How to unlock Team Potential with Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching?

Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSC) focuses on optimizing the relationships within a system, such as a team or organization. ORSC coaches help organizations improve their ability to adapt, learn, and thrive by addressing various aspects of the system, including roles, responsibilities, communication, decision-making, conflict resolution, and overall team dynamics. In this blog post I’d like to share some basics of the ORSC framework and insights from recent workshops I have facilitated.

In ORSC we distinguish three interconnected forms of intelligence that are important when we engage in groups:

  • Emotional Intelligence describes the relationship with ourselves and our capacity to articulate and respond to our personal emotions.
    How do I dance?
  • Social Intelligence describes our relationship with others and how we can empathize with them.
    What is it like to dance together?
  • Relationship Systems Intelligence describes the relationships across the team, group, or system and what emerges from the collective.
    What is it in the dance that emerges among us?

Principles of Relationship Systems Intelligence

The following principles of Relationship Systems Intelligence are the foundation of the ORSC framework which does not focus on individuals but on the system like e.g. a team that they are part of:

  • Each relationship system has its own unique identity.
    If you were to describe the team as a person, what characteristics would it have?
  • Each member of the relationship system is a voice of the system.
     What perspectives within the team haven’t been fully heard?
  • Relationship systems are inherently intelligent, generative and creative.
    What patterns and shifts do you experience in the team?
  • Relationship systems rely on roles to organize and perform functions.
    – How are the different roles serving the team as a whole?
  • Relationship systems are in a constant state of emergence.
    What are ways we can embrace changes to foster a continuous development of the team?

Meta-Skills for Coaching Relationship Systems

Coaching always has a being and a doing aspect. The best intervention is not effective if the atmosphere is not right. Thus, ORSC coaches also focus on the “come from” place from which the work is done and create intentional emotional fields using the following meta-skills:

  • The Heart aspect focuses on building strong, authentic relationships within a team to create a foundation of trust and empathy.
    – What actions can you take to deepen your relationships and build more trust and empathy within your team?
  • Deep Democracy emphasizes the importance of hearing all voices and perspectives within the system, ensuring inclusive decision-making and valuing diverse viewpoints.
    Which perspective might be missing, and how can we make sure everyone feels heard?
  • Playfulness encourages a light-hearted and curious approach to challenges encouraging open exploration.
    How would a magician solve the problem?
  • Respect is honouring each team member’s unique contributions, fostering an environment of mutual appreciation.
    – What do you appreciate about each team members contributions?
  • Collaboration and Partnership are valuing each team member’s strengths and promoting cooperative efforts toward shared goals.
    – How can we leverage the strengths of each team member?
  • Enquiry and Awareness encourage curiosity to peel the onion of what is happening.
    – What is happening now? And now?
  • Commitment is required to take over responsibility, and follow-through in achieving a team’s objectives.
    – What specific commitments are we willing to make to ensure we achieve our shared objectives?
  • The Other aspect fosters an understanding that a team is part of a larger systems that impact its functioning.
    – What external factors might be influencing your team, and how should you consider these in your strategy?

Dimensions of Relationship Systems

The three dimensions in the middle of the ORSC model indicate how a relationship system expresses itself:

  • The Intelligence dimension recognizes that every system has an innate ability to self-organize, solve problems, and generate innovative solutions. An ORSC coach can support a team to access its own collective intelligence to live its full potential.
    What is trying to happen?
  • The Geography dimension explores spaces within a relationship system that shapes its interactions. An ORSC coach can help a team map out these different territories to better understand how they affect communication and collaboration.
    – Which perspectives within the team are left out?
  • The Path dimension focuses on the journey of the relationship system over time. An ORSC coach can enable a team to explore past successes and challenges, to clarify current goals and values, and to envision a shared future.
    – What would success look like for your team and how will we know you have arrived at this future?

Workshop Insights

As an ORSC coach, my role is not to fix or repair a system, but rather to illuminate the inherent dynamics, strengths, and patterns already present within it. By facilitating a space where the system’s natural tendencies and underlying structures are revealed, a shared experience is created that brings awareness to hidden potential and unseen opportunities for growth. As a client of a team workshop I recently held sums it up:

“Thanks to you, we shared all together a precious moment, full of emotion, energy and fun. You offered a safe space. You gently guided us to connect with ourselves and express our creativity. You helped us listen to all voices, realize our strengths, reflect on our needs and build on our commonalities and our experience. In our daily lives, we tend to forget them. It’s good to remember that we have a solid foundation on which to build.”