Systemic constellations

“Some things you miss because they’re so tiny you overlook them. But some things you don’t see because they’re so huge.” Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Systemic constellations can reveal underlying patterns and dynamics in organisations, in external networks, and in other working relationships. They can help us to resolve our own cognitive dissonance, as well as to provide new perspectives for transforming conflicts.

Through the creation of ‘living maps’ of the system, using representatives, the approach allows a soft focus on the larger picture and thereby supports the system to find its natural balance. This is often achieved by acknowledging that which is missing, or has been ignored. However, breakthroughs can also come through revealing hidden dynamics in systems – both those to which we have been blind and those which we have avoided surfacing. When these dynamics are brought into the open, the revelations often resonate strongly with participants in ‘but, of course’ admissions, allowing them to move forward with a fresh perspective and energy.

A constellation is typically run in a workshop setting although the methodology can also be applied by creating paper-based maps, using floor markers or objects to map out a system, and through 1:1 coaching.

The methodology was originally developed by German psychotherapist, Bert Hellinger, as a way of working with personal issues and was found to be particularly powerful in helping people to identify and release patterns that repeat through the generations within families. More recently it has been adapted for working with organisational change issues and is also increasingly being used for working with wider societal challenges.

I run constellation workshops, and one-to-one leadership coaching sessions, to facilitate systemic change. If you’d like to know more about how this work could benefit you, drop me a line.