Coaching & Consulting Network

We hope you are well, and managing to surf on top of the continuous flow
of disruptive events that seem to characterize today’s international scene.  Luckily, closer to everyone's hearts, Christmas preparations and celebrations will soon occupy our minds and soothe our souls. 

So more worldly concerns will be temporarily put aside until January.  Unfortunately however, we all know they won't just go away.  Some of us may remain relatively
protected from the ongoing global disruption, but others are not so
lucky.  Many of us are disillusionned, in shock, mad or sad about perceived losses, or in fear of what
tomorrow may bring forth.

To embrace the larger picture:  Surprising as it is, the recent Trump card phenomenon is
actually not so new nor really original. The US presidential election pattern can easely be
compared to the prior Brexit vote, Grexit temptations, Occupy Wall Street
upheavals, a seemingly more successful Icelandic drop out, Arab Spring uprisings and the bloodier Islamic State occupation, the Piazza del Sol and Indignado strikes,
just to mention the most obvious.  Observers are also betting on future similar
occurrences, soon in France, Spain and Italy and later
maybe in China, Russia …who knows.  Among common threads note that all these
upheavals have occurred or could emerge within more or less nationalist,
imperialist, military and colonial states, all nostalgic of their glorified pasts.

• On the one hand, such a global perspective provides a rather dismal bigger
  picture.
  
• On the other, it does seem to point towards any clear, integrated and
  constructive solution.  

In the current emerging, grass-root driven
change process, it is indeed illusionary to expect that appropriate
global options could apply worlwide, top-down or outside-in from some UN or Nato-type organization.

Obviously, nobody can say for sure what specific content the future may hold.  One can extrapolate, however, a few constructive processes that may be appropriare for the coming months or years. 

• It seems obvious that to face the current disruptive era, effective actions and solutions will first have to be local, and then very gradually emerge from the ground up.

Indeed in chaotic periods, we can often observe a natural tendency to withdraw, pull back, downsize and consolidate all that can be secured locally.  This is neither good nor bad, but it can be predicted if not successfully planned.

Consequently, during troubled times, deeper and longer lasting change can slowly emerge from successful local experiments, from garage-based startup ventures, from community-driven social actions, from individual commitments, from dialogue within inclusive networks, from very light, agile and creative partnerships and collaborations, from unassuming and off-the-grid organizations, from humble and exemplary individual modeling, etc. 

• In short, transition periods are often times to lay low and build up from scratch.
  
• Conversely, large visible systems may be targeted for disruption if not destruction.
  

Again, to implement successful local change, one needs to focus on light,
minimalist, immediately viable projects, and then gradually build them up from
solid foundations. These generally need to rest on shared ethical alignment, strong and authentic
partnerships, lots of reality checking and testing, inclusive
strategies, dialogue and networking, less attention-getting and
marketing noise, more effective result-oriented actions, tenacity,
adaptability, etc.

In order to accompany such local ventures, a mix of collaborative dialogue and crisis-management arts may be necessary. Systemic coaching can be quite appropriate, helping clients think global and act local!  To accomplish quickly and effectively, personal and collaborative skills are also always rather useful.  You can take them with you wherever you go.  This may be a good time to develop them.

A number of texts on specific management and coaching micro competencies are presented on the Metasysteme website, first in a general introduction, then in a series of articles. These cover  how to modify personal patterns in decision making, and action-oriented strategies to get out of comfort zones. Another provides keys on how to focus on solutions, and yet another on how to embrace authentic vulnerability.  Note that each of the presented set of skills needs to be practiced on a daily basis.  You can also evaluate your capacity in these skills with a personal online self-coaching process.

Within teams and organizations, internal support staff, managers and external coaches can also learn to better accompany individual and collective transitions. You can train to acquire coaching skills in a well-structured, intensively practical leaning environment: The Fundamentals of Systemic Coaching (up to 180 hours out of 240, or 75% of the training program is online).

This and other Metasysteme programs help participants prepare to develop collaborative cultures and design co-learning programs in teams and organizations.  For large-system coaching strategies, consider the Metasysteme two-day Delegated Process workshop (this December 8 & 9, so hurry!)

On a more personal note, to explore one’s inner game and adjust it towards more pertinent life and career strategies, the Risk Management (Cubes) workshop will be preferred.  To revisit your already acquired systemic coaching skills, also consider a three-day supervision marathon.

NEW: another totally original workshop is being prepared for confirmed systemic coaches.  It will be offered later this spring in Bucharest. Save the dates - April 27-28-29 - and expect a surprising systemic learning experience.

In the coming six months, the above are made available in English in different Romanian cities (Bucharest, Iasi, Cluj-Napoca).  The same are provided in French in Paris, and in Spanish in Madrid.

I am also soon delivering conferences in Singapore and Budapest and hopefully in Switzerland later this spring.  Specific in-house systemic executive team and organizational coaching programs are also designed within corporations and companies in Bucharest, France, Czech Republic, and elsewhere so if needed, do not hesitate to contact us. 

And to keep yourself informed on other developments, consult the Metasysteme website, sign up to receive my newsletters and follow up on Linkedin and Facebook.

It is difficult also for us to have clear medium or long-term visibility in such a transitioning period.  As for many of you, it is highly probable that our changing environments will provide us with unexpected hurdles, will impose necessary adjustments and will offer numerous learning and development opportunities.  A few new corporate clients and innovating business ventures are already expected to provoke changes in our 2017 travel program.  Of course, one of our priorities will be to finish the last 200km of our shared Compostella quest.  Maybe that symbolic conclusion will then allow us to move on to other quests.

So as usual, both Geanina and I are quite optimistic.  Ultimately, we are convinced the coming years will be life changing.  They will offer us many avenues for personal questioning and growth. So we will keep communicating on our progress and initiatives. We also hope, please, that you will keep in touch.   And thank you again for your consistent friendship,  your personal and professional support.

Sincerely

Geanina and Alain