DR HÉLÈNE SMIT (B.A. (HDE), MBA, PHD)

Overview

I am a specialist in the process of relationship building in organisations. I use depth psychology theory in facilitation, conflict resolution and leadership development, building psychological and systemic literacy and integrity in individuals and groups in a variety of settings.  Specifically, I am skilled in helping small and large groups deal with seemingly intractable and chronic conflicts and dilemmas.

Professional history and experience

I originally trained and worked as an English and Mathematics high school teacher but left teaching to start my own firm called Feather Learning (Pty) Ltd. For the past 30 years, Feather Learning has offered a variety of services and courses including facilitation, coaching, psychological literacy training, and leadership development. Through Feather Associates, I facilitate a variety of processes, including team building, conflict resolution, leadership development and under-the-surface processes in a range of contexts and sectors. I have worked with NGO’s, local, provincial and national government, and many large and small business organisations. I have spent many years coaching and facilitating processes for academics in universities. One of the highlights of my work is my facilitation of the leadership development of Southern African Development Community (SADC) Chief Justices and other senior judges in the three-year leadership course offered by the Judicial Institute for Africa at UCT (JIFA). 

I am a trained executive coach and hold a Certificate in Executive Coaching from the Tavistock Institute. I use a variety of coaching methodologies, depending on client needs. However, I specialise in what I call “depth” coaching, in which I consider the deep underlying patterns for individual functioning and performance. I have coached senior executives and academics from a range of institutions.  

In addition to running Feather, I was a Visiting Senior Lecturer at the UCT Graduate School of Business in the areas of psychological literacy, systems thinking, people skills, change management, diversity management and facilitation for 17 years. I lectured on the MBA, Executive MBA, AIM and other executive programmes. I am now a part-time faculty member at Henley Business School, looking after the MBA groups, amongst other lecturing activities. Together with the South African College of Applied Psychology, I launched the (first of its kind) National Diploma in Facilitation and was the Programme Director for five years. I was included in the book “50 Faces of Wits Business School” which profiles 50 exceptional alumni who have graduated from Wits Business School over the past 50 years.

Non-profit work, research and creative interests

In 2013, I established The Depth Leadership Trust, a non-profit organisation that aims to develop and promote understanding of depth psychology amongst leaders, organisations and civil society. The Trust is also involved in a variety of small community projects that help people find their voices and develop their leadership capacity. As part of the Trust, in 2017, I started and still run the Prince Albert Skills School (see more here), a small school for marginalised teenagers who have dropped out of the formal schooling system. My main interest is the application of depth psychology principles to group contexts. This involves working with unconscious processes in organisations and general society, in order both to unleash greater creativity and to minimise the negative organisational impact of under-the-surface conflict. I have published three books, the first called The Depth Facilitator’s Handbook which describes facilitation skills in detail. The second one is called Beneath – Exploring the Unconscious in Individuals, a book for a general audience that explores the functioning of the unconscious mind in order to unleash potential. My third book, called Depth Leadership, was published in December 2013 and teaches the theory and practice of depth psychology to leaders. An updated edition of this book has now been published by De Gruyter in Europe. In 2016, I completed the making of a feature film called Eerstewater (First Water) which tells the true stories of some remarkable Prince Albert residents, and which illustrates the ideas in Beneath. The film was selected for and screened at the 2018 Encounters International Documentary Film Festival.  For the past nine years, I have run the Every Voice Matters collaborative art installation project which explores various themes that emerge from the nexus of art, science, psychology and social activism. My work in this project included working with farmers who are struggling with the impact of climate change. My most recent project considered the role of Attachment theory and its link to the development of integrity. I tell my own story in a collection of creative non-fiction work called Notes from the Body: Health, Illness and Trauma in a piece called Architeuthis.

I hold a PhD from Stellenbosch University where I formulated a model for the development of leadership integrity. I designed a business school curriculum which builds integrity in students of leadership, so that, over time, they develop an internal moral ecology that addresses the complex and conflicting demands of individual, collective and systemic well-being.