The three therapy skills that all managers need to master

The worlds of management and therapy are overlapping. Management has always had a touch of therapy about it but through the pandemic, managers have been encouraged to go further and dial up their empathy and listening skills. 

In parallel, more and more students on undergraduate-level mental health degrees now study CMI-accredited certificates in coaching and mentoring to become more skilled at developing their clients’ thinking. 

The two disciplines aren’t the same of course but, according to one of the UK’s leading workplace therapists, they share one key driver. “Ultimately, they’re both trying to maximise human potential, and there’s also something about encouraging personal and professional fulfilment,” says Rick Hughes, former deputy chair of the Association for Counselling at Work and former lead advisor: workplace for the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).

“Therapists might be trying to help people from perhaps a state of crisis or emotional pain to where they are enjoying life more, but managers also clearly want a happy workforce and they want them to feel fulfilled.”