RESET

THE QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF INTEGRÃLIS CONSULTING GROUPFOURTH EDITION - AUGUST 2009

Raúl Romero Havaux

General Manager

Integrãlis Consulting Group

EDITORIALEven though it is still not evident for everybody in the main-

stream business; I was surprised when the General Manager

of a major organization in Mexico - a client of ours- showed

real astonishment for the concept co-creation.

In a conventional stage of businesses (to which we must say

that this company belongs), the leadership comes from the

top and is pyramidal, which means that a selected group

within the organization generates the strategies and is typi-

cally supported by the feedback it receives across initiatives

- for example - of market research or sales reports to be co-

creating the company’s strategies.

This director continued to be astonished when we asked:

What would happen if we started ”working” with the clients,

suppliers and all the persons of the system that normally not

are taken into account - or whom we only consider from a

very limited perspective-, and if these persons would take

part of the team committed to design the company’s strate-

gies? His answer was: Incredible! We could get access to

privileged information that we in other ways could not get.

Here it is demonstrated that collaboration is the following

level of development - efficient in costs and time-, and in-

cluded in this paradigm, we can assume that an organiza-

tion can be co-created and co-designed not only by the

owners or the people who have the most interest and sys-

temic weight in the company, but also by many other people

or players within the system that traditionally are not inte-

grated.

The practice of collaboration is exactly where we -at Inte-

grãlis- place our confidence and in this newsletter we would

like to share some of these tools with you.

Only six months away from CO-CREATING the future of our

businesses

We are only six months away from the Systemic Business Congress, where busi-

nessmen, specialists and people who are interested in business development, will get

to know and experiment with different systemic tools, applied in the process of con-

sciously constructing the future of organizations; obtaining strategies and action

measures that they can implement in their own businesses.

We are very proud to present this forum in which it is not only important to liberate the

intelligence of the specialists, but to create an opportunity to release the collective

intelligence of both experts and businessmen.

We would also like to share that Juanita Brown and her team are integrated in strate-

gic planning process. Juanita is founder of the methodology “The World Café”, an

innovative approach to large group dialogues, applied in organizations, NGOs, gov-

ernments in various European countries, Latin America, Africa, the Orient and the

United States (Promise USA - National Network of Citizen Conversation, a project

that is part of the actual administration of President Obama), etc.

We invite you to participate in this event the 1st and 2nd of March, 2010, at the World

Trade Center in Mexico City. For more information, please visit the web page:

www.systemicbusinesscongress.com or contact us at mcortes@integraliscg.com

Two days could mean the difference for the future of your organization.

EVENTOS

Systemic Business Congress

1st and 2nd of March 2010 at The

World Trade Center in Mexico City.

A forum where businessmen, specia-

lists and everyone interested in busi-

ness development can get to know

and experiment with different systemic

tools, applied in the process of cons-

tructing the future of organizations;

obtaining strategies and action mea-

sures that they can implement in their

own businesses.

Please visit the web site:

www.systemicbusinesscongress.com

Reflexive circles in Cultural Biology

30th of Septiembre to 2nd of October

2009 atThel World Trade Center in

Mexico City.

Reflexive circles are conversations

guided by Humberto Maturana, Ximena

Dávila and Ignacio Muñoz whose goal

is to show how biological constructions

are based on cultural origins.

For more information please see:

www.biologiacultural.com.mx

Business Innovation Conference

5th to 7th of Octubre 2009 in Wheaton,

Illinois, United States.

This event will gather innovators,

e n t r e p e n e u r s , i n g e n i e e r s a n d

execu t i ves to sha re me thods ,

challenges and knowledge that will help

understand innovation processes and

the tools needed to pass to “the next

level”.

Please go to following web page:

www.bnpevents.com

The specialists that will facilitate the forum come -among other countries- from The Netherlands, Switzerland, Mexico, The Uni-ted States, Germany, Italy, England, Austria.

* Henriette K. Lingg. Co-author of the book “Management Constellations: Managing complexity with systemic constellations”.

* Claude Rosselet. Professor at the Univer-sity of Economics of the College of Further Education Northwest Switzerland and founder of the consultancy office Inscena Systemische Beratung.

* Georg Senoner. Management consultant and specialized coach in organizational development and strategies.

* Gunthard Weber. President of the Interna-tional Society of Systemic Therapy.

* Michael Blumenstein. Creator of special family business processes, including the method with systemic configurations for families and organizations.

