The Framework

Four Domains, Ten Contexts

Through extensive work with individuals, teams, and organisations, a natural clustering has emerged. Ten specific facilitation contexts group into four core domains, each representing a distinct orientation while sharing the same underlying facilitative approach.

The boundaries between these areas are permeable. Real organisational life doesn't segment neatly into categories—what appears as a conflict may reveal itself as an innovation opportunity; what seems like a strategic question may turn out to be fundamentally relational.

A crucial insight: the facilitative process remains essentially the same across all areas. What differs is the opening intention, language positioning, and specific attunement focus.

◬ Explore how these areas connect to benefits and research findings in The Living System

Diagnostic Intelligence

Making the invisible visible

Creating conditions where organisational reality can reveal itself, including dynamics that are normally filtered out by habitual perception.

Conflict Resolution / Organisational Diagnosis

Unpacking friction and stagnation to create room to repair ruptures

When This Is Needed

Active conflict between team members, departments, or stakeholders
Chronic tension that never quite resolves
Post-crisis repair work needed
Patterns of avoidance masking underlying rupture
Power dynamics creating silencing or resentment

Attunement Focus

What the conflict is actually about beneath the surface positions, the relational history at play, how power operates, what isn't being said, and whether repair is actually wanted.

What Emerges

Clarity on actual (not assumed) sources of friction
Space for repair that isn't forced or performative
Revelation of systemic issues through individual conflict
Transformed relationship (not just managed conflict)
Learning about organisational patterns

Organisational Benefits

Reduced operational drag
Preserved relationships
Diagnostic clarity
Learning capacity

Distinction: Unlike conventional mediation, this approach treats conflict as information—a signal that something important is at stake. The goal is not to manage or resolve quickly, but to create conditions where the conflict can reveal what needs to be seen.

Relational Clarity

Surfacing unspoken dynamics to restore communication and collaboration

When This Is Needed

Teams functioning but something feels 'off'
Communication breakdown without obvious conflict
Collaboration feels transactional or shallow
Trust issues without clear cause
New team formation or integration

Attunement Focus

What's being communicated versus received, unspoken assumptions people hold about each other, where trust is present versus performed, how interaction patterns serve or limit the group.

What Emerges

Explicit awareness of previously implicit dynamics
Permission to address what was 'undiscussable'
Deeper mutual understanding (not just coordination)
Trust based on actual knowing (not assumption)
Relationship capacity that transfers beyond this context

Organisational Benefits

Psychological safety
Honest feedback culture
Retention of key talent
Collaboration quality

Emergence & Innovation

Staying with complexity until insight emerges

Creating conditions where genuinely new possibilities can arise—whether that's navigating overwhelming complexity, generating breakthrough ideas, or discovering shared meaning.

Complexity Navigation

Staying centered amidst uncertainty and competing priorities

When This Is Needed

Multiple competing priorities with no clear resolution
Overwhelm from complexity of situation
Stakeholders pulling in different directions
Decision paralysis due to too many factors
Uncertainty that standard planning can't address

What Emerges

Orientation without false certainty
Capacity to hold multiple factors simultaneously
Path forward not visible from any single perspective
Reduced anxiety through genuine understanding

Organisational Benefits

Better decisions in ambiguous situations
Reduced false confidence
Adaptive capacity
Leadership bandwidth recovery

Innovation & Idea Generation

Clearing cognitive and emotional noise to unlock creativity

When This Is Needed

Creative blocks at individual or team level
Need for breakthrough thinking (not just incremental)
Brainstorming producing shallow/predictable ideas
Team stuck in existing paradigms

What Emerges

Ideas that no individual could have generated alone
Unexpected connections across domains
Energy and momentum that outlasts the session
Capacity for collective thinking that transfers

Organisational Benefits

Access to collective intelligence
Integration across silos
Idea development (not just generation)
Innovation capacity as culture

Emergent Meaning & Coherence

Creating spaces where unifying meaning naturally arises

When This Is Needed

Organisation feels fragmented despite structure
Work feels transactional, lacking deeper meaning
People doing tasks but don't understand the 'why'
Sense of 'something missing' but can't name what

What Emerges

Shared meaning that arose naturally (not imposed)
Coherence across what seemed fragmented
Connection beyond structural/transactional
Language for what was previously ineffable

Organisational Benefits

Meaningful work connection
Cultural identity clarification
Renewed energy and purpose

Foundational Coherence

Bringing 'wall' and 'hall' into alignment

Addressing the fundamental questions of organisational identity: Who are we? Why do we exist? What do we actually stand for? How does what we say connect to what we do?

