Working Together

How Engagement Works

While the approach is methodless in substance, clarity about engagement structure helps organisations understand what they're entering into and what they can expect.

The Recommended Container

The recommended engagement period is three months with weekly or bi-weekly sessions. This isn't arbitrary; it reflects what experience has shown about the time needed for meaningful change to take root.

Month One

Foundation

Establishing foundation—building relationship, understanding context, creating initial conditions for dialogue. Early sessions often reveal that the presenting issue isn't the actual issue.

Month Two

Deepening

Deepening work—engaging with substantive organisational challenges, facilitating breakthrough conversations, working with patterns that emerge.

Month Three

Integration

Integration and capacity building—consolidating gains, developing internal capacity, preparing for independence.

This three-month rhythm provides enough time for genuine change while maintaining momentum and focus. It's long enough for patterns to shift but short enough to maintain urgency.

Flexibility in Structure

The structure adapts to actual needs. The container serves the work, not vice versa.

Single sessions

Sometimes a single facilitated conversation can unlock something that's been stuck. This is rare but valuable when the situation is ripe.

Extended engagements

Some organisations benefit from longer relationships—six months, a year, or ongoing periodic support. This is appropriate when organisational challenges are complex or when deep cultural transformation is the goal.

Intensive periods

Some situations call for concentrated attention—a week of intensive work with a leadership team, a series of sessions around a major transition.

What Engagement Includes

Facilitated sessions

The core of the work—dialogue sessions with individuals, teams, or larger groups, depending on what the situation requires.

Between-session consultation

Availability for calls or messages between formal sessions, supporting ongoing application of insights.

Context mapping

Initial work to understand the organisational situation, including conversations with key stakeholders.

Capacity building

Explicit attention to developing internal capability, including support for individuals who emerge as natural carriers of dialogue quality.

Success Indicators

How do you know if this work is succeeding? The indicators span three levels that emerged organically from the work itself—each cluster derived from the benefits that emerge across our facilitation areas.

◬ Explore the full mapping of benefits, areas, and research in The Living System

Level 1

Organisational Benefits

Tangible improvements in how the organisation functions and performs.

  • Diagnostic clarity Seeing situations more clearly, including previously invisible dynamics
  • Decision clarity Decisions improve because they emerge from genuine understanding
  • Strategic coherence Gap between stated strategy and actual behaviour narrows
  • Behavioral consistency Values translate into aligned actions across the organisation

Derived from facilitation areas: Conflict Resolution, Strategy Tuning, Vision & Mission, Values Alignment

  • Reduced operational drag Less energy wasted on workarounds and unresolved tensions
  • Execution effectiveness Strategy translates into coherent daily operations
  • Resource efficiency Resources directed coherently rather than scattered
  • Proactive drift prevention Catching misalignment before it compounds

Derived from facilitation areas: Conflict Resolution, Strategy Tuning

  • Access to collective intelligence Groups access thinking that transcends individual capability
  • Integration across silos Connections form where none existed before
  • Idea development Ideas are developed well, not just generated
  • Innovation as culture Creativity becomes ongoing, not episodic
  • Better decisions in ambiguity Navigating complexity without false certainty

Derived from facilitation areas: Innovation & Idea Generation, Complexity Navigation

  • Leaders who navigate complexity Responding rather than reacting to challenges
  • Modeling for the organisation Leadership that demonstrates the way forward
  • Reduced leadership-induced dysfunction Fewer blind spots creating downstream problems
  • Leadership unity Genuine alignment on actual priorities
  • Leadership bandwidth recovery Less time managing dysfunction, more time leading
  • Succession quality Better leaders developing better successors

Derived from facilitation areas: Leadership Transformation, Strategy Tuning, Complexity Navigation

Level 2

Relational & Cultural Benefits

Shifts in how people relate, communicate, and work together.

  • Psychological safety People feel able to speak honestly without fear
  • Trust restoration Where trust had eroded, genuine trust develops
  • Honest feedback culture Feedback flows freely and constructively
  • Reduced cynicism People believe stated values and intentions are genuine
  • Ethical resilience Navigating ethical challenges with integrity

Derived from facilitation areas: Relational Clarity, Values Alignment

  • Preserved relationships Conflict handled in ways that strengthen rather than damage
  • Collaboration quality People work together because they want to, not just because they must
  • Retention of key talent People stay because they feel valued and connected
  • Attraction of aligned talent The right people are drawn to authentic culture

Derived from facilitation areas: Conflict Resolution, Relational Clarity, Vision & Mission

  • Meaningful work connection Work feels connected to something that matters
  • Cultural identity clarification Shared understanding of who we are emerges
  • Renewed energy and purpose Passion returns when purpose is real
  • Authentic engagement People connected to genuine purpose, not just tasks

Derived from facilitation areas: Emergent Meaning & Coherence, Vision & Mission

  • Learning capacity The organisation learns from tensions and mistakes
  • Organisational learning Continuous improvement becomes natural
  • Self-sustaining change Change sticks without ongoing external intervention
  • Self-sustaining dialogue culture Quality conversation continues independently
  • Adaptive capacity The organisation adapts when environments shift

Derived from facilitation areas: Conflict Resolution, Culture & Creativity Catalyst, Complexity Navigation

Level 3

Ecosystem & Societal Benefits

Ripple effects beyond the organisation into the broader world.

  • Culture as competitive advantage Healthy culture becomes a genuine differentiator
  • Innovation as natural state Creativity woven into daily operations
  • Modelling conscious business The organisation becomes an example of what's possible

Derived from facilitation areas: Culture & Creativity Catalyst

  • Reduced false confidence Humility enables genuine learning
  • Authenticity becomes norm People bring their whole selves to work
  • Reduced burnout People aren't depleted by their work
  • Spillover to personal relationships Quality of attention transfers to life outside work

Derived from facilitation areas: Complexity Navigation, Culture & Creativity Catalyst

  • Contributing to societal dialogue capacity Every person who learns to dialogue well contributes to broader social capacity
  • Holistic mindset cultivation People develop capacity to see whole systems, not just parts
  • Mental health as cultural norm Attending to wellbeing becomes normal, not stigmatised

Derived from facilitation areas: All ten facilitation areas

How It Begins

Every engagement starts with a conversation—not a pitch, not a proposal, but genuine dialogue about your situation and whether this approach might serve it.

This initial conversation is itself a sample of the work. You'll experience the quality of attention being offered and can assess whether it resonates.

From there, if it makes sense to proceed, we design an engagement that fits your actual needs—not a standardised package, but a structure that serves your situation.

Begin a Conversation

No commitment required. Just an honest exploration of whether this work fits your situation.

Start the Dialogue Explore the Framework