Why Gestalt Leadership

Gestalt: A German word originating from Gestalt psychology, and which essentially means an arrangement, a unit, a whole – something that is made up of many parts and that is somehow more than, or different from, the combination of these parts.

Gestalt psychology as a school of thought, looks at the human mind and behaviour, and the environment in which they are functioning, as a whole.  From this viewpoint, how we show up and the quality of our functioning, are influenced by the environments – both inner as well as external to us – in which we are located in the present.   Applied to organisations, we think about an organisational system as a gestalt that contains multiple, interacting parts, all influencing each other continuously.  We also think about organisations as being made up of multiple, intersecting gestalts – each person in a team might be considered a whole or a gestalt, or each department in the organisation.

At The Centre for Gestalt Leadership, we believe that to lead is to steward the design, cultivation and renewal of organisational environments – gestalts – in ways that promote health and generativity.   We are interested in the craft and wisdom of amplifying organisational experiences that inspire connection, resilience, effectiveness and innovation, at varied levels of participation – individual, unit and organisational. In doing this, we focus on:

We engage with creative expression as a primary pathway to catalysing resourcefulness and positive change.  As such we craft highly experiential and reflective engagements using story, myth, organisational constellations, creative arts, embodiment, dialogue, and more.

Our approaches are informed by broad industry experience, gestalt theory, depth psychology, positive organisational development, and behavioural and leadership research.