In a conversation about the death of Archbishop Desmond Tutu with my husband this morning, he shared a YouTube video of the Archbishop with the Dalia Lama. A joyous collection of warm and colourful images that give us a glimpse of the relationship between these two spiritual icons.

The conversation moves seamlessly from death to joy and back again. Half-way through the 2-minute video the interviewer asks what it is about their friendship with each other that allows them to have this kind of extraordinary joy. The response from both men is playful to start with. “He’s always troubling me” Desmond Tutu jokes.

They become more serious and reflective, even holding hands at one point. “He’s there for us as a beacon” Desmond Tutu adds with a tone of reverence. I was captivated by the intimate display of spiritual unity. Then, just as the short video ends, the Dalia Lama turns to Desmond Tutu and says with utter conviction:

  Reviewing the year with two work friends this morning I reflected that January 1st heralds not only the start of a new year but a whole new decade.     As we hover at the intersection between the decades my thoughts stretch back over the past 10 years. I’m struck by how much has changed on many different levels during that time. Perhaps the most significant change for me personally has been launching a second career as a coach, facilitator and trainer helping people navigate complex organisational change.   One of the highlights in shaping my offering has undoubtedly been training as a systemic coach and facilitator. For that my gratitude goes to John Whittington for his inspirational writing and training programmes in this remarkable approach.   Like many in the autumn of their careers I often wish I had had access to this deeper knowledge about systems and the...

The paradoxical theory of change holds that the more you try to make change happen the more likelihood there is of things staying the same. Planned (intentional) change disrupts the principles of ‘natural order’ in organisations and things can get stuck. There's a tendency to focus attention at the level of the individual or the team but sometimes 'difficult behaviours', conflict and repeating patterns are actually manifestations of something amiss in the system.

Adding to the complexity, there are few work places these days where collaboration isn’t on the horizon. Whether as a result of mergers, joint ventures or partnerships, teams and organisations have to work together for a variety of reasons. To reduce duplication, improve services, promote sustainability and, in some cases, to ensure survival.