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DEVELOPING AND SUSTAINING HEALTHIER ORGANISATIONS
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Maggie Marriott and Steven Goldstein are graduates of our Relational Organisational Gestalt (ROG) training program, and both are accredited by the EAGT as Gestalt Practitioner in Organisations (GPO). They are core members of the Relational Change community and generously use their skills to offer leadership and facilitation to the London based Relational Community of Practice (RCOP), available to ROG practitioners.
In this newsletter, Maggie and Steve share their experiences of engaging with ROG and also give an insight into the purpose and working of the RCOP.
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Steven is an executive and performance coach who works with people, teams and leaders, predominantly in the financial markets industry. Previously, he spent over 20-years working as a financial market trader.
Steve has written an article about his experience of applying ROG in the financial sector, which you can read here.
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How ROG has helped in my work
I went through a career change in 2009, choosing to start an entirely new one as an executive coach. I spent the first couple of years on development programmes, however, something was missing.
The various approaches were helpful, but I felt they lacked a foundation. As such, I wasn’t quite sure how much I believed in what I was doing. This was being echoed in my marketing efforts; trying to sell myself and my services was proving challenging. Possibly because I never quite believed that what I was doing was built on a solid foundation.
Along came ROG. I had come across gestalt a couple of times in my training but no one had really been able to explain what it was, yet it felt immensely powerful. I tried to find out more but found the literature challenging. This brought me to Relational Change and what was to be the beginning of a quite fantastic journey.
The ROG programme not only satisfied the areas I was deficient in, but significantly exceeded my expectations. I am not under any illusions - gestalt psychology, and its practical application, is not easily understood cognitively. This is perhaps even more the case for non-abstract thinkers such as me. Therefore it took a good deal of patience and a fair amount of trust to learn, and become comfortable with, the ROG approach. This was helped enormously by Marie-Anne Chidiac and Sally Denham-Vaughan’s unique, quiet, but very powerful approach, backed up by useful models and frameworks, a strong philosophy which they enthuse you with, and the support and shared learning of my fellow travellers.
I'm aware that my work as a coach is now far more powerful. The conversations are richer; there is greater connectedness between myself and my clients, and I am more present. I have noticed a shift in how I work and have seen it in my clients. My coaching is moving them on and past the challenges they face, and the outcomes are far exceeding my expectations.
I have also started working more broadly with clients. I now work with teams and at the organisational level. This aspect of coaching was not even on my radar before I started training in ROG. However, taking a systems view and having a field perspective opens you up to new possibilities and horizons. I would go so far as to say, ROG doesn’t just give you new perspectives, a new toolbox and a new language, it also significantly changes you.
I now have something I fully believe in. I have a philosophy grounded in a strong foundation and with which I resonate deeply. ROG is highly practical, with application in organisations and many walks of life, with powerful tools, models and structures that support it. This has proved extremely positive in how I present and market myself to potential clients.
My ROG journey didn't end at the conclusion of year-2 training; in many ways that was just the beginning. My learning continues, and ‘aha’ moments keep on coming. Every so often a new realisation hits me, and life is given to an abstract concept we learnt about. At those moments my own gestalts come to life.
In addition, a group of fellow travellers and I have established a Relational Community of Practice in London to facilitate the exploration of the application of ROG principles, as well as providing an extended support network for practitioners. You'll find more on that below!
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Maggie is a coach, supervisor, and organisational change consultant who has worked extensively in both the public and private sector for over 25-years. She now works with people who want to think beyond their office walls using nature and outside spaces.
Maggie's article about bringing ROG to the world of cyber security received the Student Essay Prize from the British Gestalt Journal - read it here.
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The phenomenal impact of ROG training
As I sit here looking out at my garden, I’m aware it is the fifth month of my sabbatical, something I could never have imagined doing in April 2014 when I attended the ROG Foundation workshop.
Back then, I was working long hours for a client organisation and trying to save the world all on my own, whilst being as invisible as possible – the life of many independent consultants! I was often too busy to eat, drink, rest or make time for fun. I had no sense of my own body and what it needed – I was a disembodied organisational change consultant and I was in demand!
