Systemic Constellations

Comment l'animer

1. 1

   Prepare the space: clear the floor of furniture, ensuring enough room for participants to move and position themselves freely.

2. 2

   Introduce the method: explain that participants will use their bodies in space to represent a topic (e.g. 'our team's relationship to the new strategy', 'how we experience decision-making power').

3. 3

   Define the elements to be placed: these might be roles (Product / Engineering / Sales), forces (customer pressure / internal resistance), or people (team members, leadership, key stakeholders).

4. 4

   Ask one participant (the 'sculptor') to silently place other participants in the room — each person represents one element. The sculptor positions people based on felt sense: proximity = closeness, facing direction = attention/avoidance, distance = disconnect.

5. 5

   Once placed, invite each person to speak briefly from their position: 'How does it feel to stand here? What do you notice?'

6. 6

   Ask the sculptor and observers: 'What does this picture tell us? What is striking? What is missing?'

7. 7

   Experiment with movement: 'What would change if [person/role] moved closer? Let's try it — what shifts?'

8. 8

   Close with a debrief: What did we learn about our system? What one thing would we want to change?

Conseils

• This method requires strong facilitation presence — participants can feel exposed or emotionally activated. Establish clear psychological safety before starting.

• Reassure people: they are representing roles or forces, not judging individuals. Separate the role from the person.

• Not every constellation needs to be 'fixed' in the room — sometimes the insight comes purely from seeing the picture.

• Allow silence during the placing phase — the sculptor should work intuitively, not analytically.

• Avoid over-interpreting. Offer observations as questions: 'I notice X is facing away — what does that mean to you?'

• For distributed/remote teams, use a digital whiteboard with avatar icons or photos placed on a shared canvas.

Variantes

Object constellations: use small objects (cups, stones, figurines) on a table instead of bodies — lower threshold, works in smaller rooms. Pure sociogram: ask each person to stand in relation to a central question ('stand closer if you feel heard, further if you feel unheard') — good for team health. Role-reversal: after the initial picture, invite people to swap positions and speak from the new role.

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