* Wim Jurg. Professor at the Open Univer-sity in the Netherlands, he has been a brand advisor for more than 20 years.

* Ingala Robl Greis. Has worked as an organizational consultant with systemic configurations in various countries and with organizations like SEDESOL, Bimbo Group, Secretary of Public Security, among others.

* Raúl Romero Havaux. During his expe-rience as a consultant in marketing, hu-man development and strategic planning, he has participated in the creation and development of brands like Compuserve, Mexis, Prodigy, Socio Águila, Medicall Home, among others. He has also worked with for example organizations like IBM, Gillette, Banco Mexicano, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Black & Decker, Liverpool, Manpower, and Farmacias del Ahorro.

* Lorenz Wiest. Systemic Facilitator.

Epidauros: A model to strategic planningBy Georg Senoner*

Our business is not only based on rational considerations, because they in many ways are determined by our intuition, emotions

and tacit knowledge.

Systemic constellation work helps us explore the tacit knowledge that exists in relation to the social systems in which we live and

operate. It enables us to see the hidden dynamics that affect our decisions and it permits us in some extend to simulate the pos-

sible consequences of our actions.

This is why we have developed the Epidauros Process - a practical framework to guide consultants and management teams in

their effort to explore critical situations by the use of systemic constellations.

The situation is analyzed from six different perspectives – six drivers of change:

a)! The historical sequence of events that have lead to the current situation. We look for typical patterns, trends and radical

changes. Which are the sources and roots of the system?

b) ! The environment and the key players and stakeholders. How are the connections between them? Where is their atten-

tion directed to? Who is included and who is neglected or excluded?

c)! The vision and mission. What do we want to achieve? From where do we get our power and motivation?

d) ! The values and rules. Which are the basic guidelines for our decisions and actions? How do they comply with the culture

in which we are operating?

e)! Structure and processes. What are the essential processes to generate results in our company? Are our resources struc-

tured in an appropriate way to support the essential processes?

f) ! Goals and objectives. Which are the goals pursued by the various players in our organization? How consistent is the va-

riety of objectives which we have set.

Henriette K. Lingg and Georg Senoner* will present the Epidauros Process at the systemic Business Congress 2010. The participants of the workshop will experience the process and constellation work applied to a real situation of their business context. If you are interested in more information, please see www.systemicbusinesscongress.com or write us an email at mcortes@integraliscg.com

A PROJECT WE WOULD LIKE TO SHAREIntroducing change for growthBy Margarita Cortés

To get the best ideas,

the participants also

practiced their abilities

of listening and

working in teams with

dynamics derived from

the improvisation te-

chnique used in theatre

where some of the

precepts are:

* To focus on the rele-

vant aspects and in-

formation.

* To be proactive all the

time.

* Share the thoughts

by integrating mind,

heart and hands.

*Connect ideas.

A company is an open social system and by

consequence a space of continuous changes.

A lot of times the people who work within the

organizations do not conceive this idea and

prefer to work with models, tools and technol-

ogy that they already know, because it is eas-

ier to continue with the familiar routines than to

learn something new.

Peter Senge says: “an organization transforms

into the teacher of change, adapting, only if it

is capable of converting into a learning organi-

zation.” This succeeds when its members can

perceive the organization as a system where

all elements impact the rest necessarily; con-

structing a shared vision where changes are

necessary for the evolution and working as a

team; recognizing the perspectives of each

member and the points that are valuable.

A couple of days ago we worked with the ex-

ecutive team of a Mexican pharmaceutical

company -that counts more that 12.000 em-

ployees- in a process of “overcoming” the

resistance to change. The organization is in-

troducing a managerial information system

(ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning), which

will be a support to the integration and opera-

tion of diverse intern administration operations.

A very important aspect when introducing the

ERP, is that the use of technology will allow

that the company continues to evolve and

grow; to do this, it needs to be accepted and

adopted by the members of the company.

The client contacted us because a big part of

the employees in charge of introducing the

information system showed resistance to-

wards this evolution. So during the two days

of intervention planning -together with the cli-

ent-, we observed that it was very important

not to try “selling” the ERP’s positive features

to the employees; but instead let them come

to the conclusion that using the technology

would affect the growth and development of

the company in a positive way.

Within the sessions we applied differ-

ent dynamics, where the assistants

became aware of some of the organ-

izational systemic rules, and their im-

portance to continue the evolution.

