Systemic coaching is a new approach to organisational effectiveness, especially when the source of problems is unclear or there is an inflexibility to change.
An organisation is a complex system with inter-connected elements. Individuals or even an entire department, can unknowingly get tangled in the patterns of the organisational system. This may have several consequences, arising from stress and complaints among employees, to conflicts or a lack of work productivity.
Systemic constellations is to make the dynamics behind problems clear through depiction in three-dimensional space. Questions are sought and answers will correlate to the placement of yourself and other representatives in this space. This creates a living map of what you are unaware of in a relationship or situation.
Systemic Work is one of the fastest growing training techniques in the world today. It is estimated that over 1 million people in Europe and the United States have already attended training based on Systemic Work.
When to apply systemic work in business settings?
You can use systematic constellation to get the needed answers in your individual work or topics related to the organisation, examples are:
Individual work questions:
- Uncertainty of position and ambition
- Conflicts at work
- Difficult decisions concerning your work situation
- Energy loss at work
- Personal barriers
- Difficulty in functioning optimally
- Burn-out by overwork
Organisation-based work request:
- Radical changes such as reorganisations and mergers
- Lack of clarity in leadership
- Lack of customer focus
- Struggle between different parts of the organisation
- Large degree of movement or absenteeism
- Survival of very old and historical barriers
In general, where normal capability trainings don’t work and the traditional outdoor teambuilding activities have lost their effect, systemic work can provide a solution.
Systemic constellations as a tool to analyse and resolve organisational problems
Systemic work is based on three easy-to-understand non-religious and non-cultural principles. These principles are:
- Everybody has a place in the system
- The hierarchy in the system needs to be respected
- There needs to be a balance between give and take
Participants in a workshop will learn how identify where these rules are not met and to resolve simple issues themselves. More complex issues can be handled with a facilitator in an one-to-one setting or in a group workshop using systemic constellations.
Systemic constellations are to make the dynamics behind problems clear through depiction in three-dimensional space. Questions are sought and answers will correlate to the placement of yourself and other representatives in this space. This creates a living map of what you are unaware of in a relationship or situation. Learning is derived from how the others perceive such relationships.
Once patterns are highlighted, the trainer will look for a setup that has a positive effect on individuals and on the overall system. This is done by asking questions, moving representatives and to rule on what is happening in the relationship.
Organisational constellations case descriptions
To get a feeling what kind of questions are common to use for organisational constellations, and to highlight our approach, the following case descriptions may be helpful.
Industry: horticulture
Client: CEO
Initial question: How do I ensure that sales targets are met?
Approach: A series of three business visualisations, the first with the CEO in relationship to the sales managers, the second with the sales manager in relation to the clients, and the third one with the board of directors in relationship to the management team. In these visualisations the importance of the history of the company and the relationship between the director became clear and many operational issues were solved.
Get the complete case description
Industry: real estate
Client: business development manager
Initial question: How to promote my new plans with the management team?
Approach: A systemic visualisation with the various colleagues involved was set up and different positions for the business development manager were tested. This lead to a conclusion who to use as his primary contact person.
Get the complete case description
1-day workshop Team energy and customer focus
This workshop focuses on the position of the team in relation to its customers and stakeholders. It addresses issues as team spirit, process efficiency and energy. The workshop does not focus on individual issues between team members, to make it safe for all colleagues to participate. However, explaining the principles of Systemic Work and participating in various constellations will also have a positive effect on relationships within the team.
The workshop consists of one full day in which explanation, group exercises and individual assignments will be combined.
Morning
- Introduction to Systemic Work
- Short exercises to get acquainted with the methodology
- Positioning of the team in relation to its (internal) customers and shareholders in one or more constellations
Afternoon
- Identifying issues to work on
- Clarifying these issues through constellations
- Determining individual actions to bring focus and energy back
- Doing constellations in small groups to overcome blockages in executing these actions
The workshop can be held with teams up to 20 people and will then be facilitated by two trainers.
Customised Programs for constellation work
Our 1-day workshop team energy and customer focus is just an example of what we can do for you. Mostly our work starts with an individual consultation where we explain more about our approach and where we do a simple table visualisation (with objects for the people involved in your issue) to let you experience the power of Systemic Work.
Our programs always start with the issues that are bothering you and your team. Especially where it comes to more complex problems with many stakeholders involved, or ‘intangible’ aspects such as team spirit, Systemic Work can provide clarity and show you a solution.
This does not always have to be through workshops that involve all your staff. Sometimes working with the management team or only with you or a few others will be enough. We can only determine this after our first meeting. Also see our case descriptions.
Whatever the approach will be, our commitment is to help you in a focused, clear and respectful way, in full confidentiality where necessary. Just invite us and see what we can offer you for your specific situation. Contact Hendrik de Ruiter.