Systems coaching
Warming hands by the fire.
A few months ago I completed the core curriculum of ORSC - Organisational Relationship Systems Coaching. A relationship system is hereby defined as any relationship, could be a team, an organisation, a community, family, romantic couple, a friendship etc.
I’ve been working within strategic and service design most of my career, so systems thinking has been an element of my work. And - I’m already certified as a Co-Active coach and have been a facilitator of teams both big and small most of my professional life, so I was curious about how coaching a system would be different than designing one.
The five core principles of ORSC are:
relationship systems are naturally intelligent, generative and creative - meaning the capacity to overcome whatever challenge the relationship system is experiencing is already inherent in the system itself.
every member of the system is the voice of the system - unpopular, unconventional, undesired voices still belong to the system. We can only work with the full picture and transform a system once all the voices are heard (it’s called deep democracy).
every system has its roles (functional and emotional roles) that it relies on to function and each role belongs to the system, not the person who is occupying the role
systems are in a constant state of emergence -change is always happening
each system has its own personality/identity - a so-called 3rd entity, a sum that is bigger than all parts
The fascinating thing for me is that in ORSC, we don’t coach the individuals in the relationship (be it a team, family, friendship), we coach the system - the 3rd entity. The 3rd entity encompasses all the people in it, it’s much bigger than that. It has its own intelligence, identity, function and underlying structures and dynamics. By revealing those and working with them in the coaching process, the relationship system/team/family can get aware of the underlying dynamics, access its own creativity, align and consequently shift to a desired state.
ORSC borrows elements from the Co-active Training Institute (link), Taoism (link), quantum physics (link), constellation work of Dr.Bert Hellinger (link), Arnold Mindell’s process work (link) and more. It is also the first systemic coaching education in the world accredited by the International Coaching Federation (the body that regulates and upholds standards for the coaching profession).
So why would I want to learn this? The most important reasons have to do with the state of the world and the increasing emergency for action that I feel right now:
I believe that a more systemic approach is needed in the world to help us regenerate our communities and the environment to get us out of the climate crisis we are in (if we are to survive). We need to look at the underlying causes and investigate our entire belief system and world view. No one perspective can be “right” and it will take hard work to align the different, often opposing viewpoints to positively impact the collective whole. I believe we need to shift back to seeing ourselves and the world as interdependent, and embracing that everyone and everything is interconnected, so we can’t solve problems in isolation, but only in a holistic, regenerative way. Coaching for this change fascinates me - and I’m growing as a human being when I hold space for the different perspectives in the process.
As said above, change is always happening - it’s continuous and it’s is hitting us faster and faster and is increasingly more unpredictable and disruptive. So my belief is that we need more collective resilience and agility to flow with these changes and bounce back from adversity quicker. I’d like to help us unleash the power of the collective and agency in the change process, so it’s something that they we are an active part of, rather than something happening to us. There is tremendous power in owning that responsibility collectively.
I’ve been providing answers, designing solutions, guiding, advising, mentoring, consulting for years. And, as much as being a designer and strategist is a part of my toolbox, not having a particular agenda in the transformations I facilitate is strangely liberating. And, it feels easy and meaningful to hold the teams I coach in their greatness when they might not see it, to help open up completely new possibilities for them, to encourage them to dream bigger and create impact that is for the betterment of the planet. I am a one person business, so I was looking for a way to have a bigger positive impact without burning myself out (tried that, doesn’t work). Helping teams and organisations transform to become a force for good is a great way of doing this - and maybe at some point, it can scale to larger community efforts.
And, by continuing my education, I am fully honouring my values of freedom and discovery (I love learning new things). I can spend as much as I want on education and professional development - and my inner boss approves.
So, this is a little update on one of the things I’ve been up to, and also an invitation to investigate systems thinking yourself. We need more systems thinkers, doers, practitioners, coaches in the world, so hopefully it got you curious to explore more. Here are some great resources that I’ve found useful:
The UK Design Council and their recent framework for Systemic Design:
https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/skills-learning/tools-frameworks/beyond-net-zero-a-systemic-design-approach/
The System Innovation initiative from Rockwool foundation
https://www.systeminnovation.org/
Layla Acaroglu and most of her work at the School of Disruptive Design:
https://www.disruptdesign.co/
https://www.unschools.co/
Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline book about systems thinking and the learning organisation:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/255127.The_Fifth_Discipline
The work and book of Donella Meadows - I particularly like this article she wrote about Dancing with systems:
https://thesystemsthinker.com/dancing-with-systems/
https://donellameadows.org/
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3828902-thinking-in-systems
The work of Marita Fridjohn, one of the founders of CRR Global, the organisation behind ORSC training and her recent book about a new leadership paradigm that is needed for the future (currently reading):
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60151905-systems-inspired-leadership
And last, but oldest, the book I’m also currently reading, Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, considered a classic in spiritual literature:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/67896.Tao_Te_Ching