Relationship Matters

Difference shows us in all shapes, sizes, colors, accents, languages, cultures, classes and backgrounds. So how do we want to be with that difference? In this episode, Ronnie Ndlovu discusses ways we can normalize and acknowledge our differences and use them as an asset for collaboration. After all, if we were all the same, where would innovation, learning and creativity live? Across the episode Ronnie and Katie cover a range of topics including the impact of intolerance, rank and privilege, working with different languages and accents, building empathy and leaning into edges. 

Ronnie Ndlovu is one of South Africa’s first two coaches to certify in the advanced ORSC methodology and be chosen for CRR’s international faculty. As a top coach in the southern African region over more than a decade, he serves corporate, individual and non-profit clients throughout the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region find alignment while maximizing productivity and innovation. In addition to his ORSC qualifications, he completed a one-year Co-Active Coach training program in 2007 with the Coaches Training Institute and is an expert in the use of the Enneagram. He is a member of the International Coach Federation (ICF). He has also completed a two-year program on Process Work Facilitation based on Process Orientated Psychology.


For over 18 years, CRR Global has accompanied leaders, teams, and practitioners on their journey to build stronger relationships by focusing on the relationship itself, not only the individuals occupying it. This leads to a community of changemakers around the world. Supported by a global network of Faculty and Partners, we connect, inspire, and equip change agents to shift systems, one relationship at a time

 We believe Relationship Matters, from humanity to nature, to the larger whole.

In this episode, Linda Berlot is back on the show discussing what it means to be a cultural learner vs. a cultural critic. A Cultural Critic is an individual who only looks at the world through his or her own culture whereas a Cultural Learner is someone who accepts and engages with other cultures through a healthy dose of curiosity. Across the episode Linda and Katie discuss what it means to live in a globalized world, changing our perception of that which is different, the attitudes and behaviors of a cultural learner, different cultural structures, and understanding culture like an operating system.

Linda Berlot is a human development specialist with more than 19 years of experience in the fields of learning and development,  strategic organizational change and team dynamics with a focus on creating alignment in the organizations she works with.  She is of Italian origin and has been living in the United Arab Emirates and working in the Middle East since 2004. Linda is a Director of Faculty Development at CRR Global. She is the ORSC Partner for the UAE and is currently one of only 19 people globally to hold the license to train and deliver the RSI@work material in-house to corporations.


For over 18 years, CRR Global has accompanied leaders, teams, and practitioners on their journey to build stronger relationships by focusing on the relationship itself, not only the individuals occupying it. This leads to a community of changemakers around the world. Supported by a global network of Faculty and Partners, we connect, inspire, and equip change agents to shift systems, one relationship at a time

 We believe Relationship Matters, from humanity to nature, to the larger whole.

In this episode Katie talks with ORSC faculty leader and CRR Canada partner, Kerry Woodcock about the magic of Metaskills. 

The concept of metaskills was first introduced by Amy Mindell and has since been enhanced and leveraged in key tools in the ORSC approach. A metaSkill is the attitude, stance, philosophy, or “come from” place that both the leader and team members stand in when doing this work. The intentional use of MetaSkills provides an invaluable skillset that can improve overall performance and connectivity. MetaSkills are like rooms that can be stepped into, which then ‘perfume’ the work.  

Kerry Woodcock leads change for a world of change, by both holding and challenging leaders, organizations and social systems to amplify the power of relationship—for it is powerful relationship that creates meaningful change. Kerry is an International Coach Federation Professional Certified Coach, certified in Co-active Coaching and Organizational and Relationship Systems Coaching, with a doctorate in Geography and Environmental Management. Kerry’s training and research in human and social development is combined with over twenty-five years of practical experience in partnering with leaders and their organizations on their growth and development journeys. She has worked in a range of organizational contexts, from Non-Governmental Organizations to corporations and government in a variety of industries, from Forestry to Energy, and Engineering and Finance to Media and Communications and Libraries, and across cultures, from UK and Spain to Tanzania and Ethiopia and Canada and USA. British-born, she is based in Canada with the world as her playground. She is the Director of Novalda and CRR Canada.


For over 18 years, CRR Global has accompanied leaders, teams, and practitioners on their journey to build stronger relationships by focusing on the relationship itself, not only the individuals occupying it. This leads to a community of changemakers around the world. Supported by a global network of Faculty and Partners, we connect, inspire, and equip change agents to shift systems, one relationship at a time

 We believe Relationship Matters, from humanity to nature, to the larger whole.

