Many people reading this article will be responsible for leading change or influencing learning and development interventions within their business organisations. This is an exciting time for organizational development. Some surprising and (r)evolutionary developments are taking place globally in respect of how we might better understand and engage with organizational change, learning and development. This article highlights fresh thinking and perspectives for sustainable success in the twenty-first century.

One of main ways I help businesses function healthily and deliver outstanding results is by getting them to notice how people’s behaviour and the quality of results they achieve are profoundly and constantly influenced by the ‘invisible’ dynamics of the system (organisation, business, team, etc.) to which they belong. I work with a method that I call Invisible Dynamics™ and results are often startlingly clear and accurate.

This new method can be used in four ways:

• It can help people diagnose and understand the nature of the issue or the potential of an idea by providing insights that they would otherwise be unable to access.
• It can be used to help resolve issues and develop new ways to restore balance to the system.
• It has enormous potential to be used creatively for service and product development.
• It can also be used to test and refine the quality of an idea, decision or strategy prior to implementation.

Leaders can get frustrated with their managers. “Why is it so hard for us to see what’s happening? Just sort it out it!” Conversely, managers get frustrated with their leaders, “Why don’t they just sort it out?” It’s self evident that underlying patterns of behaviour and culture undermine an organisation’s ability to perform. At the same time these underlying dynamics also consume considerable amounts of effort, energy and money that could be used more productively.

Individuals often feel that what’s happening is beyond their control but find it difficult to explain why. You may have experienced this yourself.

This fresh approach can:

• Reveal hidden blockages in the system
• Show how issues and challenges can be resolved more creatively / holistically
• Offers new perspectives and intelligent solutions that will work because they are aligned with the system.

“A totally complex and obscured situation suddenly became as clear as day. How come we couldn’t see the obvious before? For all our company leaders it was a total revelation.” O.Wasserman, CEO of Wasserman AG/Swisslog, Munich

However you’re connected, you’re affected

When you work in any business or organization, you are a part of a living ‘system’ that invisibly connects everyone in it. By default, you are a representative of and are affected by what has happened or is happening within that particular ‘system’ both consciously and subconsciously.

Compared to many conventional tools and techniques, this approach enables people who are dealing with problems, developing ideas or making decisions to see the true context that is influencing their issue and the interrelationships of the key elements involved. Such elements could include team members, managers, leaders, customers, suppliers, strategy, money, the environment, future goals, new product launches, plans, processes, competitors and other factors.

Making your ‘system’ visible

How easy is it to clearly see the root cause of the issue that is affecting your business area?

Using traditional approaches this often seems to be very difficult, especially when we are dealing with the complexity of larger functions and organisations. What we can see are the symptoms of something not working very well – dysfunctional behaviours, ineffective strategies, roles that don’t seem to work, low sales, silo mentality, collusion, poor communication, low morale/retention, etc. However, from a developmental perspective there’s little point in trying to fix the symptoms…as you might well have previously concluded!

Using the methodology of Invisible Dynamics, when people begin a process of enquiry into visible symptoms that takes them into the underlying force fields, what had previously remained stubbornly hidden then begins to emerge and is seen from this fresher perspective. Healthy action can be identified and when implemented is naturally supported by the system. The energy that was previously binding the system is released and becomes a health-promoting factor.

Until the recent groundbreaking work in the emergent international field of Systemic Constellations by people such as Hellinger, Ruppert, Mahr and Stam, there was little awareness that that we even belonged to systems, and even less awareness that we might be able to explore how we are affected by the health of the system. Now we can proactively work with it to bring about extraordinarily positive results.

I believe this approach will ultimately change the way we experience and understand working together and profoundly influence how we communicate, develop people, test strategies, engage with customers, develop learning interventions and healthily engage with change.

Jeff Delay (Matchett Associate Consultant) is an international coach and facilitator who specialises in organisational learning and change. If you are interested in learning more about this method please contact us