Coen Aalders

What if that inspiring natural leader we secretly dream of in this era of turmoil and challenge turns out to be just an ordinary person, with positive and murky sides?

What if, with all our knowledge, concepts, models, theories, and opinions – the building blocks of our modern society – we cannot solve the complexity of tomorrow?

What if our organisations are the best of many worlds and we have nevertheless reached an impasse?

Phenomenology is a new perspective that stops analyzing the past for the causes of our problems. It also stops “constructing” the future, the focus of mainstream coaching and consulting. We look at what the here and now show us. The phenomenological perspective is what we call this mode. It gives access to creative intelligence and the effortless power of the moment. And it ceases to fight against what is.

The world seems dominated by the idea that you can make your reality and change your life according to your design. That view is increasingly proving to be an illusion. This requires leaders to be more in touch with themselves, follow their inner calling, perceive themselves more intuitively and act on how they really are. That can be difficult for many. But anything you overlook (and with our humanity, that is inevitable) comes back to you, without exception. If we listen closely, we can hear a cry worldwide for this way of living, working and deciding.

In a collective sense, we can see it in universal turmoil and uncertainty; in a personal sense, in the cases of burnout, overloaded work schedules and empty relationships; in an organisational sense, in the form of conflicts, crises and market losses.

The phenomenological perspective consists primarily of a crystal-clear and unobstructed representation of what we observe. We use the deeper wisdom of the phenomena we observe in the organisation around us. We let it sink in and work in us as it occurs.

What this perspective creates is remarkable precision, power and effect.