In this episode, Sandra Cain (Director of Curriculum and Senior Faculty at CRR Global) discusses the process of Meet, Reveal, Align and Act. Whether we are engaging in a one-on-one conversation with a neighbor or working with a large group, these three phases can help us when working with all types of Relationship Systems. Across the episode we discuss how to effectively meet a system, helping clients to keep moving forward during the reveal phase, the importance of align & act, and using this process as a meeting planner. 

Sandra Cain is Director of Curriculum and Senior Faculty at CRR Global. Her background includes 15 years’ experience at American Express with a variety of leadership and personal development roles. She bridges that experience with her current passion for building relationships, increasing positivity and developing communication skills in service of creating and navigating change in the workplace.


For over 18 years, CRR Global has accompanied leaders, teams, and practitioners on their journey to build stronger relationships by focusing on the relationship itself, not only the individuals occupying it. This leads to a community of changemakers around the world. Supported by a global network of Faculty and Partners, we connect, inspire, and equip change agents to shift systems, one relationship at a time

 We believe Relationship Matters, from humanity to nature, to the larger whole.

In this episode, restoration practitioner Jennifer Pernfuss talks about how to resolve harassment complaints (and conflict) using a systems inspired approach.

If you’ve not had a chance to listen to part 1, we'd highly recommend checking out Workplace conflict (part 1): The balcony view. In part 1, Jennifer and Katie discuss the importance of taking a systemic view in highly charged and complex workplace harassment cases. In this episode, Jennifer walks us through the typical process and procedure of a workplace harassment case; explains the different stakeholders in play; discusses the importance of creating psychological safety; and looks ahead to the type of reform she would like to see happen.

Jennifer Pernfuss is a non-practicing lawyer with a degree in Psychology and has maintained a consulting and coaching business for 27 years focusing exclusively on the prevention and elimination of workplace discrimination, harassment and the resolution of workplace conflict and employee complaints. Trained in systems theory, process-oriented psychology and relationship systems coaching combined with her understanding of the law Jennifer develops and implements restorative processes, helps repair strained working relationships and move parties to resolution. 

For over 18 years, CRR Global has accompanied leaders, teams, and practitioners on their journey to build stronger relationships by focusing on the relationship itself, not only the individuals occupying it. This leads to a community of changemakers around the world. Supported by a global network of Faculty and Partners, we connect, inspire, and equip change agents to shift systems, one relationship at a time

 We believe Relationship Matters, from humanity to nature, to the larger whole.

In this episode, Katie talks with Floyd Carlson about Neuroscience and Relationships. This is the first of 2 installments on neuroscience and what it can teach us about our relationships. In Part 1 we’re talking about how neuroscience can help us to better understand ourselves because the more we are aware of what’s going on within us, the more it’s going to help us as coaches, leaders and human beings. We discuss a variety of topics including how to regulate in the moment, types of intuition, the body budget, how we create our emotions through a process of prediction and how to disrupt our prediction patterns so that we can be more at choice in our lives.

Floyd Carlson is a Front of the Room Leader for CRR Global who focuses on leaders, teams and bringing the best out of individuals based on company and individual objectives. Floyd has more than 30 years of business and military experience which he combines with his coaching, training, and organizational development to help leaders achieve professional and personal goals in alignment with company needs.

Resources:

• Lisa Feldman Barret TED talk

For over 18 years, CRR Global has accompanied leaders, teams, and practitioners on their journey to build stronger relationships by focusing on the relationship itself, not only the individuals occupying it. This leads to a community of changemakers around the world. Supported by a global network of Faculty and Partners, we connect, inspire, and equip change agents to shift systems, one relationship at a time

 We believe Relationship Matters, from humanity to nature, to the larger whole.

In this episode, Katie talks with CRR Global CEO and co-founder Marita Fridjhon about the competencies behind system inspired leadership. Systems Inspired Leadership (SIL) is an innovative approach to leadership that creates from the wisdom of the system rather than tells people what to do and builds shared leadership at all levels of the organization. Their discussion includes what is and isn’t a systems inspired leader, how to empower leaders and teams to adopt this different approach to leadership, how Systems’ inspired leadership set us up to better navigate the complexity and disruptive forces of the 21st century and stepping into the collective intelligence of the system itself.

Marita Fridjhon is co-owner and CEO of CRR Global and mentor to an ever-growing community of practitioners in the field of Relationship Systems work. She designs curriculum and operates training programs in Relationship Systems Work for coaches, executives and teams. She came to this work from an extensive background in Clinical Social Work, Community Development, Process Work, Family Systems Therapy, Business Consulting and Alternative Dispute Resolution. She has an international mentor coaching practice of individuals, partnerships and teams. Her primary focus in coaching is on systemic change, leveraging diversity, creative communication, deep democracy in conflict management and the development of Learning Organizations.


