Foundation programme in Systemic Management Practice in Organisations

During an Introductory Day participants form a collaborative learning group and continue to meet for 7 additional sessions drawing on their experience to work with systemic ideas.

 

Subsequent Session themes

All sessions include systemic frameworks and models to use with organisational issues in participants working contexts, as this is inquiry based learning. The method is emergent practise so specific topics reflect the learning needs of the group and contemporary management and leadership debates. These topics covered in past and current years give a taste of what’s possible:

  • Organisational and individual learning shaping the context of this learning group and participants working environment/project for enabling transformation. Familiarising with essentials of inquiry based learning and working together systemically, so building reflexive capacity through: hypothesising, circular questioning, reframing, systemic curiosity and irreverence.
  • Resilient change without chaos.  Promoting change that is sustainable and freshly innovative and avoids disruptive peaks and troughs: finding the difference that makes the difference. Developing skill in dialogic communication and shaping conversations which create change.
  • Staff engagement its usefulness and constraints Creating an ethos of engagement in organisations by developing alternative methods to enhance morale, committment, motivation and supporting line managers in engaging their staff.
  • Talent discovery, management and development shaping organisational contexts which enable talent to flourish. Exploring the effect of cultural legacies and experiencing yourself as a talented person, focus on strengths and vision.
  • Skills build to practise inquiry continue building reflective practise and reflexive capacity by using inquiry for transforming dilemmas and complex situations, flexing Systemic frameworks to enrich your inquiry – CMM Daisy and strange loops, Support & Challenge. Loads of practise together maintaining a certain kind of curiosity and getting a meta perspective.
  • Relational and authentic leadership Creating distinction between managing a network of relations as a leader and task leadership. Enhancing ability to take the initiative and make leadership moves. Expanding capacity at a time of economic austerity to sustain the paradox of being true to both organisational needs and individual values.
  • Inspiring leadership acknowledging the complexity and ambiguity leaders are faced with in organisational life. Developing skill in these essentials: the containment of anxiety, the responsible use of power and unravelling unwanted repetitive patterns of stuckness. Defining the leader you wish to become.
  • Organisational Resilience through Creative Innovation encouraging pragmatic innovation in organisational life, making distinction between creativity and innovation. Using the framework Approach-Method-Technique A – M – T to guide participants preparation of a Systemic intervention.
  • Appreciative Process and Future Focus practising appreciative inquiry, and noticing what matters most, to develop skills in the 4 stage method. Learning to build on what works well, is energising and life enhancing in organisations and de-emphasising gap analysis. Extending mindfulness of what we create or constrain through our use of language, taking care to bring into the light that which is in shadow.
  • Facilitation of group process and creating high performing teams Working with the principles of group relational dynamics to extend teams to function at the creative edge. Focus on the participant learning group as a live case study - how we shape the norms and culture and what this enables.
  • Endings and new beginnings acknowledging ending as an important part of organisational life which is often denied. Making use of endings to create possibilities for new beginnings. Envisioning the future and resources required to make it happen.
  • Celebrating application of learning and participants' enhanced systemic skills with examples from their presentations of applying systemic concepts to work projects. Acknowledging learning within the group dynamic and appreciating eachother.

Course tutor

Elspeth Campbell

For more information or to express an interest please contact: elspeth@elspethcampbell.com