When I bought the house that I now live in there was a pond that was fed by a stream. There was an outflow from the pond that ran under the road through a culvert. This pond was not a natural pond it had been created by the previous owners who had changed the way that the stream flowed so that it formed a pond. Every year the pond became filled with silt and had to be cleared by a large digger. Then the culvert collapsed. I had had enough of the pond and decided to return the stream to its natural course and create a bog garden. The result has been a great success; a very happy stream that sparkles and burbles with contentment and a lovely shady bog garden.

Change is always like this. If we change something and we have the awareness to notice what is happening we can choose to live with the change or to change something else until we have something that works for the moment. Change initiatives in organisations often fail because the consequences or outcomes are not what we expect so we try to make them happen, like digging silt out every year, rather than accept what is happening and to move on and change something else.

Gestalt offers an approach to change that is holistic, i.e. it embraces everything and everyone involved; that is field sensitive, i.e. it allows for the context in which events are occurring; that is phenomenological, i.e. notices what is actually going on, and is people focused. A part of its theoretical base is the paradoxical theory of change, which states that by focusing on our awareness in the present moment and responding accordingly, change will happen.

In our modern, fast moving organisations, where there never seems to be enough time to do anything as well as we would like, and change is our constant companion, Gestalt is like a breath of fresh air.

Awareness

What are you aware of right now as you are reading this article? What are your thoughts and feelings, where are you, what is happening around you at this very moment? Are you being distracted, or are you able to concentrate and temporarily shut out what is happening around you?

Awareness of ourselves; our thoughts, imaginings, our physical sensations and our emotions, is the first step in being switched on. The second step is our awareness of our surroundings, the context in which we are at this very moment. Put the two together and we have the capacity to make informed (by our awareness) choices about how we are and what we do as each moment unfolds

With our awareness fully switched on we are able to select those things that we want to focus on, that matter most at this moment. In this way we are able to achieve more by doing less, by doing the things that matter rather than reacting to events unawarely.

As each moment unfolds and we choose to pay attention to something we follow a path or cycle that starts with our becoming aware of the event, then mobilising ourselves to do something, then taking action, followed by full engagement, before we relax our attention and complete this cycle ready for the next event. This is the process of Gestalt completion. When these cycles are interrupted and not completed there is a sense of dissatisfaction until we can return to the event and complete it. This unfinished business is likely to clamour for your attention until you complete it. Sometimes there is so much unfinished business that it is almost impossible to focus on what is happening in the moment and to respond awarely.

Taking time to complete each cycle before leaping to the next cycle does, paradoxically, enable us to respond more appropriately and quickly to events.

When we do leap from one cycle to the next, or wave hop, we are storing up unfinished business. Sometimes we do this so much that life seems like a constant catching up and so we are unable to pay full attention to what is going on right now.

Fig. 1 Wave hopping

When we are in the process of withdrawing from one cycle we have the opportunity to reflect and learn before moving on to the next cycle. This space is the fertile void, whereas when we leap across to the next wave without pausing it becomes the futile void. By staying with each cycle until its completion we avoid storing up unfinished business and we enable change to flow smoothly as we deal with each unfolding event.

Field sensitivity

The field or context in which we are working is overflowing with information if we are able to pay attention to it. Everything that happens does so in a particular context, however, we are often so focused on the event that we do not notice, or we ignore the context. As with the pond we see the accumulation of silt and we do not see the context, i.e. the interruption of the stream's natural flow.

We can pay attention at four levels, the physical environment, the conditions at play, the state of the people and the phenomenology

At each of these levels we can particularly focus on three levels of our own awareness what are we noticing; what are we feeling, and what are we imagining/thinking/wondering?

The context, or the field is rich in information and it is the source from which all events emerge. Change, or the perceived need for change, emerges from the context. Only if we are aware and sensitive to what is happening in the present moment, and the context in which it is happening, can we ever hope to appreciate change and learn how to work with the flow of change rather than against it.

This awareness can be expressed through conversations and become a part of the vibrancy of the networks of connections between people. In other words, part of the organisation's dialogue.

Authentic dialogue

In many organisations what is not being said is far more important than what is being said. Beneath the surface lie the unseen, the unspoken, and the unheard. The inability of people within organisations to say what they want to say is often conditioned by the culture that has developed about what is OK and what is not OK. This often includes what is allowed above the surface.

The choice to conform and collude, or to collide with the culture is never an easy one. It is sometimes easier to leave the system than to fight the system.

When the human networks that comprise organisations are not connecting in an authentic way communications are at best ineffective and at worst disruptive. People begin to rely on terse and often rude emails rather than making contact with each other. In fact contact is often avoided, the buck is passed backwards and forwards and blame is apportioned. The system starts to become dysfunctional; one result of which is the way that change is blocked and growth is stultified.

To overcome apparent communication failures procedures are developed and rules created and so bureaucracy grows and flourishes and contact between people is further reduced and authentic dialogue dries up. Conversations arise out of necessity and not desire and relationships become transient and without joy or meaning.

Relationships

Relationships and their development through authentic dialogue is the central philosophy of Gestalt. What happens when people make contact is exciting, far-reaching and unpredictable. The consequences of contact are unknown at the moment of contact and, whatever the intention, the outcomes can be completely unexpected.

Building relationships is about the unfolding process as each contact leads to some outcome, which leads to further contact and further outcomes. And so it continues in a potentially unstoppable avalanche of connections and outcomes.

Gestalt is primarily about people and about relationship and it is through relationship and through networks of relationships that organisations function. So in a way Gestalt is a fitting philosophy for guiding our thinking about organisational effectiveness.

I am not dismissing the important elements of operating processes and established methods and systems, rather I am seeking to indicate how the human network uses the processes, methods and systems when they are helpful and circumvents them when they are not. The most powerful force at play is not organisational structure and procedures it is the strength and reliability of the human relationships. I believe that it is the strength of human connection that enables organisations to cope with major changes, including changes at the top in terms of new Chief Executives and other senior management with hardly any impact on the business. Then over a period of time the network of relationships react to the new management by adapting and improving operating effectiveness, or not depending on how the new management work with the people.

The outcomes of a Gestalt approach

A Gestalt approach, working as it does with current events as they happen, is alive to the unfolding events that condition what happens and how people respond. By paying attention to this moment rather than the past and by responding now to changes as they occur we forge the future. We cannot make the future happen no matter how carefully we plan it, nor by how hard we try. Planning and preparation for anticipated events is helpful, but it doesn't make those events occur. By responding with awareness in each unfolding moment we equip ourselves and the organisations we are part of to respond well to change.

It is possible using a Gestalt approach to achieve six things that organisations desperately need.

• To achieve more by doing less
• To speed up responses to events by slowing down
• To improve the quality of what we do by increased self-awareness
• To improve communications through authentic dialogue
• To be more effective through greater awareness of the context in which we are operating
• To motivate and inspire others through improved relationships

Note: Gestalt is an approach to understanding how people relate to themselves, each other and their environment. [Originally from Germany it was developed by Fritz and Laura Perls in the US in the1950s and 60s.] Gestalt focuses on what is happening in the moment and how this impacts on the way that people respond. Though most commonly used in psychotherapy, it has been developed for working with people in organisational settings and its use in business is growing steadily.