For over 18 years, CRR Global has accompanied leaders, teams, and practitioners on their journey to build stronger relationships by focusing on the relationship itself, not only the individuals occupying it. This leads to a community of changemakers around the world. Supported by a global network of Faculty and Partners, we connect, inspire, and equip change agents to shift systems, one relationship at a time

 We believe Relationship Matters, from humanity to nature, to the larger whole.

In this episode, Katie is talking with Neil Edwards about Leadership and Love. In business ‘love’ is not a word, characteristic, or value, we often see or use. Yet, what might be the value of bringing more ‘love’ into the workplace? And how might leading with love transform our working relationships and company cultures? Across the episode we discuss how love affirms life, the sanitation of words in the workplace, the challenges and missed opportunities in leaving love out of the boardroom; expanding our leadership range in include love and loving response, creating shared understanding around what love means, and the power of living and leading with love.

Neil Edwards is a Front of the Room Leader and Certification Faculty for CRR Global. Neil specializes in expanding range and strengthening resilience for leaders, and creating capacity and capability of teams and organizational systems to be positive, productive, and agile in the face of change. He coaches and teaches individuals, teams, and larger organizational systems to identify values, define purpose, act intentionally, think systemically, be inclusive, and nurture wellbeing. He has extensive experience coaching accountants, engineers, attorneys, MBAs, executives, and finance; brand; and IT professionals in corporations, government, and professional services.


For over 18 years, CRR Global has accompanied leaders, teams, and practitioners on their journey to build stronger relationships by focusing on the relationship itself, not only the individuals occupying it. This leads to a community of changemakers around the world. Supported by a global network of Faculty and Partners, we connect, inspire, and equip change agents to shift systems, one relationship at a time

 We believe Relationship Matters, from humanity to nature, to the larger whole.

In this episode, Master Coach Maddie Weinreich delves into two of the coaching competencies she sees new systems coaches’ struggling with the most: holding the system as the client and holding the system as intelligent, generative, and creative. Over the course of the episode, Maddie discusses tips, traps and tricks to using these competencies, what it means to ‘hold the system’ as a client, some of the benefits of working with our clients in this way and empowering the system by holding them as inherently intelligent, generative and creative.

Maddie Weinreich specializes in strengthening the interpersonal relationships that exist within business environments for the purpose of enhancing team performance and productivity.  She coaches leadership teams around the globe to navigate change and to effectively improve organizational cultures within large and small businesses. Maddie currently serves as a senior Front of the Room Leader for the ORSC Program and ORSC Certification.  Maddie holds the Master Certified Coach (MCC) credential with the International Coaches Federation (ICF). She is a Certified Organization and Relationship Systems Coach (ORSCC), a Certified Team Performance Coach (CTPC), and a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC).  Maddie also provides mentoring services and consultation for professionals working in the field of relationship growth and development.


For over 18 years, CRR Global has accompanied leaders, teams, and practitioners on their journey to build stronger relationships by focusing on the relationship itself, not only the individuals occupying it. This leads to a community of changemakers around the world. Supported by a global network of Faculty and Partners, we connect, inspire, and equip change agents to shift systems, one relationship at a time

 We believe Relationship Matters, from humanity to nature, to the larger whole.

In this episode, Katie talks with Linda Berlot about working with Global Time Spirits. They discuss the types of global time spirits that are showing up, the different ways we deal with these issues on a global scale, working with intercultural teams, and looking through the lens of different cultures. 

Linda Berlot is a human development specialist with more than 19 years of experience in the fields of learning and development,  strategic organizational change and team dynamics with a focus on creating alignment in the organizations she works with.  She is of Italian origin and has been living in the United Arab Emirates and working in the Middle East since 2004. Linda is a Director of Faculty Development at CRR Global. She is the ORSC Partner for the UAE and is currently one of only 19 people globally to hold the license to train and deliver the RSI@work material in-house to corporations.


For over 18 years, CRR Global has accompanied leaders, teams, and practitioners on their journey to build stronger relationships by focusing on the relationship itself, not only the individuals occupying it. This leads to a community of changemakers around the world. Supported by a global network of Faculty and Partners, we connect, inspire, and equip change agents to shift systems, one relationship at a time

 We believe Relationship Matters, from humanity to nature, to the larger whole.