It’s hard to believe how much I've changed since then. I’ve just re-read the presentation I gave at the end of the first year of ROG training. I’m smiling as I read that my growing edge was "to improve my resolution/closure and withdrawal" and "the use of the whole body" because that’s where I am now. I have closed down and withdrawn from my old client work and I’m taking the time to find out what I want to do now. What I need. How I feel. What nourishes me and what depletes me.
My energy at the moment is focused on work that is more biased eco-logically rather than ego-logically, and on working with clients outside in nature rather than in air-conditioned offices. I'm also volunteering with Restorative Gloucestershire to help facilitate restorative dialogue in schools with the aim of reducing school exclusions to zero, and I'm co-hosting the Relational Community of Practice in London with Steven Goldstein (more on that below). And I am taking time to sit in my hammock and just be.
I am still not quite ready to fully emerge from my sabbatical (or hammock) but I can already sense that, when I do, I will be working in a healthier way for both my clients and myself, and for this I owe my thanks to the ROG training and community.
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The Relational Community of Practice:
nurturing the relationship beyond relational learning
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Have you ever found yourself on a training course that you never wanted to end, with people you wanted to continue learning with? That is how it was for us and many others who've attended ROG training, and that is why the London based Relational Community of Practice (RCOP) was born.
The group was the brainchild of Maggie Marriott who had already set up a small one close to where she lived, near Gloucester. Following this, we discussed the idea of starting another in London, which geographically seemed more convenient.
There are now twelve of us in the London group. Although our roles and places of work are incredibly diverse, we are all part of the ROG community and bring ROG to our daily practice. It is this practice that's the focus of our meetings. We have no set agenda, we work with what is most figural for each of us, so no two meetings are the same, which is incredibly energising and always thought provoking. We discuss, challenge, share our experiences, co-coach, and support each other. The relationship between us deepens each time and the learning continues. Crucially, we discuss what we do in practice whilst honouring the ROG principle of being co-emergent, co-creative, and seeing where the conversation takes us. We work in the service of the clients, which in this case is the group and ourselves within that group.
We meet every 10-12 weeks, and although it is rare that all of us can make it, we seem to manage the ebb and flow of who is there with easy grace; each meeting feels rich and full.
Going forward, we think that for healthy discussion the optimal size of a group is between 5 and 10 participants. As the ROG programme continues to bring more people to the relational perspective, and the community expands, hopefully new RCOPs will form and expand the relational perspective in the wider world.
Information regarding the Relational Community of Practice structure can be found here. If you're interested in joining or creating an RCOP yourself, or would just like to know more more, please email Helena Kallner: helena@relationalchange.org
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RELATIONAL CHANGE GATHERING
November 29th | Notting Hill, London
DAY OF EXPLORATION AND DISCUSSION
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Whether you are a therapist, counsellor, organisational consultant, coach or simply interested in the work of Relational Change, we believe you will discover something useful at our annual community gathering...
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RELATIONAL SUPERVISION
Starts January 2019 | Kingston-upon-Thames
CERTIFICATE/DIPLOMA COURSE
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This course is UKCP recognised, meets BACP standards, and is suitable for psychotherapists, counsellors, coaches and organisational practitioners, with at least 2 years experience, wishing to be accredited to supervise others...
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COUPLES WORK
Starts February 2019 | Birmingham or Kingston
CERTIFICATE/DIPLOMA COURSE
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This course provides you with the competence and confidence to offer couples counselling and psychotherapy, with the emphasis on a pragmatic and creative approach to working within a relational frame...
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RELATIONAL
ORGANISATIONAL GESTALT
Starts January 2019 | Esher, Surrey
CERTIFICATE/DIPLOMA PROGRAMME
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Training for coaches, consultants, leaders/managers, OD and HR professionals, facilitators and change agents working in any field. ROG is also ideal for therapists and counsellors aiming to move into coaching or organisational work...
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