There are many ways to understand what organisations are and do, and how as leaders we can help organisations to be successful. We offer systemic practice as a frame of frames, not in competition with conventional approaches to making sense of and acting within organisations, but embracing them. Systemic approaches add distinctive new perspectives, tools and sensibilities which increase leadership orientation, choice, and agency.
The systemic frame treats communication as fundamental to organisational interaction and its consequences. The relevance of communication as action, and action as communication, has perturbed leadership theory since the 1980s and is increasingly reflected in innovative dialogical concepts to leadership and organisational practices.
These practices are supported by a strong research base rooted in second order cybernetic theory, constructivist and social constructionist paradigms, and a wealth of methods that invite development and change through reflexive, dialogical and systemic approaches.