Values Alignment & Realignment

Revisiting ethical and purpose foundations to strengthen direction and integrity

When This Is Needed

Stated values don't match experienced culture
Ethical drift or integrity concerns
Values conversation needed but feels risky
Cynicism about organisational values

What Emerges

Honest acknowledgment of gaps
Clarity on what's core vs. aspirational
Path toward alignment that isn't performative
Discovery of living values that weren't articulated

Organisational Benefits

Trust restoration
Behavioral consistency
Reduced cynicism
Ethical resilience

Vision & Mission Reorientation

Reconnecting to the deeper 'why' to allow meaningful new direction

When This Is Needed

Mission statement feels dead or disconnected
Founders' vision lost in scaling
Team going through motions without inspiration
Post-achievement drift ('we won, now what?')

What Emerges

Reconnection to living purpose (not just refreshed statement)
Permission to evolve mission when it no longer fits
New direction feels obvious once deeper 'why' is clear
Energy and passion returns when purpose is real

Organisational Benefits

Authentic engagement
Decision clarity
Attraction of aligned talent
Strategic coherence

Strategy Tuning

Refining focus and coherence across operations, leadership, and goals

When This Is Needed

Strategy exists but execution feels misaligned
Different departments interpreting strategy differently
Multiple initiatives competing/contradicting
Strategy feels theoretical, not operational

What Emerges

Operational coherence with stated strategy
Leadership alignment on actual priorities
Clear translation from strategy to daily decisions
Some initiatives dropped because they don't serve coherence

Organisational Benefits

Execution effectiveness
Resource efficiency
Leadership unity
Proactive drift prevention

Transformation & Capacity

Building sustainable change

Addressing lasting change—not the temporary enthusiasm of training programs, but deep shifts in how people relate, work, and think together that constitute genuine transformation.

Leadership Transformation

Cultivating grounded, self-aware leadership capable of responding with clarity rather than reactivity

When This Is Needed

Leaders stuck in reactive patterns
Leadership team lacks self-awareness
Decision-making driven by stress/ego rather than clarity
Leaders disconnected from their impact on others
Culture change requires leadership to embody it first

What Emerges

Self-awareness of patterns and triggers
Shift from reactivity to responsive clarity
Grounded presence rather than performed leadership
Leaders who can hold uncertainty without forcing resolution
Capacity to see their own impact

Organisational Benefits

Leaders who navigate complexity
Modeling for the organisation
Reduced leadership-induced dysfunction
Succession quality

Distinction: This is different from leadership skills training or executive coaching focused on competencies. It addresses who the leader is, not just what the leader does.

Culture & Creativity Catalyst

Turning dialogue itself into a force for creativity, authenticity, and operational efficiency

When This Is Needed

Culture feels stale, performative, or compliance-driven
Creativity is individual/siloed, not cultural
Authenticity is risky/punished rather than valued
Want dialogue practice to become organisational DNA

What Emerges

Dialogue capacity transmitted culturally (not taught)
Authenticity becomes norm, not exception
Creativity woven into operations, not separate
Self-sustaining dialogue culture
Organisation becomes living system, not mechanism

Organisational Benefits

Culture as competitive advantage
Self-sustaining change
Innovation as natural state
Organisational learning

Distinction: This represents the culmination of the work: the organisation has developed its own capacity for ongoing dialogue and self-examination. Dialogue itself becomes how the organisation operates.

The Same Process, Different Lenses

A crucial insight: the facilitative process remains essentially the same across all areas. The same quality of attention and dialogue creates conditions for emergence whether the presenting situation is conflict, strategy, or culture.

What differs is the opening intention, language positioning, and specific attunement focus. The boundaries between areas are permeable—real organisational challenges rarely fit neatly into a single category.

Learn more about the approach

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