The Real Story: Systemic Work Is Actually Pretty Straightforward
Systemic work gets a bad rap for being theoretical. Reality check: it's practical, immediate, and surprisingly accessible. Here's the real story.
When people first hear the term "systemic work," they often think it has to do with computer or social systems, such as healthcare or education. While it can certainly be applied to these contexts, systemic work is both more fundamental and more profound.
At its core, systemic work involves recognizing and working with the invisible web of connections surrounding and influencing everything we do—a web most of us don't realize exists until someone helps us see it.
What exactly is systemic work?
It is an approach to understanding and creating change that focuses on the connections, relationships, and patterns in any group of people, whether a family, team, organization, or society.
Unlike conventional approaches, which focus on individuals or isolated problems, systemic work recognizes that everything exists within a larger context of connections. Meaningful, sustainable change requires engaging with this larger field.
The foundational premise is simple yet profound: We are all part of systems that influence our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in ways we rarely notice.
The History and Evolution of Systemic Work
Systemic work has its roots in several fields, most notably the work of family therapist Bert Hellinger. In the late 20th century, Hellinger developed a method he called "Family Constellations." Hellinger observed that family members often carry burdens, play roles, and maintain patterns that serve the larger family system rather than their own well-being.
Since then, this approach has evolved beyond family work and is now applied in organizations, teams, and other social systems. Practitioners like me have further developed this approach by integrating insights from systems theory, phenomenology, organizational development, and other disciplines.
The three key principles of systemic work
To understand systemic work more concretely, let's explore three fundamental principles that guide this approach.
1. Systems Have Their Own Characteristics
Every system—be it a family, team, or organization—has characteristics that belong to the system itself and not to any individual within it. These characteristics emerge from the connections between people and persist even when individuals come and go.
Have you ever noticed how a team can maintain the same culture despite changes in membership? Or how families often repeat patterns across generations? These are examples of system characteristics that transcend individuals.
In systemic work, we acknowledge these characteristics and address them directly instead of focusing solely on individual behaviors or qualities.
2. Systems Transcend Time and Space
One of the most counterintuitive aspects of systemic work is recognizing that systems aren't constrained by the ordinary boundaries of time and place.
Influences within a system can span generations, with events from decades past continuing to shape current patterns and behaviors. Similarly, people who are physically absent—former employees, distant leaders, or deceased founders—can still exert powerful influences on the present system.
This helps explain why some organizational patterns persist despite repeated attempts to change them—they're connected to historical events or people that haven't been properly acknowledged or integrated.
3. Everything Belongs to Something Larger
In systemic work, we recognize that every element, person, or event is part of a larger whole. Nothing exists in isolation.
This means that what appears to be an individual problem often serves a function in the larger system. Behaviors that seem irrational or problematic in isolation may actually maintain balance or protect something important in the larger context.
This is why systemic work often yields surprising insights into the hidden purposes behind seemingly dysfunctional patterns.
How Systemic Work Differs from Conventional Approaches
To understand what makes systemic work unique, it helps to contrast it with more conventional approaches to change and problem solving.
Conventional approach: Identifies specific problems and implements targeted solutions.
Systemic work: Explores the larger context in which "problems" occur and seeks to understand their role in the system.
Conventional approach: Focuses on individual behaviors, skills, or qualities.
Systemic work focuses on the connections and relationships between people and parts of the system. Focuses on the connections and relationships between people and parts of the system.
Conventional approach: Aims to create change through new rules, processes, or structures.
Systemic work aims to create movement by releasing what's stuck in existing patterns of connection. Aims to create movement by releasing what's stuck in existing connection patterns.
The conventional approach: Often uses logical analysis and expert knowledge. Systemic work relies on phenomenological observation—what can be directly perceived in the present moment. Relies on phenomenological observation, or what can be directly perceived in the present moment.
The conventional approach: Seeks to solve problems through intervention. Systemic work seeks to create conditions where natural movement can occur. Seeks to create conditions in which natural movement can occur.
Systemic work in action: A Simple Example
Let me share a brief example that illustrates how systemic work differs from conventional approaches.
A leadership team in a growing company experienced a pattern in which promising initiatives started with enthusiasm but mysteriously lost momentum before completion. They had tried:
Setting clearer goals and metrics
Improving project management systems
Providing additional resources
They even brought in motivational speakers to boost engagement.
Nothing worked sustainably. Each improvement showed initial promise before the same pattern of stalling emerged again.
When I began working with them systemically, I didn't focus on analyzing specific projects or the skills of those involved. Instead, I invited them to explore the invisible connections in their system.
Through a series of moving questions and experiential exercises, they discovered something surprising. The company was founded by three partners, but one left under difficult circumstances early in the company's history. This departure had never been properly acknowledged, and an unspoken loyalty to the departed founder manifested as resistance to completion. Unconsciously, finishing major initiatives felt like betraying the founder's contribution.
Once this connection was seen and acknowledged, the stuck pattern began to shift naturally. No new processes or rules were needed—simply acknowledging what had been excluded created space for natural movement.
Common Applications of Systemic Work
Systemic work can be applied in virtually any context where people are connected in meaningful ways. Some common applications include:
In organizations:
Resolving persistent conflicts between departments or teams
Addressing patterns of high turnover or burnout
Integrating after mergers and acquisitions
Supporting leadership transitions
Navigating cultural change initiatives
In teams:
Building cohesion and trust
Clarifying roles and responsibilities
Improving decision-making processes
Resolving conflicts that resist conventional mediation
Enhance creativity and innovation.
In Personal Development:
Understanding recurring patterns in relationships
Clarifying career choices and transitions
Addressing persistent blocks to success or fulfillment
Finding one's right place in various systems
Releasing burdens that don't belong to you
How Systemic Work Creates Change
The magic of systemic work lies in how it creates change. Rather than forcing change through willpower, effort, or authority, systemic work creates conditions in which natural movement can occur.
This happens through several mechanisms:
1. Making the invisible visible
Often, simply recognizing the hidden connections and patterns within a system is enough to begin shifting them. When people recognize the larger context within which they're operating, new possibilities naturally emerge.
2. Restoring Right Relationship
Many stuck patterns exist because something or someone is out of place in the system. Systemic work helps restore proper order and balance, allowing energy to flow naturally again.
3. Including What Has Been Excluded
Systems often become stuck when important elements have been excluded or forgotten. By acknowledging and including these elements, the system can become whole again and find its natural movement.
4. Releasing Inappropriate Burdens
In many systems, people carry responsibilities, emotions, or loyalties that don't belong to them. Systemic work helps identify these burdens and return them to their rightful owners.
5. Honoring What Is
Unlike approaches that begin by identifying what's wrong and trying to fix it, systemic work starts by acknowledging and honoring what is. This paradoxically creates space for natural movement and transformation.
The Role of the Facilitator in Systemic Work
As a systemic work facilitator, my role differs significantly from that of a conventional consultant or advisor. Rather than positioning myself as an expert with solutions, I serve as a guide who helps people see and work with the invisible connections in their own systems.
This requires:
A high quality of presence and attention
The ability to set aside my own agendas and preconceptions
Skill in creating a safe container for exploration
Comfort with not knowing and allowing emergence
Sensitivity to subtle signals indicating system patterns
The capacity to ask questions that create movement rather than just answers
Most importantly, it requires what we might call "systemic eyes": the ability to perceive the larger field of connections beyond what's immediately visible.
How to Begin Working Systemically
If you're intrigued by this approach and wondering how to incorporate systemic thinking into your work or life, here are some starting points:
1. Shift your perspective
Recognize that every problem, challenge, or situation exists within a larger context of connections. Practice asking yourself: "What larger system might this be part of?" and "What invisible connections might be influencing this situation?"
2. Zoom out before zooming in
When facing a challenge, resist the urge to immediately analyze the details. First, zoom out to see the larger patterns and connections. What recurring themes do you notice? Have similar situations occurred before? How might this specific instance be part of a larger pattern?
3. Look for what's not being seen
Often, the most powerful influences in a system are the things nobody is talking about. Practice asking: "What's not being said here?" or "Who or what might be missing from this picture?"
4. Notice physical responses
Your body often perceives system patterns before your mind does. Pay attention to unexpected physical sensations, emotions, or impulses during meetings or conversations—they may provide information about the larger system.
5. Experiment with Moving Questions
Instead of asking questions that seek better answers, try asking questions that create movement in stuck patterns. Some examples:
"What might this problem actually be a good solution for?"
"Who or what benefits from things staying exactly as they are?"
"What are we unconsciously loyal to by maintaining this pattern?"
"If this situation could speak, what would it say?"
6. Honor What Is Before Trying to Change It
Before rushing to solutions, take time to fully acknowledge and honor the current reality. What if the current situation, however problematic it seems, is actually the best solution the system has found so far to meet some deeper need or loyalty?
The Transformative Potential of Systemic Work
After years of facilitating systemic work, I am still amazed by its capacity to create profound transformation with surprising ease. When we engage with the deeper patterns and connections in our systems, change often happens naturally, without the struggle and resistance that characterizes so many change efforts.
This doesn't mean that systemic work is always comfortable. In fact, it often involves facing truths that we've collectively avoided. However, there's a fundamental difference between the discomfort of growth and the suffering that comes from pushing against natural system patterns.
In a world facing increasingly complex challenges, we need approaches that can work with this complexity rather than trying to reduce it to simple problems and solutions. Systemic work offers exactly that: a way of seeing and engaging with the rich web of connections that constitutes our reality.
Your Invitation to Systemic Exploration
If you're curious about how systemic work could help solve problems in your organization, team, or life, I encourage you to start with basic exploration. Notice the systems you're part of. Pay attention to recurring patterns. Be curious about the invisible connections that might influence your experience.
If you'd like support in this exploration, I offer workshops, consultations, and training programs to help you develop a systemic perspective and learn to work with the invisible connections that shape our lives and work.