To be an effective leader or business owner, we have to be able to straddle the past and the present alongside the future. Most leaders I come across are heavily weighted to the future or stuck trying rescue the present.
To ensure a good healthy flow and vitality in organisations, we have to ALSO be able to acknowledge the past, to give it a place in the timeline of our business, to honour all that came before.
We also have to be willing to see the truth of our present, to accept it for all it is, warts and all. If you can’t see what’s true, you can’t give it the best chance to succeed.
Leaders and businesses that focus on triage problem solving, usually see the same problem circle back around again. If circling is happening in your organisation, no amount of development, quick fixes or consultancy will help, until you’re ready to look at and accept the bigger picture. Then and only then can flow be put back into your system.
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Ten essential conditions required for a leader, team or organisation to flourish
1) Who came before me? If you’ve stepped into a role to replace someone, it’s always worth getting curious about the legacy that was left (from both the perspectives of the individual and the organisation). What work was completed and what work was left unfinished? What kind of leaving/ending did that person receive? What conditions surrounded their leaving and how can you now pay respect for all that was already attempted in order to follow on the good work whilst in this role?
2) Am I in the right place? So often leaders get the feeling that they’d perhaps be more useful in a different role. Something feels off. The flow doesn’t come easy if at all. Entanglements can quickly show up organisational design if the roles have not been designed with the full organisational needs in consideration. Quite often special roles or titles that get created to motivate or retain individuals are often those most difficult to succeed in as they have no real purpose that contributes to the business flourishing.
3) Who/what gives too much? The balance of exchange in a system will most certainly be at play in organisations that feel stuck. Conflict and discomfort will surely show their face when the balance of exchange is out. Get curious if there is a team that gives too much. What sits underneath that dynamic? Who do they feel they have to work twice as hard for? What deficit are they trying to resolve? Is the role too small for them? What might need to recognised and rewarded and that hasn’t been seen fully?
4) Who/what doesn’t give enough? As above, organisations can also see the opposite is true, individuals or teams that don’t seem to give enough. Perhaps the role or purpose is too big for them or not big enough? What else sits in their way that makes it difficult to give more? What or who needs to be acknowledged and recognised in order for the individual or team to find their right size?
5) How are endings tackled ? Hiring someone to step into a role where there was a tricky ending, is a tricky role to fill. The energy of the leaving lingers in organisations and until acknowledged and respected, will make it difficult for anyone who comes after to flourish in that role if the business isn’t willing to acknowledge and learn from the past.
6) How are beginnings and new joinings attended to? How we start then so we finish (so goes the saying). If you have a tricky onboarding, it’s likely you’ll have a tricky ending. How people join organisations and teams is so paramount if you want to give individuals a good chance of settling well. As well as paying attention to what the new joining does to the rest of the team.
8) What or who feels stuck? Where you notice stuckness, there will be a need for some recognition or acknowledgement in your system. Stuckness suggests that something somewhere needs some love. Avoid it at your peril. Stuckness or stagnation ignored will grow. Do not feed the stuckness, as it will find its way underground and into passive aggressive corners in your business.
9) Who or what needs to be seen that hasn’t been seen fully? It’s so common in the busyness of life and work that individuals, teams or efforts, get overlooked. Good work likes to be celebrated and recognised. It’s the fuel for more. The amber nectar for repeat performance. Be sure to recognise what needs attention – especially in your people, your product and your customers.
10) What /who have we been excluding in our work ? Aspects of work often get excluded. An important character that left the business. A founder who was bought out. The biggest client you ever did have. A difficult individual who was asked not to leave. Anything which becomes a ‘that which we will not speak of’ gets given energetic power in your system and will lurk around and play hari-kari in your teams until someone gives them a place in your history. Even if that place is in the past.
These questions are largely based on the work of Bert Hellinger who created systemic constellation work and has been around for a really long time, empowering and enabling individuals, families, teams, organisations, even bigger systems to find more flow and vitality. We love sharing this work with clients, because they often find it so useful, enlightening, freeing, liberating and energising. What we usually see in organisational contexts is that after the work, something feels more calm and easy. Problems that were once fraught seem to have more flow and ease with them. And sometimes just one session is enough.
It’s always useful to have an alongside partner from outside of the business who can both spot the patterns and ask the questions that need to be asked so you, your business or team can attend to what most needs to be seen in order for everyone to stand a greater chance of flourishing.
If you’d like some help exploring this respectfully and playfully, drop Jennifer an email jennifer@wearefrankly.co.uk, and we can do a quick free diagnostic over a brew.