For example, a very powerful -and ex-

tremely evident- exercise to observe

the order in the organization was the

“time line”; by this, the employees were

acknowledged not by hierarchy but by

seniority. This dynamic allowed dem-

onstrating that there in the organization

is a hierarchy, which is not dictated by

the chart and which has an equal sys-

temic weight, or in occasions more

important.

Visually the result was shocking, as the

team observed how the organization

during years has grown and involved

more people, functions, areas, tools

and technology. It was inevitable: the

introduction of the ERP was necessary

to continue this growth.

When the team recognized that the

technology not only was an imposed

change, but a necessity to the devel-

opment of their organization, the assis-

tants got their imagination and creativ-

ity going in a co-creation exercise,

where they created a company vision

for the future that would include the

ERP, and which was relevant for all

members. As part of the exercise, we

used the technique: World Café with

the objective to create an experiential

network across the collaborative dia-

logue around transcending questions

about the situation of the organization.

The team was formed by directors and

managers from all areas within the

company; thanks to the fact that the

group had multiple perspectives, and

worked proactively during the ses-

sions; its people knew how to integrate

the different beliefs, they respected the

decisions and listened to the different

points of views. The result was a

shared future where technology can

live side by side with what’s already

established in the organization.

The organizations of the

future will increasingly

depend on the creativity of

their members to survive.

(...) In a truly creative

collaboration, which is

pleasure, and the only rules

and procedures re those

that advance the common

cause. -Warren Bennis.

Author and organizational

consultant. Founder and

President of the Leadership

Institute at The University of

Southern California.

Systems thinking and co-creation: From the perspective of a danish internBy Heidi Borum

HOW WE EXPERIENCE LIVING WITH SYSTEMS THINKING

Socrates was rightBy Georgina González

Systems Thinking, Co-creation and Col-

lective Intelligence are all more or less

new words for me. When I first arrived

here to Mexico and started at Integrãlis

Consulting Group I had only heard

about these concepts, but to be honest

I had no idea of how they were being

practiced within a company. Being a

Danish girl with a slightly conservative

attitude towards organizations, I could

not imagine how Systems Thinking and

Co-creation for real could be integrated

within the people and the entire organi-

zation, or how I could ever come to see

the organization as “a whole”.

Working in the area of International

Public Relations, meaning for example

writing e-mails, translating articles, pro-

moting the company and our congress

in March 2010, how could I ever come

to see the organization as “a whole”,

when we also have a finance depart-

ment, a research group and a design

group, which have absolutely nothing to

do with my work in the company – or so

I thought.

After 4 months as being part of the In-

tegrãlis Consulting Group, I must admit

that my focus has changed and my

perspective and conservative attitude

have come across some real chal-

lenges. I have been integrated in multi-

ple meetings about economical issues,

strategic planning, web design – in con-

sulting sessions with clients, in work-

shops and I could keep on – all of this

just to realize how big affect it has on

me as an individual, but also on the en-

tire organization. When being integrating

in a way, where everybody co-works

and the organization is seen as a

“whole” and not separated small parts,

you get an insight in what’s going on in

the entire company and not only in your

working area.

By co-creating and working together in

a system you get the best environment

for being innovative and creative. When

you see other people’s perspectives,

you become inspired, and this is exactly

when you release your own intelligence

and creativity.

Collective Intelligence is precisely what I

just have described: A shared intelli-

gence that emerges from the collabora-

tion and competition of many individu-

als.

And isn’t this what every organization

want: A bunch of intelligent, innovative

and creative employees instead of one

single person being so?

The answer is simple: Release the col-

lective intelligence of all individuals by

co-creating and working together as “a

whole”.

Coaching, without doubt, is something more than just fashion and a process that

compounds support techniques and tools for directives. It is a dialogue between the

coach and the directive across questions that serve to facilitate the knowledge that is

present about himself, generating a conscious decision that allows the individual to

become more efficient, to get more clarity of his reality and of all taking the best deci-

sions for his life and work.

The best way to become enlightened

is to answer intelligent questions.

Because, what happens at the directive levels is that we have sodden directors with

diverse problems, exhausted with the responsibility of taking fundamental decisions to

achieve success in their organization and with the belief that they have everything un-

der control.

The reality is that they need to get away from the habits and find a ‘mirror’ that ques-

tions them with some issues that the work rhythm does not allow them to see.

Coaching is an intervention tool that makes the directive take fast consciousness of

what they consider necessary for a change.

