Whole Self, Whole System - Selected Writings.pdf

(739 KB) Pobierz
Kind Words
“20 years ago when I started-out in working in large-scale whole-system change, I wished someone would
have provided me with this small book. It is a genuine treasure: rich full of engaging stories, sensible
practical insights and deep learning for the practitioner and newcomer alike. This leadership competence
of systemic awareness is surely essential for our times. I can wholeheartedly recommend this book from Ed.
Cracking stuff!”
Jason Nickels, Business Psychologist and Certified Scrum Master,
Intellectual Property Office (IPO) UK.
“Perceiving and acting more systemically is the key leadership skill for today’s complex, ever changing and
interconnected world. At the same time, it can be fiendishly tricky to explain! In this compendium, Ed
(with Sarah and Scott) beautifully cracks the conundrum and gives us an accessible yet
authoritative account of the leadership skill our world so urgently needs.
A valuable gift to both leaders and those who coach them"
Deborah Rowland, Author: Still Moving. Formerly HR Director of BBC Worldwide and Gucci
‘There is a major shift afoot in business.  It can be characterised as a shift from perceiving the organisation-
as-a-machine to recognising the organisation as an emergent living system.  Many forward-thinking leaders
and organisations are grappling with what this means in practice, and in-so-doing realising that the
organisation-as-living-system demands quite different approaches to what many of us are conversant with.
Experts in their field, Edward, Sarah and Scott explore in a prescient and practical way how we can best
sense into and attune the living-systems of our organisations for improved vibrancy and responsiveness.
This e-book helps our organisations to not just survive but thrive in these increasingly volatile and complex
times; it is essential for practitioners and leaders alike who are sensing into the emerging future of business
today. I highly recommend this insightful and accessible work.’ 
Giles Hutchins, author of Future Fit, and Chairman of The Future Fit leadership Academy
“Enlightening and resonant; Ed, Sarah and Scott offer a really accessible and valuable lens on organisational
change and leadership that left me feeling far better resourced to lean in to the challenges and
opportunities that we face in business today and, very practically, help others do the same.  I would
recommend this book to both those who are new to systemic coaching, as an introduction to the
perspective, and those who are experienced with working in this way, as a vehicle to help translate this
approach to a broader client base.  I love the clarity of message and gentle challenge to think more broadly
and deeply about things that initially appear to be too complex or problematic. It is brilliant to be able to
pick up a book with real depth that also feels light and easy to work with.”
Nisheeta Shah, In-house Senior Executive Coach

2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
1. Whole Self, Whole System: An Introduction to Systemic Coaching with
Constellations
2. The Wisdom of the System: The Perspective of Constellations Work
3. The Heart of Purpose: Through a Systemic Lens
4. A Hidden Architecture - the Orders of Systemic Change
5. Leading Mindful Change: Integrating a Systemic Approach into
Leadership
6. In the System but Not of It: A Stance for Change Coaches
7. Resources and Further Reading
About the Authors
5
10
17
25
31
40
44
3
Preface
Two years ago, while filming a dialogue with Jan Jacob Stam - who is a widely acknowledged thought
leader in the field of systemic coaching and organisational constellations - I was delighted to discover
that we shared a perspective about the trajectory and place of this work in the world.
The perspective, or insight, was the response to a question: if constellations work is almost universally
recognised as an extremely powerful and effective way of working by those that experience it, why
has it gained relatively little traction in the mainstream of leadership development and organisational
change (particularly outside Germany and the Netherlands)?
Good question! There are various responses of course but the one with most energy for our
conversation was this. Over the last 15 years, the community of systemic practitioners has
focused too
much on the mapping tool of constellations - and teaching other change coaches how to use that tool -
and too little on communicating the important understanding of human systems that this lens and way
of working has revealed (particularly to business leaders).
We shared our respective plans for new leadership and capacity-building programmes that would use
this systemic lens to open up the systemic intelligence and conversational potential that is already
there in leaders and teams (and inherent to human beings, in our view).
New writing is of course another way of redressing the imbalance. Over the last 18 months, together
with my colleagues Sarah Rozenthuler and Scott Downs, we have published a number of articles about
the systemic approach in a wide range of publications - Business Zone, Coaching at Work, Ethical
Performance, HR Director, Huff Post, Salt Magazine - as well as on our own website and LinkedIn.
These articles focus on building systemic awareness rather than the method itself. They introduce the
systemic approach to a mainstream audience (chapter 1), discuss the key principles and ordering
forces including the centrality of purpose (chapters 2, 3 and 4), explore the stance of the change coach
(chapter 6) and set out our approach for integrating this approach into leadership (chapter 5). They say
very little about actual constellations, though they give hopefully enough case stories and practical
examples from our live work with clients to bring the material to life.
This ebook brings them together for you to download and read in one place. We hope you find them
useful and informative, and that they spark insights for your own leadership and coaching practice.
Your feedback is really welcome!
very best Ed

4
1.
Whole Self, Whole System:
An Introduction to Systemic Coaching with Constellations
(This article appeared in
!
- a magazine for
positive change agents, gamechangers, visionaries, &
inspiring ideas - in January 2017
!
Systemic Coaching and Constellations co-pioneer Edward Rowland introduces a powerful
new ‘wide-angle lens’ approach to transforming challenges in organisations.
We live in an uncertain, high-pressured world where the pace of change is faster than ever before.
The pressures and anxieties that this vortex of change places on individuals, especially leaders, are
unprecedented. Many leaders, behind closed doors, report feeling bewildered, impotent and
overwhelmed at the scale and rate of disruptive change in our rapidly unfolding digital age, according
to Nik Gowing and Chris Langdon in their hard-hitting report,
Thinking the Unthinkable: A New
Imperative for Leadership in the Digital Age
(2016). From a series of 60 confidential, one-to-one
interviews with top-level leaders from across the globe working in corporates, government, and
humanitarian sector, a sobering picture emerges. The authors argue that most leaders are simply not
equipped to lead in these volatile times, and that “the leadership skills of tomorrow are fundamentally
different to the leadership skills of today".
5

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin