“In organizations, real power and energy is generated through relationships. The patterns of relationships and the capacities to form them are more important than tasks, functions, roles, and positions.”

― Margaret Wheatley

The need for change: 

The interconnectedness amongst elements has become clearer with the pandemic and the climate crisis we are all facing. It has become evident, that we can no longer look at groups, teams or organizations as being made up of individuals but, rather as a set of interconnected elements that are organized in a way to achieve something and are held together by the interrelationships. Hybrid and remote working are redefining organizations. The great resignation is highlighting a need for alignment of purpose for each member of the system.  Instituting new systems and processes are alone not enough and calls for alignment of the members expectations and business goals.

The proposed change:

Great Place to Work research, indicates that; trust and engagement continue to be important influencers and a system that listens impacts the culture three times more on creating a great place to work. A culture where employees can be themselves and bring their ‘whole’ selves is a mark of true inclusion and develops belongingness amongst it’s members.  

Organizations continue to focus on development of the individual which may not result in the  system being influenced. If organizations are keen to build a culture of listening and engagement, there should be opportunities for the system to be influenced. Traditional methods need to make way for more inclusive methods such as the whole systems approach to development and change.

The whole system approach involves applying systems thinking*, methods and practice to better understand and identify collective actions. Whole Systems is a mindset which is practiced through collective intention and actions. This helps the system to move from an ‘I’ to ‘We’ mindset and approach.

We at Systemic Coaching International (SCI), adopt a whole systems approach to our work which is deeply embedded in; generative dialogues which lead to generative learnings.  The constant play of dialogue and learnings throughout the process lead to co-creation of generative actions. This process enhances the ownership of the intent and actions to create the desired impact. Building listening cultures is about creating a living system which allows for exchange while being based on core values of the system.

 SCI’s approach to Whole Systems

As William Issacs says, Dialogue - the discipline of collective learning and inquiry, is a process for transforming the quality of conversation and the thinking that lies beneath it.

Adopting a whole system mindset is about creating a dialogic environment, through regular dialogues with all stakeholders to understand the impact of the changes in the interconnectedness and within. Through these dialogues, the larger system and sub-systems (team) uncover the mental models (or paradigms / blind spots) releasing the system dynamics, creating shared meaning and purpose. 

Benefits of the change:

In these uncertain times, with diminishing marginal utility of the command and control leadership system, it is becoming valuable to harness the wisdom of the whole system to build resilience and be agility. Dialogues, help the system go beyond the individual and weakly created consensus, by leveraging diversity of the system to create sustained change.    

This process enables the system to co-create their shared meaning, purpose and actions which fosters a strong sense of ownership enabling the system to accomplish significant change. By constantly dialoguing and learning, the system soon starts self organizing as a response to change. 

Whole systems helps build a culture of listening through dialogues, enhancing engagement and alignment.

*Systems thinking is a method to understand how things (elements and systems) are related, and how they influence one another within a whole.

Saraswathi G. Anand, Co-founder SCI