A two-year part time course, leading to an MSc (& Optional Diploma) in Organisational Change & Facilitation. This course is for leaders and change agents who wish to develop their theoretical/ personal skills to facilitate and lead change in organisations.
Validated by London South Bank University
Programme Leaders:
Marie-Anne Chidiac & Dr. Sally Denham-Vaughan
What is a Gestalt approach to facilitating organisational change?
The course builds on gestalt psychotherapy theory to provide powerful and creative ways of working with organisational change.The over-arching course aim is to give both internal and externally based change agents the theoretical and personal skills to facilitate and lead change initiatives.
At Metanoia we combine contemporaryfield/relational perspectives with a dialogic and holistic stance. The result is a leading edge training that develops cultural and contextual awareness while being attentive to body, mind and spirit.
Training programme design:
This will be a 2-day, weekend based modular programme.
The first year of training (the postgraduate certificate year) entitled The Use of Self in Change includes 7 taught modules. It will cover areas such as: Understanding gestalt organisational change principles; developing change awareness skills and style as gestalt practitioner; ethical practice in facilitating change and an introduction to practitioner research. Core gestalt theoretical concepts of Dialogue, Phenomenology and Field Theory will be covered.
At the end of the first year, students may be awarded a postgraduate certificate in Organisational Change and Facilitation: A Gestalt Approach.
The second year of training (MSc year) entitled Change Issues and Interventions includes 8 taught modules. It addresses specific change issues and interventions from a gestalt perspective and will cover areas such as: Leadership of change, Issues related to emergent change, an overview of specific change interventions such as group work and large-scale change.
Start Date:
The next intake for the programme is October 2012. Free Orientation sessions by skype or face to face are on the following dates:
Face to face:
- Friday the 17th February 2012 between 2-4pm
- Friday the 15th June 2012 between 2-4pm
Skype:
- Wednesday the 4th April at 6.30pm (GMT)
- Wednesday the 24th April @6.30pm (GMT)
For full details of the programme and application procedures, please email our Academic Coordinator Hannah Rootham or call her on: 0208 579 2589
A focus on personal development and awareness
We believe that developing personal awareness is a fundamental part of managing or facilitating change. Working in the here-and-now is a primary characteristic of gestalt organisation development work. To do this effectively, one must be aware so that personal, subjective, here-and-now experience is selectively shared in the service of the work. Developing practitioner presence and becoming aware of one’s impact is a key aspect of the course.
As a participant, you will:
- Develop and broaden your vision and skills in intervening more effectively and creatively in leading organisational change.
- Facilitate with more liveliness, presence and impact making use of a gestalt map to frame your understanding of group dynamics and your facilitation interventions.
- Gain a perspective on the latest thinking around organisational change and how a gestalt approach compares to systems and complexity perspectives.
- Learn how to apply theory to your practice and develop your sense of culture and context thus broadening your intervention skills.
Other benefits of the programme include:
Practice orientation
In addition to our concern with enabling students to develop a strong theoretical basis for their work, we also focus on applying theory to practice in a way that is most beneficial to the student. Practical fieldwork will show how learning has been applied to an organisational context.
A peer-led Learning Community
The programme will seek to build a peer led learning community as a process to facilitate personal and group learning. This means that students will benefit from working in a community with a group of peers and Metanoia’s own faculty of experienced organisational practitioners.
Proven track record for Gestalt applied to organisational settings:
Gestalt therapy’s contribution to the area of organisational development and change is well established since the 1950’s.For the last 25 years the Metanoia Institute has been training individuals in gestalt psychotherapy and change. Our tutor team members are all trained in gestalt psychotherapy and are accredited by the European Association of Gestalt Therapy (EAGT) as Gestalt Practitioners in Organisations. Our tutor team includes:
- Professor Paul Barber. Paul has applied gestalt’s holistic vision internationally to coaching, group and community development, research and education.
- Nicola Burton is an independent organisation consultant and executive coach working with senior leadership teams.
- Marie-Anne Chidiac is an experienced consultant and facilitator of change. She has experience working in a number of transformational projects in a wide variety of industries.
- Sue Congram is a consultant for training and development in Gestalt in organisations and teaches/supervises internationally.
- Dr Sally Denham-Vaughan is an international gestalt trainer, coach and supervisor with specific expertise in field-relational change processes.
- Mark Fairfield is the Executive Director of The Relational Centre in Los Angeles and senior gestalt trainer, consultant and coach.
- Dr. Joseph Melnick is co-chair of the Gestalt-based Cape Cod Training Program and a highly experienced organisational consultant.
Theoretical rigour
Whilst organisational change is not therapy, it draws heavily on principles and practices developed first in the area of psychology and psychotherapy. Kurt Lewin who heavily influenced modern organisation development, is also a key contributor to Gestalt therapy theory and practice. Notions of group dynamics, action research, field theory as well as key aspects of Gestalt psychotherapy theory, all contributed to the field of Gestalt in Organisations.
We believe in honouring these roots and making explicit theory and principle in order that a strong theoretical underpinning can support practitioners working in organisations.
Entry requirements:
Entry into the Postgraduate Certificate year (year one) is open to people who have a good first degree in one of the helping professions or equivalent, and/or experience of HR, management, organisational training and/or consultancy, coaching/mentoring, counselling, or psychotherapy. Applicants will need to have a minimum of two years organisational work experience.
Faculty members will be holding Orientation Sessions during 2012. Applicants will also be asked to attend an assessment session before being accepted onto the programme.
Entry directly into the Master’s year (year two) is open to those candidates who have a good understanding of gestalt theory and practice as well as a minimum of five years organisational experience. The applicants will be asked to demonstrate by means of an APL portfolio that they have met the learning outcomes of year one in terms of theoretical knowledge and organisational practice so that they can be awarded the relevant credits.
Depending on the number of candidates, we may be running an APL Master’s year starting in January 2013.
In the meantime, if you are interested in this area of study, please also have a look at our Gestalt Leadership and Consulting workshops.
Call us on +44 (0)20 8579 2505
