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Systemic consulting: The organisation as a living system
Consultants are usually invited to work in an organisation when its own managers are unable to find solutions to business problems. Then expert help is brought in - on a temporary basis. Systemic consulting is uniquely different from any other consulting approach in that it is not the consultant who is the expert, but the organisation itself.
The authors regard organisations as living systems. Their grasp of what makes a living system, its characteristics and to what degree one can recognise them in an organisation, is what the first chapter is about.
In chapter two an insight into the various sources of the systemic approach is given.
In the third chapter the authors look more deeply into organisations as living systems. They discuss the fundamental needs that must be fulfilled in order to create a perfectly-sound organisational system. They also describe some reaction patterns which organisations might show if one or more of these needs are not met.
In chapter four the systemic consultant is encountered. It starts with the basic attitude needed to strengthen organisational systems and continue by elaborating what is so specific about the way the systemic consultant works.
There were two reasons for writing the short, fifth, chapter about systemic coaching. There is its relationship with systemic consulting and the fact that many consultants also work as coaches. As the focus of the book is on supporting and strengthening organisational systems, this chapter, about individual coaching, is quite short.
Consultants usually appear in organisations when something has gone wrong or when managers can’t fix the problem themselves. But the systemic approach really can support the prevention of problems. It is satisfying when every person, carrying out their everyday tasks and duties, contributes easily to the vital energy of an organisation. As this is mainly in the hands of team leaders, managers and directors, chapter six offers some preventive and everyday systemic interventions as tools for these groups.
In the seventh and last chapter the authors will give you an idea of how to look systemically at the world around you.
The authors regard organisations as living systems. Their grasp of what makes a living system, its characteristics and to what degree one can recognise them in an organisation, is what the first chapter is about.
In chapter two an insight into the various sources of the systemic approach is given.
In the third chapter the authors look more deeply into organisations as living systems. They discuss the fundamental needs that must be fulfilled in order to create a perfectly-sound organisational system. They also describe some reaction patterns which organisations might show if one or more of these needs are not met.
In chapter four the systemic consultant is encountered. It starts with the basic attitude needed to strengthen organisational systems and continue by elaborating what is so specific about the way the systemic consultant works.
There were two reasons for writing the short, fifth, chapter about systemic coaching. There is its relationship with systemic consulting and the fact that many consultants also work as coaches. As the focus of the book is on supporting and strengthening organisational systems, this chapter, about individual coaching, is quite short.
Consultants usually appear in organisations when something has gone wrong or when managers can’t fix the problem themselves. But the systemic approach really can support the prevention of problems. It is satisfying when every person, carrying out their everyday tasks and duties, contributes easily to the vital energy of an organisation. As this is mainly in the hands of team leaders, managers and directors, chapter six offers some preventive and everyday systemic interventions as tools for these groups.
In the seventh and last chapter the authors will give you an idea of how to look systemically at the world around you.
140 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 27, 2015
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December 13, 2021
Dit boek helpt me om anders te kijken naar organisaties en hoe mensen zich daarin bewegen. Het geeft een zekere rust om een organisatie niet alleen als een structuur of als een groep te zien, maar ook als een systeem. Een systeem dat een oorsprong en een doel heeft. Dat zich op een bepaalde manier tot zijn omgeving verhoudt. Waarin subsystemen hun eigen rol en plek hebben. En dat het een geheel is dat het in zich heeft om te doen wat nodig is om om te gaan met alles wat het systeem uit balans brengt. Maar ook dat gepercipieerde problemen uit het systeem in feite symptomen zijn van oplossingen voor behoeftes uit het systeem. Niet per se van mensen, maar can het systeem zelf, omdat het systeem zelf behoefte heeft aan vitaliteit en gezondheid. De grote uitdaging is - zoals de auteurs ook stellen - om als system is de auteurs stellen om met het ene been in de stroom van de dynamiek van het systeem te staan en met het andere op de oever om de afstand te bewaren die nodig is om uit te zoomen.
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