new ways of collaborations, communications and connections, especially in the business world.
I have been a Business Mentor for decades and am used to guiding business owners and their teams towards personal and monetary success. However, there is not one single solution for all. Change is very individual and can be a very sensitive matter. The entire world is in radical transformation right now. I believe that the OA process creates a very safe space for all kinds of transformation.
The fundamental method of identifying the Vision and how the individual, the business, the charity or the relationship can make a positive difference in the world is important for us all and for the planet. With OA, the alignment to this Vision from all who touch the business, the staff, the clients, the suppliers, the contractors, the investors, the advisors means that Life Alignment can ‘touch’ so many more people than is possible with just an individual balance.
When is a good moment to introduce OA to a business, team or project?
For startups it should be from the moment that the idea is formed, even when the entrepreneur is still in his previous job. For other businesses, anytime is a good time, but particularly when there is a change of process, or location. People are often a bit scared by change, but OA creates a safe space to help individuals align to the Vision and equally importantly identify manifestations, modalities and clear blockages.
It is also important to carry out a Home Alignment clearing geopathic stress, electromagnetic radiation and energetic stress. Even people with no understanding of Energy Healing can sense when a place ‘feels’ good or ‘feels’ bad as soon as they walk into a room.
Do you have examples/ best practice?
I tend to work with small businesses and startups. In some cases, working with an individual who is in a well-paid job, but wants more from life and to run his own business. I will give you two examples.
1. A successful project manager of an advertising agency was unfulfilled in building other people’s brands and then moving on to the next project. OA helped the process to successfully leave the previous company without bad feeling and then starting the new venture. His Vision was to create a drinks brand that ‘people could drink, when they are not drinking.’ And after many weeks of iterations the Vision was simply ‘The Art of Nature’. This was developed in the first non-alcoholic spirit brand (Seedlip) which 5 years later is still market leader but also resulted in many copycats and I believe has resulted in people seen drinking 0% Alc Beers, Wines and Spirits completely acceptable – what a gift to the World.
2. A very similar case for a Landscape Architect in Dubai, who wanted to break out on his own from a large practice. His Vision was to ‘Transform Lifestyles through Connection with Nature’. Whilst only 3 years old WILDEN DESIGN is growing fast and our objective is to transform 10,000 gardens by the end of 2025, through a franchising model across all continents.
I believe best practice is when there are weekly catch ups, never just waiting for issues to be solved. The successful clients don’t just connect when there are challenges, it becomes part of the daily running just as much as when things are going well and going badly.
What is the timeframe for an OA transformation?
It can take 1 to 2 months to fully align with the Vision, but the process of identifying the internal and external organograms, which lead onto identifying the priority areas or customers can run concurrently and it is often during this period that the Vision gets refined. It is sometimes helpful to do ‘mini’ OAs on particular projects. I believe it is a continual process and I don’t feel an OA is ever complete, which is why it is such an important process to have in my toolkit.
What is the difference between OA and conventional Business Consulting? Does it work together?
OA is the connection with subtle energy and universal, often unconscious, guidance. Conventional Business Consulting is a very conscious approach. And yes, they work beautifully together. I always clearly differentiate between the two and say, ‘let’s see how the Universe will guide us now’, so the client always knows when it is conventional and when from a higher dimension.
Thank you, Chris for this insightful peek into a very effective Life Alignment Modality.