The “problematic” person in a team should not have this automatically attributed to their personality. This person could merely be exhibiting symptoms on behalf of the whole system, the team.

On this page:

• Systemic approach to behaviour problems
• Building an intelligent system
• Building and upholding a strong team
• Leading at the edge

It is easy and quick (and hence common practice) to lay the blame for disappointing team performance at the feet of one or two individuals – the one or two “square pegs” who don’t fit the round holes the team-leaders believe to be requirement. It is also surprisingly easy and quick (‘though so far, not common practice) to take a completely different approach and look at the team as a whole and investigate it for the hidden dynamics that might operate between individuals or interfere with elements of the business processes delivered by, or impacting on, the team. Such an approach, the systemic approach, can identify and address many of the issues effecting team and individual performance.

Certain behavioural patterns of staff can put an organisation under undue pressure, such as:

• Lack of respect
• Forming coalitions and creating territorial stand-offs
• Mixing work and private affairs
• Rebelliousness – with or without a cause
• Arrogance

To improve the situation using traditional and cognitive methods, the focus for change would be on the persons or groups showing the above behaviours. This gets a bit more difficult when other systemic stress factors are added, such as:

• High staff turnover
• Positions or responsibilities are not addressed

Who is the problem in this case? Is it the person who is hiring an “unsuitable person” or someone who leaves a crucial position empty?
From the systemic perspective, this looks quite different:

• The person or persons showing “bad” behaviour are not “bad”
• They are a symptom bearer, the weak link in the chain
• They are pointing to something wrong in the system

The system in our case is the organisation. On joining a company, a new employee, beyond learning company specific rules, becomes part of a system, a network of relationships with a deep bond between the members of this system. This bond also includes previous members, in particularly where they haven’t been treated rightfully, or have been dismissed in a unfair way.

There are organisations with excellent collective performance without individual staff members having outstanding or special skills. There are also organisations with a number of very intelligent, gifted and clever individuals who do not, or cannot, use their potential. Team sports can provide many examples of both.
Staff members watching or hindering each other is not working for the greater good of the company (link to heading in business transformation). Just as the Australian “tall poppy syndrome” is not just hindering individuals to live according to their capabilities, it is also holding back progress in Australia at large.
How can you influence a team, department or organisation at large to an outstanding performance?
Sending your staff on specialist training to improve their skills brings back a group of specialists, but not a group of cohesion.
We suggest you ask yourself the question:

Is the relationship between the members in your team cooperative?

Your team is a social system with communication and behavioural patterns. One person’s reality has an influence on another person’s reality. Do you know where each member of your team is looking at? They might be pointing out a blind spot.
We use systemic organisational constellations and other systemic tools (link to tools and techniques) to help you improve your perception of the informal structures in your team.

Are you part of a team where a few team members do the bulk of the work? While others lean back and take it easy? This unevenness is often quite clear to an outsider, while the dynamics might not be visible to you as a member of that team.
A team can only be successful if there is a balance between giving and taking in the team.
A multitude of team building activities are offered for the corporate market. Googling the term in Australia alone brings over two million hits. They range from indoor to outdoor to adventure, from competition to very specialised activities such as making a movie. These do have their place and we do not aim to compete with them.
But are these activities enough to motivate staff?
We use a systemic approach to find a good atmosphere in the work place. We look at a team as a social system and focus on the whole team and each individual in the team alike. We do not aim to change team behaviours that function well. Typically we are brought in to help remedy a suboptimal situation and teach your team to be able to look after itself.
For us a problem system is when at least one person of the system feels the need, or sees the possibility, that the situation should, or can, be changed.
Depending on the specific makeup of your team and the nature of your concern, we use a combination of group work and individual coaching . When working with the group directly systemic principles and exercises are drawn on in combination with a range of other modalities:

• Systemic organisational constellations can be used to test strategies , tasks and resources
• We use systemic awareness exercises for your team members to be able to see themselves in the bigger picture of the company and recognise when something is out of balance inside the team
• Other methodologies such as dialogue and appreciative inquiry can help in internal conflict situations.

Systemic constellations will not be performed directly with a team to resolve conflicts within the team. Rather, a constellation might be done for the team lead in a individual setting, or in a confidential group setting with neutral representatives, to gain insights on the dynamics in the team.
Systemic organisational constellations can be used to find whether and where there might be a lack of support for a person or a team

Similarly to our approach to team building we do not intend to compete with existing leadership programs. We look at leadership support from a different angle.
Have you ever thought about power?
How much power is appropriate to your position? We all have heard and talked about people who are not in their power and can't make the things happen that they are supposed to make happen. But, what happens if you, or someone else, uses more power than one is entitled to? What is the difference between authority and authoritarian?
Consider this: Using more power than permitted by position or weight of personality makes a person authoritarian - and authority is then lost.
Leadership has to be assumed the right way; it has very much to do with order and a company has true order when its structure just works – without further management interventions.
With a systemic approach to leadership, we invite you to inquire into topics such as:

• How can the organisation, the department or the team become more decisive
• Do you know how close or how far away you are from your employees in reality?
• Recognise who can lead a team and who can’t

We are using systemic organisational constellations, and other systemic constellation tools , to help you find your own answers, relevant to your particular situation. For example you could find out whether the focus of your team is in balance, hierarchically as well as planetary:

• Is it too much focussed upwards towards bosses and board
• Is it too much focussed downwards onto operational staff members
• Is it too much focussed inwards onto the relationships within the team
• Is it too much focussed outwards towards peers or customers

These tools are also designed to help you resolve these issues and to help you with other tasks such as filling a position. For example you can find answers to questions such as:

• If there is really a position available
• The qualities and skills that are needed for the job to be done successfully
• The sort of person that would be suitable for this job
• If you have several applicants you can test the effect each one would have on the team

Be ready for surprises!

We also use a systemic approach to various leading styles and take into account rather uncommon, maybe even unpopular, demands, such as leading from the last place.
Consider a new boss arriving at the company later than the members of a team. He or she is the first hierarchically, but the last in the order of membership. From a systemic viewpoint, this is important and is referred to leading from the last position. It needs special skills to show leadership and still keep in-place what has proved itself useful over time.
We all know stories about newly appointed CIO’s, or other executives, sacking everybody to assert their power. In fact, it is conventional wisdom as the “one of the things you have to do when you start a new job.” To me this looks like throwing out the baby with the bathwater. There are other ways, and we can help you with this.
Systemic organisational constellations and other systemic constellation tools can also help you with successor questions, such as:

• Who will be the best new CEO?
• Does this applicant fit into the board?
• Who is the best successor in a family business

In fact, have you ever asked yourself what makes a real entrepreneur? and what gives them the special weight and strength to be able to do this job. It might just be the fact that they are prepared to face possible loss, which may be quite different to any other employee, of any rank.

Preeti Helena