At Integrãlis Consulting Group we think that the road for the directives - who want

clarity in their decisions, is to work assertively with their human relations, clarify their

beliefs and revise their compromise towards their position and concerning the com-

pany - it is to set up a coaching process.

The companies that can

develop themselves

successfully in the future, are

the ones that prepare trainings

and constantly generate

contexts of learning…. The

ones that stop learning and,

innovating, are the ones that

are driving themselves into

failure.” -Peter Senge.

American scientist, author of

"The Fifth Discipline.”

INTEGRATE

The initial base that this is structured

around, is the “Systemic Change Pro-

gram” an intervention model that we

have applied with success. In the first

design stage, we were adjusting and

including new approaches before con-

verting it into the ICR. The original pro-

gram was structured in tree times or

stages; Stage one: What is happening?

This phase is basically research, Stage

two: What would you like to be differ-

ent? In here you design the strategies

to be implemented and Stage three:

How will you achieve this? This is the

implementation and evolution process.

The application of these three phases

results in the organizational change.

In essence a systemic model is enrich-

ing because it do not interfere with

other approaches; it is a diagram that

sums up and integrates different per-

spectives, by which, the inclusion of the

integral model (developed by the phi-

losopher Ken Wilber) to the Systemic

Change Program, was evident and

natural.

The first step of the ICR; Integrate, is

divided into three actions; Theme

(where the client tells us about his

needs), Reset (a process of stopping

up and reconsidering multiple possibili-

ties) and Integrate (where you consider

all elements). This process has an inte-

gral approach to observe the organiza-

tion from all points of views, taking into

account or including every single one of

the involved actors.

CO-CREATE

Integrating various perspectives implies

listening to with what each one can

contribute from the place they occupy

within the organization, and the follow-

ing step; Co-create, is also divided into

three steps: Explore, Connect, Mobi-

lize, composed of tools that allow team

creation.

Some of the tools that we have inte-

grated in this process are: The Theory

U by Otto Scharmer, focused on con-

necting the needs and developing the

future of the organization, The World

Café by Juanita Brown, a methodology

that has been used to achieve agree-

ments in the United Nations and in the

administration of President Obama,

Organizational Configurations created

by Bert Hellinger, developed by Gun-

thard Weber and later modified by spe-

cialists like Jan Jacob Stam, in the

same way we have integrated useful

tools from the Impro, a theatrical tech-

nique developed by Viola Spolin and

Keith Johnston which focuses in sum-

ming up ideas and to create teamwork.

The meaning of combining these tools

is to create communication spaces

where the integrants of an organization

can liberate their creativity, and together

find the necessary solutions to make

the shared vision of a common future

real.

RESOLVE

In the last step: Resolve, where the

strategies are put into practice to ob-

tain results, this step contains tools like

Executive Coaching, Group Coaching,

generation of prototypes (to test the

decisions in controlled spaces) and

evolution strategies of the designed

results measured to each organization.

The ICR model has been maintained in

constant evolution thanks to our Study

Group and our research processes. At

Integrãlis Consulting Group we are

convinced that “change equals evolu-

tion”, by which, and to be fitting our

posture, we maintain a constant atten-

tion to change and to the integration of

new models, tools and tendencies that

appear around the world.

INTEGRÃLIS STUDY GROUPICR; Our intervention modelBy Marco Navarro

Integrate, Co-create, Resolve; three simple steps that resume our inter-vention model in change processes for companies. The simplicity of this model has been the result of multiple studies as for example analysis, de-cantation and integration of other models.

Próspero C. Vega #34 Colonia Centro.

Querétaro, Qro. México. CP. 76000

Directorio

R E S E T is published by Integrãlis

Consulting Group, a Mexican sys-

temic consultancy.

General Manager

Raúl Romero Havaux

Editorial Director

Georgina González Lara, Opera-

tions Manager

Editor of Newsletter

Margarita Cortés, Public Relations

Translation of Newsletter

Heidi Borum, International Public

Relations

Editorial Design

Margarita Cortés and Heidi Borum

Please write an email to

hborum@integraliscg.com if you

have comments on this newsletter

or simply would like to get in touch

with us. We are always interested

in any kind of feedback.

Links:

For more information on Integrãlis

Consulting Group and Raúl Ro-

mero Havaux please visit

www.integraliscg.com and

www.raulromerohavaux.net

Integrãlis Consulting Group is a

member of the international

organization EURASYC:

www.eurasyc.eu

RESET Is the process of stopping

up and reconsidering multiple

perspectives.-