Strategic Healing: How Bâton Global Brings Strategic Healing to Consulting

In his seminal book Persuasion and Healing, psychiatrist Jerome Frank explored what makes healing possible across cultures and traditions. According to Frank, all successful psychological healing systems share four non-specific common factors:

1. An emotionally charged confiding relationship;
2.  A healing setting;
3. Certain procedures or rituals that are provided in a structured manner, and;
4. A rationale that provides credibility to the treatment being delivered.

These, he argued, are the building blocks of meaningful transformation.

These same four elements—relationship, setting, ritual, and rationale—mirror what we see in the most effective consulting engagements. Just as patients in therapy seek healing through trust, meaning, and structure, so too do leaders and organizations in times of change. When teams feel stuck, disoriented, or disconnected, it’s not just strategies they need—it’s someone to walk with them and help them regain clarity, coherence, and conviction. This is the essence of strategic healing.

The Four Mechanisms of Healing — and Their Consulting Parallels

 1.   Confiding Relationships: The Foundation of Change

In his book, Frank argues that healing (and, by extension, change and growth) happens primarily through emotionally charged, trusting relationships rather than the specific content of advice or technique. At Bâton, our tools, frameworks, plans, and assessments are important, but they succeed because of the trusted relationship we build with clients. The trust in Bâton as a guide — not just the strategies themselves — is what actually catalyzes leadership and organizational transformation. Relationship building is not a 'soft' extra — it is a significant part of the intervention.

2.   Legitimizing the Work: Consulting as a Healing Setting

Frank notes that for any healing process to be effective, the setting must be perceived as credible, safe, and legitimate. At Bâton, we take care to create settings where clients feel heard, respected, and supported. Our process is designed to balance structure with flexibility, allowing clients to be vulnerable while still feeling anchored in a professional framework. From our intentional language to our thoughtfully facilitated sessions, we cultivate a setting that invites trust and encourages deep reflection. This legitimizing environment helps clients shift from defensiveness to openness, and from stagnation to momentum.

3.   Symbolic Acts: Rituals that Signal Commitment and Progress

Frank's third mechanism is the presence of healing rituals—symbolic acts or structured interventions that signify movement and renewal. In our consulting work, rituals come in many forms: co-creating a strategic vision, holding a leadership offsite, facilitating a moment of shared acknowledgment, or designing visual artifacts that anchor new commitments. Our name — Bâton — is not just branding; it is a deep symbolic ritual for our clients. We are positioning ourselves as the walking staff, the shepherd's guide, or the relay partner — symbols of trust, support, and shared purpose. These symbols create emotional engagement that fosters greater openness to learning, adaptation, and perseverance through challenges.

4.   Finding the Why:  A Narrative that Anchors Today and Charts a Path Forward

Finally, Frank identifies the need for a compelling narrative—a theory that makes sense of the client’s distress and offers a way forward. At Bâton, we aren’t just solving problems — we are reframing organizational identity, future possibilities, and leadership confidence. We work with leaders to interpret their current challenges, connect the dots between internal dynamics and external pressures, and craft a clear narrative of where they are and where they can go, and how we’ll walk it together. In helping clients construct a narrative they can believe in, we offer more than advice—we restore coherence and conviction.

From Strategy Consulting to Strategic Healing

The best consultants do not just offer expertise; they create conditions for transformation. At Bâton, we believe the future of consulting lies in this more human-centered, psychologically attuned model.

Our work is not just about strategies. It is about restoring belief, rebuilding clarity, and helping leaders find their footing again. In a world where uncertainty is the norm and burnout is widespread, this model of strategic healing is not just helpful. It is essential.

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