SYSTEMIC ORGANISATIONAL CONSTELLATIONS

Ever wondered about the success of companies such as Google, You Tube and My Space? How do wiz kids and other business people keep up with the speed of change and create and maintain a thriving company? Don’t think you have the knack? Ever considered that it can be learned? Today’s business structures are complex and fast changing. Rational and intellectual skills are no longer enough to bring clarity. Systemic organisational constellation is a tool for fast and immediate insights into the hidden dynamics of business. To find out more about it read this page, or follow these links:

• So, what are systemic organisational constellations?
• Systemic structural constellations
• Systemic management constellations
• Benefits of systemic organisational constellations
• And how are they applied?
• Conditions for doing a systemic organisational constellation

Systemic organisational constellations are not, of themselves, a panacea. They are but one tool in many, and are used in addition to existing, more conventional, management tools. For workshop information refer to our schedule.

Systemic organisational constellations are systemic constellations applied to organisational, business or team issues.
The systemic organisational constellation method is a spatial representation of a system. The elements of the system displayed in space can be people, functions, products or ideas. The representatives for these elements can be people, floor markers or figures. These representatives are placed in a spatial relationship to each other. The system is now portrayed symbolically, reflecting the client’s inner image of a situation.
Systemic organisational constellations are an intervention that helps you look behind the appearance of a problem, to come closer to the root cause.
The techniques and processes for systemic organisational constellations have originally been developed in a family therapy context by Bert Hellinger and were called family constellations. Through the initiative of Gunthard Weber, this systemic-phenomenologic method has transferred successfully into organisational and business consulting environments in just a few years. Many other innovative practitioners have contributed, driven by an interest in the dynamics of social systems beyond families, the most ancient form of organisation.
Please refer to the family constellations page for a step-by-step description of the process. As a key difference to family constellations, organisational constellations often focus on functions and tasks rather than persons, and use additional techniques, such as:

Outcome definition: a clear goal is stated by using solution focussed techniques
Fact gathering: what does this organisation do
Fact gathering: organagrams give a logical overview of the hierarchy in the organisation at this point in time
Fact gathering: orgenograms give information about the history of the organisation and critical developments that have occurred
Hypothesis forming: a close exchange with the client keeps the focus on the task and helps develop systemic awareness
Process work: remains in the context of the goal and the client’s position in the organisation
Completion of the constellation: time is given to collect new ideas on how to use the received information back in the workplace
Important factors that are taken into consideration when working with in systemic organisational constellations are:
Acknowledgement and honouring of position, contribution and time
Stating facts such as secrets or reversal of order
Reappraise injustice and unfair or disrespectful acts
Various types of organisational systems have different dynamics which we take into consideration when working with your organisation:

• Profit oriented businesses and enterprises
• Family businesses
• Sponsored or non-profit organisations
• Government owned companies or departments

Systemic organisational constellations can also be applied to abstract issues, such as decisions, proposition testing, the implementation of new IT systems and career development.

Matthias Varga von Kibed and Ingrid Sparrer have developed systemic structural constellations with specific predefined constellation setups to be able to represent mental concepts and inner images when dealing with issues such as pursuing a goal or having to make a decision. The basic process of the constellation stays the same. Elements used in these constellations include:

• Focus
• Goal
• Resources
• Obstacles
• The first option
• The other option
• What comes after

Some of these systemic structural constellation models have been built into our program and are applied depending on the request and context of the client.

For certain issues, such as testing strategies, values or branding possibilities, systemic organisational constellations can be held in-house with members of the company as representatives. The process is adapted to help management and teams to find clarity and insights in a task oriented approach during a meeting and is referred to as systemic management constellations.
Special techniques are used to keep the representative feedback neutral, such as exchanging positions regularly to receive a feedback from more than one person in a particular position. Another possibility is to work with the representatives not knowing who or what they represent during the process of the constellation. Identities, such as A, B, or C, are used as described above. The intention for the constellation is discussed in the group, followed by the team leader choosing the representatives according to an initially secret list. This variety has been refined in particular by Henriette Katharina Lingg, Georg Senoner and Claude Rosselet.
The constellation process can be video taped and subsequently watched and discussed by the whole team with the identities of the representatives available to everybody.
Systemic management constellations are a format that:

• Are practiced by members of a team
• Work purely on a task level
• Help to resolve issues of getting organised around a task
• Are an intervention that is part of a variety of other interventions
• Are compatible with other systemic processes and often used in combination

Because systemic organisational constellations include the subconscious level or our mind, they bring together contrasts that were previously considered incompatible. They are both, fast and complete, specific and symbolic, and above all they are solution and process oriented. They are an intervention that:

• Helps you find new perspectives
• Ensures communication about communication
• Improves decision making
• Demands precise thinking
• Supports differentiation of feelings
• Invites consistent, appropriate action

Systemic organisational constellations can bring important and useful information to light and set an issue into a new context, offering alternative possibilities and a different way to look at a particular question.  In addition, through participation in systemic organisational constellation you can feel yourself enter into a role of a total stranger in a depth that is rare in everyday life.
The solutions that emerge from systemic organisational constellations are not a scatter gun approach, with shots in various directions with the hope that some would find the target. Systemic organisational constellations initiate focussed and long-term development, and as a diagnostic instrument they can be used to answer questions such as:

• What is going on in this situation, this organisation or system
• How do I manage my business best
• What can I add
• What needs my attention
• When do business and staff function well
• How should I set up an organisation
• What is my own position in this organisation
• How can we prevent burnout
• In which position could someone’s health be jeopardised

Confused? Or, after reading a bit more about how it all works, you might also think ‘this is easy, I can do it by myself, place a few representatives in the room, move them around, ask for feedback and suggest sentences to be repeated’. In fact, the technique itself is relatively simple and can be replicated. But… even though systemic organisational constellations look easy from the outside, they are extremely complex, involving influences from multiple directions and various systemic levels both inside and outside the organisation. Systemic organisational constellations work on the invisible part of the iceberg, the part that is underwater. Therefore, a skilled, experienced and systemically aware facilitator is needed, to guide you through the process almost invisibly and with utmost care.
Systemic organisational constellations are applied to find a possible resolution when a systemic imbalance in an organisation or a business is suspected. This imbalance is often shown as:

• Missing clarity in tasks, functions or assignment of responsibilities
• Relationship difficulties between staff
• Hierarchical conflicts

When the order in a system is disturbed, people on lower levels often act out hidden or excluded themes of the company. They are the weakest and most dependent members and in some cases, belonging to the company means survival. For example students in a school act out unspoken conflicts between teachers. Or, if the owner of a company has come to gain at the cost of someone else, the entanglement often pours into the next lower level and is acted out in the management.

Caution is advised. Systemic organisational constellations have to be treated in their context and with care. They do not replace reality. Real life is out there, on the street, in the office, on the factory floor.
Sometimes a systemic constellation doesn’t work out and no clarity is achieved for various reasons. The dynamic, that becomes apparent in the systemic constellation process, has no obvious explanation and a pathway towards a resolution cannot be found. The system might not be ready to reveal buried information. Nevertheless, these inconclusive constellations can still provide insights. They sometimes carry hidden messages.
On the other hand, systemic constellations cannot be performed out of curiosity, as casual questions disempower the client and the facilitator. To get the full benefit of a systemic constellation, a certain approach is needed. Some of the key conditions for a systemic constellation to work are listed here:

• The client asking the question for the constellation needs to be part of the system the question is about
• The client needs to be part of the solution; in other words, the client needs to be able to do something about the issue presented in real life
• The question needs to be sincere, a pressing issue works best
• A constellation does not help if an internal decision has already been made
• A constellation cannot reduce consequences, it will not soften harsh reality
• The task still has to be done and the responsibility still has to be assumed
• Systemic organisational constellations are not fortune telling

The decision maker has to bear the full consequences of any decision made and in full view of those implicated by the decision. For example, an employee cannot do a constellation on the management, he or she cannot change anything there.