Potential-Driven Team Development

In Tallinn, after three days of systemic interventions in teams and organizations, I realize how influential Bert Hellinger’s discovery has been – what we now call the Evolutionary Force.

What had been lying in plain sight for some time has now fully hit home: problems in a team are often nothing more than symptoms of untapped potential. Potential that, at its core, can be used to achieve something meaningful for the future and for society. Something needed out there, which not only contributes but also creates. Humans and teams are creative beings. That doesn’t negate the fact that what we create can also have undesirable consequences. The evolutionary force is the driving force behind both growth and destruction. Handle with care.

Recently, we taught a company how to deal with the potential future traumas they might cause. And even if you work for a government in the welfare or urban development sector, you’re already facing the reality that, as a professional or a team, the creative force behind your actions can also cause trauma.

Well-functioning teams can achieve far more than the sum of their parts. Do you know how to leverage the differences between teams and team members instead of simply bridging them?

We believe that in today’s society, with uncertain futures, we could benefit greatly from potential-driven team development. At Transitionstudio, Dees and I focus precisely on this. While problem-focused work delves into the past to solve something, and solution-focused work centers on the next step, potential-focused work looks at what is possible: at the untapped potential within a team, its components, and its broader significance for customers, users, or society.

In our eight-day program in English or in Dutch, you can master the essence of this approach—as a team member, leader, business owner, consultant, or team coach. Ultimately, we are all in the same boat.

~ Jan Jacob