ABSTRACT
The systemic approach views the individual as a nexus of relationships rather than being bound by their own skin. The development of a systems-psychodynamic school of thought was initiated by the Tavistock Institute and first systematised by D. Miller and A. K. Rice. The systems-psychodynamic perspective thus implies working simultaneously from the inside-out and the outside-in without preference for either approach. The focus of systems-psychodynamic coaching is the person-in-role and the accompanying context that consists of multilayered organisational and social fields. The Tavistock Method established the foundations for systems-psychodynamic coaching. The organisation as a system, in regard to its purpose, can be characterised by two basic governing conceptions: the primary task, and the primary risk. The primary task is that which the system, group or company has been established to fulfil. Yet the client is also part of smaller systems such as their family or friend groups, and larger systems such as society or a nation.
