Monkswood Associates Newsletter: January 2004
Systemic working: the constellations approach

Introduction
Organisational constellations provide powerful and creative ways to clarifying and resolving complex, possibly intractable issues associated with organisations. It is such a large topic that I am going to divide the introduction over two newsletters – may be more! In this newsletter I am going to give a very basic outline about constellations and focus on the practical use of constellations. In the February newsletter I will highlight some key themes that underpin the approach. I will show you how using the underlying ideas associated with constellations can be used without necessarily doing a constellation.

Pioneered by Bert Hellinger, a constellation is a way of representing the pattern of relationships within a system. These relationships may be between family members (where the work originated), work colleagues, objects (such as a person and his/her job), concepts (such as cultural values), through to large groups such as nations. The constellating approach reveals the underlying dynamics of situations in ways that brings fresh and clear perspectives. It surfaces the nub of the issue under scrutiny – the ‘nub’ may arise from:

• a clutter of detail and opinions,
• underlying influences,
• hidden patterns or issues and/or
• unspoken yet known reality.

Apart from bringing clarity, constellations give opportunities to experiment with possible options in a safe environment to aid decision-making.

If you want to know more about the process of setting up a constellation, please contact me and I will send you some information. As stated I want to focus on the practical application of constellations in organisations.

Practical application
What excites me about organisational constellations is that is has so many practical applications, large and small. Having been involved in:

• acquisitions,
• cultural change,
• re-organisations,
• policy development,
• conflict management and
• team building,

to name but a few business issues, I know I would have found constellations useful as a key source of ideas about what options to consider seriously and practical suggestions about how to go about the implementation and maintenance of a chosen route.

Looking back on past experiences, I have noticed that quite often when certain principles and practices that I associate with constellations are followed the results were more positive – and when they weren’t then at least part of the issue remained. For example, there was a manager who knew the theory of being an effective people manager and had the capabilities of doing it when in a training workshop, but did not apply it in the work environment. She focussed on fulfilling the tasks and saw this as her priority. In effect she retained the old norm of task coming before people, even though she knew that the organisation wanted to change the cultural norms in this area. Although we re-iterated the new norm, we did not acknowledge or show sufficient respect for how things used to be and how effective she was in applying the original approach – in constellations acknowledging the founding cultural norms and voicing what is now reality are important steps to take to release an entanglement. Where we were successful was in acknowledging the expertise she had to offer and the strong service she had given. We wanted to confirm the value of these characteristics by offering her a specialist role. Here we were meeting a constellation practice around honouring service and function. Although this person became a valuable member of the team as a specialist, we will not know what benefits were lost to the organisation through not having her as a people manager too. I will admit to thinking we had found a successful answer for both the individual and the organisation – now I wonder what we might have had in addition if I had been aware of organisational constellations.

Since developing my understanding of organisational constellations I have seen a fair number of organisational constellations and been involved in discussions about how constellations have been used as part of ongoing consultancy and coaching relationships with particular organisations. I am still puzzling over a question that came to mind after one constellation the issue of which was whether or not to confirm an offer of employment. What came out of the constellation was that the person would be a great asset to the team as long as the Managing Director paid him a fair salary and bring him in not only as an asset but also as a person who can grow within the organisation – a very different approach from what the Managing Director admitted he probably would have taken (setting him up on a pedestal and at the same time wondering what the business had to offer the individual apart from an inflated remuneration package). The question that I was left holding was how I could demonstrate to an employment tribunal that constellations could be accepted as a valid and reliable tool to use within the selection process. At present I would limit my use of constellations to issues around how best to introduce a new person.

Organisational benefits
As I see it, there are a good number of benefits to organisations that use constellations, particularly as part of ongoing coaching or consultancy - in particular:

• the person with the issue (commonly known as the issue holder) can see the real, often hidden, impact of existing arrangements and pressures,
• the issue holder can not only see the possible consequences of different options but also experience what it feels like when the system is at ease with a proposed way, and what energy is available for him/her to use,
• unknown and/or unacknowledged factors can be surfaced,
• factors that are not relevant can be taken out of the equation, bringing greater clarity to the issue,
• the consultant is aware of the hazard of being entangled in the issue and is practised at establishing his/her boundaries so that s/he is of greater service,
• the consultant knows how important it is to remain impartial and is practised at maintaining an objective stance – people are more likely to trust his/her and what s/he says,
• the issue holder has a clearer understanding of the issue,
• the issue holder has the information to make decisions that benefit the system as a whole as well as address the particular issue effectively,
• energy is released and available to be used productively within the system, and
• therefore, the organisation’s performance can improve more quickly over time.

Frequently the resulting action plan is full of small changes, but then we all know that it is often the small things that make the difference – for instance, a colleague admitting that he has less experience than you, a manager supporting his staff rather than stepping in and doing it him/herself, and a Managing Director acknowledging that some things are unfair and that is how it is. Honesty is so powerful! Naturally how honesty is delivered does matter.

Conclusion
I have opened the door and introduced you to constellations. To continue the analogy, first impressions have been made. For a tool that brings clarity to issues, I have found writing this newsletter has increased my clarity about its usefulness and my ability to express it!

If you are impatient to learn more about constellations and can’t wait until my next newsletter, the following websites will be of interest:

www.hellinger.co.uk
This website has articles and presentations about constellations. In addition, it tells you about books and videos that are available in English.

www.hellinger.com/international/english/hellinger_lectures_articles/index.shtmlThere are articles on this website that predominantly cover family constellations, and yet are useful information sources on constellations in general.

http://www.systemicfamilysolutions.com/articles_aninterview.html
This is a transcript of an interview with Bert Hellinger about his methods applied in organizations. The interview was by Humberto del Pozo, in Santiago de Chile, September 1999.If you find this newsletter of use, please forward it to people you think may also find it of use and/or interest: for instance, directors and managers in Human Resources and People Development or other directors and managers who deal with these sorts of issues.

You are welcome to reprint any part of this newsletter as long as you acknowledge the source, including full authorship, copyright, and subscription information.
  
Please ask any questions that the topic has raised, or share your thoughts and experiences with me, Helen Wade, at:


Monkswood Associates
Bankview, Shortwood, Nailsworth, Glos GL6 0RZ, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1453.835263
Email: helen@monkswoodassociates.co.uk

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