Solving the Real Issue

My clients are often faced with complex and difficult interpersonal or team issues. On occasion their .strategies to resolve these issues founder. One of the main reasons for this is that we often focus on the symptoms of a problem rather than on seeing the underlying dynamics that are giving rise to these symptoms.To really understand and remedy an issue we must study it within the context of the broader system within which this issue exists.

I use a leading edge methodology to create a ‘living map’ of the systemic issue. The most powerful way to do this is to use people to represent the various elements, although in some contexts it is also possible to use objects.

The process begins by clarifying the end objective and then identifying the important elements involved in the issue. These elements could be individuals, or groups such clients, employees, or even abstract things like culture, strategy or the future.

This clarification process is followed by the client “setting up” the map. This involves positioning the representatives in relation to each other. The process invokes one’s internal intuitive sense of the situation and translates it into a 3-D pattern that can be looked at and walked around. Doing this shows the more complex relational patterns between the elements, and can often be quite revealing and constructive in itself.

I am able to work with this intuitive map to create much more than simply a representation. By using an iterative process of enquiry and re-positioning, the map can come to resemble a living, dynamic version of the real situation. By listening to the experiences of the representatives and working with these energetic experiences, the map will show very clearly what isn’t working, what is, and what will support a more harmonious and beneficial resolution.

This is often the “unimaginable solution” - the map that really changes the territory.

Following from this exercise,my client and I would review the learnings and plan the strategies to implement them.