Human Systems Institute :: Organizational

Welcome! You’ve likely come to this page because:

You want a deeper understanding

of how this unusual approach allows you to work with the high levels of complexity in organizations. Read the synopsis below, click here for a short white paper describing this approach in detail, or to really dive in, check out the link to resources at the end of this page.

You are a coach or consultant

who wants to incorporate this powerful approach into your practice so you can offer your clients one of the most effective new approaches to working with their organizations. Check out our course offerings.

You are an executive, business owner or leader in your organization,

and you want tools to help you work effectively in the increasingly complex and uncertain decision-making environment you face. Check out our course offerings.

You want consulting for your business or organization and/or coaching

for some of the key leaders in your organization. Check out our services.

WHAT IS AN ORGANIZATIONAL CONSTELLATION?

Working effectively where we have the greatest influence.

A recent New Scientist article pointed out that our systems have become so interlinked that we can no longer use linear cause-effect thinking to understand or predict what they will do. Complexity science now defines our lives. Given the complexity of the systems that executives must now manage, seat-of-the-pants decision-making sneaks in where rational solutions fail.

Systems have organism-like qualities that don’t show up in cause-effect thinking but are properties of complex living systems. The initial conditions set in motion a series of events that unfold to lead the organism to its present state. We call this an organization’s genome – unless you know the whole history of the organization, it’s difficult to know what genes have been switched on, and which have perhaps inadvertently been switched off.

What can we really do as organizational leaders in such complex situations? How can we make wise decisions? If we realize our direct sphere of influence extends to approximately two levels of management, two above and two below, as well as to our peers, then we know that this middle zone is where we will have the most impact. Beyond that our influence is dependent on others to carry our message and intentions. It is within this five level sphere of influence that we can have the most direct and lasting positive impact on our organization. While IT and expert sources of information are essential in running today’s large far-flung organizations, the web of relationships we work in, on a day-to-day basis, is where we will have the most influence.

We have a lot of tools for working with individuals, from Myers-Briggs to Whitelaw’s four essential energies. We have a plethora of whole-system change methods, from Appreciative Inquiry to Open Space. All of these are valuable at addressing their chosen areas, however, where we as organizational leaders, or consultants who work with those leaders, have the most influence isn’t on either of these levels. It’s in that circle of people we work with day in and day out, even if our contact is “virtual” and they are physically on another continent. How can we be most effective where it counts?

We have an approach now that lets us map the hidden traces of the past in the organizational present, and also see directly the underlying tensions and reactions in the teams and work-groups where we can have the most positive impact. Not since the days of Kurt Lewin and the National Testing Laboratories has an innovation come along that more aptly addresses this “middle” area.

There is a lot of talk about intuition and attempts to introduce “other intelligences” into organizations. To know how a system works requires an intuitive connection to that system as an organism, with a past, and a current set of actors and challenges. Systemic knowledge is often intuitive knowledge. Intuitive knowledge is tacit knowledge, and tacit knowledge is embodied knowledge. Constellation work brilliantly combines a deep and thorough investigation of the function of systemic conscience – that sense which subtly shapes our decisions and behavior – with our embodied sense of “where we stand” in relation to the important people and issues that make us effective (or not!) in our work world. The process itself is relatively quick, taps into the embodied knowledge we have from living directly in the organizational system, and makes visible the dynamics at play in a way that is easy to grasp and points to possible options. The results are often startling in both their clarity and accuracy.

I WANT TO LEARN MORE

Offerings through H.S.I., Inc.’s ChangeWorks Consulting Group:

Organizational Constellation Colloquia is a special new program just for executives, organizational leaders and their consultants. The three-session program is based in principles of action research to allow you to customize the approach you take to introducing this approach to your organization or clientele. The program starts November 5, 2008. For course syllabus, prospectus, and application, click here.
Proposed dates: Nov. 5-9, optional coaching day, Nov. 10, 2008

Feb. 4-8, optional coaching day, Feb. 9, 2009

Apr. 1-5, optional coaching day, Apr. 6, 2009

Location: Session 1 will take place in Portland, Oregon. Other sessions may take place in other locations within the U.S.

Investment:

Facilitation for Professional Practice is a program for coaches, therapists, consultants, and those in the healing professions. The course focuses on adapting the constellation approach to work within a one-with-one consulting framework. For more information on this program, click here.

International offerings that are associated with H.S.I., Inc. and Hellinger Instituut

International Organizational Constellation Training Intensive III (IOCTI)

Location: Hacienda Vista Hermosa, in the state of Morelos, near Mexico City, Mexico

Dates: Oct. 19-26, 2008

For more information on location consult: www.haciendavistahermosa.com.mx

Organizers: Katia del Rivero Vargas, Phone: (52 55) 5554 9992 / Cel. (5454 5438), Skype: kdelrivero; Raul Enriquez

Especialização International em Constelações Organizacionais (In Portuguese)

Location: São Paulo, Brazil

Organizer: Richard Hoffmann

SERVICES at H.S.I.

Relational Mapping: Understanding the hidden dynamics in your or your client’s organization

Consulting: Leading wisely in complex times, rebuilding your organizational DNA.

Coaching: Enhance your systemic perception, build strong teams, retain key individuals

WHY H.S.I.?

We have one of the most experienced O.C. trainers and facilitators in the US. The Institute has been in operation since 1999. We are a well established and internationally acclaimed training institute, known for our high standards in the field, and solid knowledge base. Our training and consulting is based in a results-focused approached and using understanding of how mid-career adults actually learn and use new material. Our principal trainer, Jane Peterson, is currently completing her doctorate in Human and Organizational Development from Fielding Graduate University examining the links between the language we use, the technology we create, and the social worlds we are building.

RESOURCES
We have translated several papers from the German journal, Praxis, published by www.Carl-Auer.de. They are free for you to download from our E.L.S.C.I.E. Articles database. The most comprehensive introductory article is:

Organizational Constellations: Basics and Special Situations

By Gunthard Weber, Translation Jane Peterson & Ute Luppertz