Systemic consulting: The organisation as a living system - Paperback

by Siebke Kaat (Author), Anton de Kroon (Author)

Consultants are usually invited to work in an organisation when its own managers are unable to find solutions to business problems. Then expert help is brought in - on a temporary basis.Systemic consulting is uniquely different from any other consulting approach in that it is not the consultant who is the expert, but the organisation itself. The authors regard organisations as living systems. Their grasp of what makes a living system, its characteristics and to what degree one can recognise them in an organisation, is what they write about in the first chapter.In chapter two they give an insight into the various sources of the systemic approach.In the third chapter they look more deeply into organisations as living systems. They discuss the fundamental needs that must be fulfilled in order to create a perfectly-sound organisational system. They also describe some reaction patterns which organisations might show if one or more of these needs are not met.In chapter four they encounter the systemic consultant. They start with the basic attitude needed to strengthen organisational systems and continue by elaborating what is so specific about the way the systemic consultant works.There were two reasons for writing the short, fifth, chapter about systemic coaching. There is its relationship with systemic consulting and the fact that many consultants also work as coaches. As the focus of the book is on supporting and strengthening organisational systems, this chapter, about individual coaching, is quite short.Consultants usually appear in organisations when something has gone wrong or when managers can't fix the problem themselves. But the systemic approach really can support the prevention of problems. It is satisfying when every person, carrying out their everyday tasks and duties, contributes easily to the vital energy of an organisation. As this is mainly in the hands of team leaders, managers and directors, chapter six offers some preventive and everyday systemic interventions as tools for these groups.In the seventh and last chapter they will give you an idea of how to look systemically at the world around you.

Author Biography

Anton de Kroon was born in 1943. At the turn of the century he began to make himself familiar with systemic work via various training courses. Since 2007 he has been closely involved with the Dutch Bert Hellinger Institute, leading training courses and workshops both at home and abroad and, since 2010, regularly with Siebke Kaat. For fourteen years he was a partner in Greep Management and Organisational Development, bringing with him his own practice and his own special skills. As a consultant and coach he worked substantially in first and second-line health care organisations. His professional roots are in psychology and sociology. From the very beginning, his professional life has been one of continuous development and learning. The results of this approach are visible in his career as professional worker, coordinator, team leader, manager (with ever-growing responsibilities), consultant, trainer and mentor. Siebke Kaat Siebke was born in 1961. She graduated in social psychology from the Free University of Amsterdam. From 1987 onwards she has worked in and for several large organisations as a trainer, (team) coach and consultant. At the Institute for Communications at Kortrijk (Belgium) she followed the advanced training course Management of Groups, based on systemic theory, and the basic training in Gestalt therapy. After some years she gave up her position as a trainer and consultant to become Director of the University for Natural Medicine in Arnhem. In 2001, together with some colleagues, she set up her own business, Pragmavision. She specialises in themes like workplace harassment, support after traumatic experiences at work and coaching teams and individuals to regain their own strength. She participated in the Dutch Bert Hellinger Institute's year-long training, System Dynamics in Organisations, after which she participated in several advanced training courses in facilitating constellations. Since 2010 she has been, together with Anton de Kroon, a trainer at the Dutch Bert Hellinger Institute. She is married with two sons.