The TurningTides Blog

 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 dynamics that resource and limit them in...

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.

 

How do you avoid touching the tripwire that creates relational conflicts especially in sensitive change situations? 

 

Some conflicts in teams are difficult to avoid but by becoming attuned to the ordering principles that govern human systems you can recognise when there is the potential for difficult team dynamics. These principles are Time, Place (belonging) and the balance of Exchange. You’ll find more about the hidden forces governing systems from John Whittington’s illuminating BOOK.

 

Viewing the issues within the context of wider system dynamics enables you to act with intention to settle things at an earlier stage than might otherwise have been possible. A liberating alternative to being stuck in a relational quagmire.