ABSTRACT
Chapter 7 is titled “Seeing the System.” For doing this, the facilitator investigates factors impacting the group process from within and outside. This is crucial for effective process design. Three principles guide this phase: understanding the group and the broader context, gathering relevant information and building trust, and connecting information to process design. The chapter provides hints how larger participatory processes can be designed. For doing this, it outlines five key system categories: stakeholders, issues, relationships, past elements, and wider group context, along with associated questions. Addressing these provides valuable insights into system dynamics and overall design aspects. Finally, the chapter introduces several methods that can shed light on the group and its context: participant observation, interviews, case clinics, systemic constellations, and more.
