The global financial and economic systems currently mark the end of the fifth Kondratieff cycle, very high volatilities and thus massive uncertainties. What are the drivers of future prosperity and growth? The basic innovation that will generate global economic growth in the upcoming sixth Kondratieff cycle has apparently not yet been found or is not publicly known. The Asian world’s emergence into prosperity brings with it massive demand, but is driven by the dynamics of “catching up”, but not by the dynamics of content renewal through a global leap in innovation.

The question of where global future economic growth based on innovation will come from remains unanswered. The current general uncertainty is so great because, on the one hand, the existing systems of the past are increasingly failing and, on the other, there are no suitable prospects for the future. Such a situation of transition from something familiar and formerly well-functioning old to something completely unknown new is experienced by many as a shock. Dealing with these transitions (not yet change!) processes require special skills and abilities. It comes to destabilizations. Previously proven solutions, e.g. strategy development and implementation, employee retention and development, organizational development, leadership, etc., no longer work as usual. Old-fashioned mechanisms and techniques have had their day, new things want to be born, but nobody knows when and where childbirth will take place and who or what will be the decisive triggers. Large change processes are always connected with changes in thinking and acting. Erwin Laszlo presented in his theory of macro-shift that in such situations whole paradigms of thinking, i.e. (mental) attitudes, experience profound change, through which the world has seen, judged and treated its problems.

Behavior is always a consequence of the inner attitude. The human posture has its causes in thinking, so it sits in the human mind. Thus we also speak of “attitudes of mind” and “attitudes” that we adopt. Our thought patterns and thought blockades therefore play tricks on us and, in the worst case, ensure that we find ourselves in self-created negative thought cycles. That means stagnation, lack of innovation and creativity! Thinking-out-of-the-box is always necessary when old thought patterns no longer work and the existing and previously successful framework of thought is increasingly failing.

Mental patterns – what is that?

Mental patterns – also thought patterns – are thinking habits. We get used to how we think about ourselves and this or that in the world. We enter into “thinking routines” and adopt attitudes and beliefs towards ourselves, towards others and towards the world. Here our experiences and experiences influence us in a special way and shape our thinking and interpreting considerably.

If, for example, we have had bad, hurtful experiences, they shape our emotions and attitudes and influence our thinking about the people, circumstances or situations that we associate with the experience. In order to “digest” the experience, we try to understand it. We explain the experience through patterns of interpretation. These patterns of interpretation shape our thinking. If an experience is repeated, our memory reminds us of the earlier patterns of interpretation – our patterns of thinking and interpretation return to us.

In personal life as well as in collective group thinking – i.e. in departments, companies, organizations – such patterns of interpretation and thought establish themselves through communication and thus occupy a place in the historical memory of the individual and the organization. “This is what we do here…” or “We have always seen it that way with us…” are formulations that shape patterns of thought and interpretation (mental patterns).

“Health” is the current word of our society and – so many forecasts of our time – THE topic of the next decades. No wonder; it is our most valuable asset, the most important thing we have.

Organizations are like living creatures and can be affected by diseases. Many of these corporate diseases can be noticed today when you look into the companies. Afflicted by unhealthy organizational system dynamics, there is a lack of lightness and composure, while pressure to perform and burnout are omnipresent.

Unhealthy companies will not survive sustainably! In dealing with “organizational health”, a paradigm shift is needed, especially among managers and leaders.

In many cases, companies are still managed according to the old management theory of the 80s and 90s of the last century. The basic assumptions about economic activity, about what the human being is, what one is allowed to do with him and about the way one deals with each other in economic dealings are still present. Derived from a human and world view of a time that has long since come to an end. Nevertheless, it is noticeable that the old paradigms still predominate in the thinking and acting of most managers.

But the old concepts have long since become obsolete, they fail and are no longer viable. What is needed is a Copernican change in the way healthy organizations think. The organization and the enterprise must be understood completely new and in contrast to the prevailing understanding as “healthy”. After all, systemically holistic corporate health is the basis for long-term success, stable employee loyalty, and any employer attractiveness. Those who disregard these factors will certainly not be able to achieve sustainable corporate success.

Healthy company – what is that?

But above all, a holistically healthy company is not only shaped by these factors:

There are rules and habits in companies and organizations. In their overall construction, they generate “system processes” or “organizational habits”, i.e. rule-based repetitive automatisms. Destructive system processes are such organizational habits (control cycles) that have a self-destructive effect and are capable of causing lasting damage to the organization, even destroying it. Thus, negative energy in the system emanates from them.

For forward-thinking company managers, the following questions must be asked when it comes to the sustainable development of their organization:

1. How are destructive system processes (negative energies) identified in the company?
2. How are the most effective points of intervention identified?
3. How are destructive system processes effectively corrected (“disturbed”)?
4. How are constructive system dynamics (positive energies) released in the organization?
5. How are constructive system processes ensured in the long run?

The aim of systemic organizational development is to answer exactly these questions with the help of various methods of analysis by “mirroring”, “disturbance” and “learning”. These instruments help to positively influence the systemic landscape by breaking the regulatory cycles and promoting insight and willingness to innovate.

Often, the cycles are so well established and internalized that external support is needed to get to the bottom of the questions. Starting with an in-depth analysis of the system processes and dynamics via the conceptual response and implementation of all five concerns mentioned. The methods used here originate from the toolbox of systemic organizational development, which pursues the goal of “disturbing” systems in order to “break them up” for necessary innovations. The following table shows the necessary competencies of managers and employees caused by systemic organizational development.