Monkswood Associates

Monkswood Associates Newsletter January 2005
Topic for the month – a systemic view

My opening thought for January:

“Reality, taken seriously, is friendly, and it’s worth taking seriously. Reality takes its revenge if it’s not taken seriously or is trivialised.”
B Hellinger in Love’s Own Truth, p 294

In the last month I have been revising my website. This has involved quite a bit of reading, thinking and writing. One aspect of my approach that previously received little coverage was my preference to take a systemic approach in my consultancy and coaching work. So here is some of what came out of those considerations!

Systemic approach
We all live and work within a variety of systems – family, friends, company, team, interests, et cetera. These systems interact on each other. A client is both influencing and being influenced by an entire web of interrelationships in and around it. These forces have an effect on our clients and their ability to be successful.

Think of any work situation and list down all the potential systems that influence you in it.

Continuing with the metaphor of a web for a system, when something comes into contact with a web anywhere on its surface, the whole web moves. At the same time, due to its strength and flexibility, it generally maintains its integrity through such contact. In addition, webs are often invisible to the observer, yet they continue functioning. And all webs have their breaking point! All this is true for each system to which a person is linked.

The nowherefoundation has been involved in a pilot study of the application of systemic approaches in primary schools. One of the techniques the participating teachers used was mobiles as a metaphor for classroom balance and harmony. The children could see the result of contact with different parts of the mobile. Representations of the teacher, any assistants and the children in a class were hung from two pieces of wood that crossed each other. When a pupil noticed lack of harmony or felt out of kilter, s/he would ask the teacher to place extra weight on the appropriate representation. Over time this opened up discussions about what needs to happen to regain harmony. To read the full report go to http://www.nowheregroup.com/foundation.html and look under ‘research and development’. I think this is a wonderful example of how system awareness can be used, not only to increase people’s awareness about cause and effect, but also instigating action to counter the less positive effects.

Norms
Each system has its own way of looking at the world and what happens in it. This includes norms for such elements as:

1 Values
2 Communication (eg what and how are things communicated, to whom)
3 Roles and functions (including who makes trouble, who rescues, et cetera)
4 Boundaries (eg which boundaries are flexible and which are rigid?)
5 Hierarchy (eg what has priority over what, who is in control, what lines of authority are used?)
6 Power
7 Relationships (both within and outside the system)
8 Give and take (including balance between the two)

All these impact on a client when a client makes contact with, or is part of, a particular system and group of systems. Keeping alert during meetings to notice norms is particularly useful when you are new to a system.

What unspoken norms does your employer or clients have?
And what about you?

Belonging
The drive to belong has a significant influence on individuals. An organisation’s cultural values and norms play a role in belonging. People usually want to fit in with the norms as part of the drive to belong. Linked to belonging is loyalty. The difference between families and organisations is that you always belong, whether you like it or not, to your family. In organisations, it is normal for you leave at some stage, even if it is due to retirement. The right to belong to an organisation is based on your competence and the needs of the organisation. Each organisation has a purpose and your feelings of belonging come from serving that purpose.

When people talk about the ‘feel’ of a place or organisation, they are noticing the web created by the system. In turn, organisations can seek individuals to fulfil the same roles they have always had for certain positions or in particular departments – underachiever, unsung hero, victim, and so on. Consequently, you may be selected for your ability to fulfil that role. And you also seek out, usually unconsciously, organisations that welcome you in your particular role.

These are the sort of features that a systemic consultant or coach will keep an eye open for – how systems affect you and vice versa. This includes the system co-created between the consultant/coach and client!

Benefits of a systemic view
Since I have been more aware of thinking in a systemic way, I see the client’s benefits coming out of such things as:

? I notice far more of the unspoken information that is available
? I ask a greater breadth and depth of questions which enhances my understanding of the issue
? these questions are more focussed in nature and not just fishing trips
? any feedback tends to be of a higher quality, more pertinent and more out of the client’s previous awareness
? discussions are more productive

In essence the client gains as less time is taken in achieving the objectives and the quality of the solutions are likely to be of a higher nature.

So what situations do you use this approach?
And what other occasions could you use it?

“The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.”
Winston Churchill

Essential books about changing people and organisations
‘A Touch of Magic’ by Trevor Bentley, the space between publishing, ISBN 0-9538559-5-3

This book is about personal and organisational growth and well-being. It is based on a Gestalt approach. It addresses some difficult topics such as complexity, creativity and chaos in a straight forward way. I find it a brilliant reference book because it is so accessible. The examples are every day sort of events in organisations. This makes it even easier to transfer the new information into practice.

I cannot recall how I came across this website. It has a lot of short articles about learning styles and multiple intelligences. The articles I have read have been clearly written. This is just one section of a large website, which I have yet to explore!

“One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.”
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, US basketball player, born 16 April 1947

You are welcome to reprint any part of this newsletter as long as you acknowledge the source, including full authorship, copyright, and subscription information.

Please ask any questions that the topic has raised, or share your thoughts and experiences with me, Helen Wade, at: