Business Therapy: Our Best Investment to Date

Starting a business as four close friends is a formidable endeavor we’ve never taken lightly. Even though we were previously successful colleagues, we knew the odds were stacked against us. Many people over the last two years have advised us against sharing the business equally, citing that type of leadership/management is “impossible” in today’s hierarchy and power obsessed society. 

And yet, this is exactly the type of cultural, business and economic worldview that we push against as Hush, hard. Our business is part of the feminine economy, meaning we build and lead with empathy, generosity, and an infinite mindset. We also believe in building new types of partnerships not only with our client partners, but with one another as well. 

Enter Business Therapy. Oh you’ve never heard of such a thing? We hadn’t either, yet it’s been our best investment to date for both ourselves and our business. Healthy business partnerships, especially amongst friends, require consistent, intentional work to stay healthy and productive. Not unlike how someone would go to couples therapy to prevent or fix relationship problems, we attend a monthly business therapy session as a team to talk about any conflicts or communication barriers to help minimize potential issues in the future. The value we’ve received from business therapy runs the gamut in both short-term, tactical and actionable outputs, as well as long-term, deep, meaningful insights that we will be practicing for years to come. 

3 Business Therapy Takeaways You Can Apply to Your Teams:

1. Bringing your whole self to work still involves creating and maintaining healthy boundaries.

A work culture where people share professional AND personal challenges may seem like it would slow things down, but we’ve learned it actually takes more time and energy to hide these challenges. Having an open safe environment will undoubtedly make the work more efficient. We pay attention to people’s energy in our collaborative work because one directly impacts the other. Making space for these moments is where the boundary element is critical. Boundaries come in all sorts of different forms, shapes, and sizes. Too loose of a boundary can lead to chaotic enmeshment. Too rigid of a boundary can lead to a brittle break. A healthy boundary is clearly communicated and gets monitored ongoing to ensure it is still serving the purpose for all those involved. 

2. Change is constant and requires intentional practice.

A group of people making different, consistent choices shifts culture. Change is the only constant in business and we each have our own, ever evolving, relationship to it. Which is very important to discuss, stay aware of, and make space for as we all ride this wild entrepreneurship rollercoaster. We honor the human side of our work by leading with EQ, making space to try things, and building with a generative mindset.  As one of our favorite thinkers and authors, adrienne maree brown says, “We must become the systems we need...to step outside the comfort of the current and lean into the unknown, together.”

3. Advocating for yourself is a critical career (and life) skill to practice, even amongst friends.

Self-advocacy is defined as “the action of representing oneself or one's views or interests”. Which ideally is rooted in self-awareness, defined as “conscious knowledge of one's own character, feelings, motives, and desires.” Even as four friends who know each other very well, we need to consistently check in with ourselves and each other to ensure we are making our needs known and not burying them to fester or cause problems. 

If you’re interested in learning more about our experience with Business Therapy, please reach out to Kate Moret (kate.moret@hushcollaborative.com). Our therapist partners are through good human work, a Minnesota-based therapy practice dedicated to breaking the stigma that surrounds emotional and relational struggles within the startup world. As they so brilliantly say, “we’re all human, so let’s act like it.”