The Way of the Japanese Crane

“What comes to mind when you see this Japanese Crane?”

I recently posed this question at the beginning of a large group intervention with a financial services client. The group of 60 senior professionals shared with me a diverse range of reflections and associations, including ‘majestic and strong’, ‘persevering and resilient’, ‘culturally diverse’. It was a promising start to an engaging and reflective two-hour session aimed at increasing self-awareness and fostering trust in uncertain times. I noted that building self-awareness and trust in such times is the beginning of a longer journey – one that requires perseverance and resilience.

The simplistic drawing accompanying this blog post is my own. I created it in April 2021, a year into the COVID-19 pandemic and one year before founding Naomi Israel Consulting Ltd. in Zurich. My practice allows my executive clients and groups to step into a reflective space – one that feels safe for moving beyond factual, structured, left-brain-dominated data exploration. Engaging the left brain taps into ‘what we know’ (conscious material), which is a tiny fraction of what is available to us.

By engaging the creative, reflective, emotional, and open-minded right brain, rich data emerges. Using colours, drawings, or even folding an origami crane holds a special place in my heart and professional practice. These exercises invite my clients into a reflective and creative space – a method that counters the fast-paced, ever-changing demands of today’s business environment. Creativity, as embraced in the spirit of Sōzō-sei no Tenkai®, unlocks the vast potential of unconscious material within individuals and collectives.

This surfaced data is then explored and leveraged from a systems psychodynamic perspective. It allows executive leadership and organisations to humanise and elevate their approaches to strategy formulation and transformation.

Returning to the large group intervention, I shared that the Japanese Crane symbolises resilience and the value of taking a reflective stance in navigating today’s uncertain world. According to an ancient Japanese legend, folding a thousand origami cranes grants a wish from the sacred crane. The act of folding an origami crane, paired with adopting the crane’s perspective, fosters self-awareness and trust – through reflection and observation.

During the session, participants explored the challenges of today’s uncertain world through three lenses: the Self, the System, and the World. Each lens was introduced with an impulse, followed by reflective and creative exercises conducted individually, in pairs, in small groups, and as a large group. Reflecting on this intervention, I recognise areas for improvement, such as allowing sufficient time for participants to transition from left-brain interactions to right-brain associations.

This experience has inspired me to consider offering The Way of the Japanese Crane interventions more broadly. These interventions could be adapted for individual coaching, group sessions, organisational work, and keynote speeches. The journey continues…