Systemic Team Coaching: Part 1 – The need for relational based systems

There is a mystical quality to the times we live in, especially in organisations and larger collectives who need to adapt and scale to survive and thrive. I’m reminded of the opening sequences of Lord of the Rings, where prophesies are spoken to set the scene for something dramatic and epic to unfold.

Most organisations have given the decree to deliver more, faster – to scale and “Agile” the system, which is often a response to pressures and the realisation that what got them here, won’t get them there (to quote Denning ineloquently).

The old way of doing business, based on the great systems explosion of the 1970[1], rooted in the beliefs on the corporation from the early 1930s no longer work.

Why? Well, simply because we are scaling, evolving, and accelerating much faster than the old models ever assumed would exist. Certainty and control are fallacies, complexity is an everyday reality. We know this, our teams know it, our leaders know it – and yet, we still try and make our human systems work in the old way. We need a new way of working with systems[2].

[1] Powers, S. (2021). Change: A practitioners guide to enterprise agile coaching. AWA

[2] Turner, E., & Hawkins, P. (2020). Systems Coaching: Delivering Value beyond the individual. Routledge

A system is an entity that is made up of several (homogenous or heterogenous) parts, that co-exist or works together while being in relation to one another. Notice that a system doesn’t need to have a shared purpose, outcome or goal and the relationship is not defined to be harmonious or orchestrated. A system simply is.

In each system we can get sub-systems, and every system exists in larger system. You are a system, you belong to a family or group of friends, they too are a system, this fits into a community, which fits into a nation, the world, the solar system… There are many different kinds of systems, and many levels. Systems thinking, Integral theory[1] and frameworks like Cynefin[2] help us to understand and make sense of systems and how they operate. Our focus is mainly on Systemic work, a family member of Systems Thinking.

Ken Wilber’s Integral Quadratics: Interlace Interior, Exterior, Individual & Collective

[1] Madore, M., & Spayd, M. (2020). Agile Transformation: Using the integral agile transformation framework to think and lead differently. Addison-Wessley

[2] Snowden, D. (2021). Cynefin: weaving sense-making into the fabric of our world. Cognitive-Edge