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• In which way does the follow-up strategy ensure that the most
effective tools and instruments for achieving the desired change
are identified and used?49
• In which way do monitors ensure that their communication
strategies (reports, recommendations, follow-up) are shaped in a
way so as to achieve a higher acceptance by the respective target
audiences (e.g. prison staff, management, media general public)?
2.10. Include ongoing reflection and self-reflection
Meaning of the principle - the basic idea
The systemic approach is adamant on integrating phases of reflections,
including self-reflection, throughout all work processes. Why do we
work like this? Why do we think that the way chosen best achieves the
desired results? This emphasis on reflection is at the same time the
strongest source of (self-reflective) organizational learning with a view
to achieving greater impact. Metaphorically speaking, it is going on the
balcony in order to observe oneself acting on the dance floor.50
This principle forces us to critically examine our own assumptions and
possible biases. It leads us to question what has been accepted as a
given and “the ways things have always been done in the past”. Not
surprisingly, this element of self-critical examination is set to meet
with resistance, as it might shake up entire belief systems, and this may
be painful and people might feel vulnerable and exposed.51 However, it is
through permanent (self-)reflection only - testing our views and seeing
them as views constructed by ourselves - that we enable growth and
improvement towards achieving maximum impact.
Systemic consulting practice has produced many concrete tools for
reflection, including the “systemic loop” (see 3.2) and „peer consulting“
49. See BIM/HRIC, 101 et seq.: Building Block 5: Reflecting on availability and suitability of tools for
follow-up action.
50. See Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky, Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of
Leading (Harvard Business School Press 2002).
51. See Senge, 262.
Systemic Thinking in Preventive Human Rights Monitoring
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