I bring what I believe is a helpful combination of practical experience, original insight and ground-breaking research to the leadership of change. I have personally led change in global organisations such as BBC Worldwide, Gucci Group, PepsiCo and Shell. Across my consulting career I have pioneered two major inquiries into leading change sustainably, which have been extensively published and whose insights inform the reality of organisational transformation around the world. I enjoy spreading these insights about how to lead large complex change by speaking, teaching, and writing in the field. I have authored the Still Moving Field Guide: Change Vitality at your Fingertips (Wiley, 2020) which is a companion to the best-selling Still Moving: How to Lead Mindful Change (Wiley, 2017) and co-authored with Professor Malcolm Higgs Sustaining Change: Leadership That Works (Wiley, 2008). The story of my book Still Moving now inspires the Still Moving change consulting practice where I act as a change coach, or, “Sherpa”, to CEOs and major institutional leaders in all walks of life.

I tend to my own inner source via regular yoga, meditation, art gazing, painting and walks in nature, in particular along the spectacular coastal paths of Southern Cornwall.

Throughout my life, words, language and stories have been the thread that connected my different life experiences: listening to the old stories of sage old people, creating my own stories to build a personal identity, (re-)telling stories to the people in organisations I worked in and with to help them make sense of their experiences and identify patterns so far unnoticed and most importantly help them connect to themselves and each other in discovering the stories they have to tell.

The inspiration, sometimes liberation that comes from people discovering the right words to share their true experience with each other always is a moment of utter fascination for me and holds wonderful potential for new developments.  Supporting this process by carefully noticing what is said and what remains unsaid, at times playing it back to the individuals involved and allowing the struggle that sometimes is needed before the right words fall into place is one of the key elements of my work. As a founding member of Still Moving partnership, I have seen how Still Moving Leadership can access the well of energy, knowledge and spirit that is in those stories – if time and effort is devoted to listening and creating them. In my work with clients, my aspiration is to accompany them individually, as teams and organisations on their journey towards the words and stories that can help them connect on a very fundamental, human level and unleash the strength to move through difficult transitions. Clients say they feel safe in the conditions I create so that they feel able to connect to themselves and others more deeply than they would have thought possible; they say I keep them on the path to new realities gently but firmly; and offering them words and stories to test I open new spaces for understanding the patterns that lie underneath their experiences so that they can address the source of an issue.

By nature I’m inclined towards making connections and looking for patterns, and that leaves me with a sense of wonder about systems, and how they function. I became very interested in complexity theory and chaos in the 90s which gave a much more fascinating explanation about how life works than my original science degree. Still Moving’s first round of research published as ’Sustaining Change’ by Deborah and Malcolm opened my eyes to how these ideas could deepen my practice supporting leaders in their change efforts. Then I came across systemic constellations. This was a soul level discovery. There’s much to learn I believe from the separate fields of family, organisational, and natural systems – and even to combine all these ways of knowing together in the leadership of change. And this is what we do in the Still Moving community. Then a decade later I came across systemic constellations applied in organisations which draws on family systems. This was a soul level discovery. There’s much to learn I believe from the separate fields of family, organisational, and natural systems – and even to combine all these ways of knowing together in the leadership of change. I’ve had the privilege to work as a change agent in a wide range of contexts. From joining up services in the public sector working with senior leaders in Wales, to facilitating school pupils to take leadership and change how their school food system works for better health outcomes, to supporting leaders and their teams in complex change projects across a range of sectors: energy, logistics, retail, defence, luxury goods.

 Most recently training with Regenesis Group in the US, pioneers of 30 years work in regeneration has brought regenerative practice to the heart of my work in organisational and in social change. 

I am particularly interested in how we might bring about a new kind of economy that is more local, circular, more land based, more caring and more socially just.

Phil King is a Leadership and Organisational Development Consultant with a specialism in Change and Change Leadership.

His career has been spent predominantly working in leadership and people development roles within the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare sector. In the last 3 years he has broadened his scope as an Independent Consultant, looking to transform how these team’s engage their people in new and different ways of working.

He has a particular passion for bringing more ‘Soulfulness’ into Leadership and exploring how Leaders can connect, in a more heartfelt way, to the true purpose of their Organisation’s, offering a new energy and momentum to organisational change initiatives.

Encouraging Leaders to explore themselves and the impact of their leadership through the Still Moving lens has allowed him to intentionally bring this work to life in a more accessible and applicable way.

Our own stories influence us strongly: For me, my working-class background as the child of a single mother and living as a migrant between two languages and cultures have given me the ability to deal with new and different things, and have helped me hone my ability to question assumptions, words, images and symbols, as well as to pick up on nuances and patterns and not take things at face value. As a coach and consultant standing at the edge of a team or organisation, I draw on this experience and place it in the service of my clients, helping them move through the liminal discomfort of change. 

I have seen real benefit for leaders, teams and organisations by drawing on Still Moving research findings, linking as they do in a very practical way the inner state of leaders with how they go about the business of change, and embedding that within the dynamics of the organisation. The result is a lasting deepening of leadership skills. 

Clients tell me I am calm and quiet in my manner, knowing when to use creativity and humour to create fruitful and yet challenging conversations that make a difference. 

Originally from the UK, Joey is based in Düsseldorf, Germany.

My sense of purpose is ignited when I am able to offer tangible and meaningful value to clients. This value may come in the form of insights, a fresh way of looking at things or in holding the space for a deeper and richer conversation. 

Michael Thorley is a thoughtful, insightful, compassionate organizational consultant and mindful runner.

For over 25 years he has worked with others to help generate and deepen understanding to generate sustainable systemic change.

He has worked alongside Deborah for over 20 years sharing the wonderful Still Moving journey which feels like “Coming Home”.

He combines his curiosity, experience, and skill with humility to lead inquiry into the bigger questions that crate space for movement.

Clients say that he can encourage and support others to move intentionally to the edge of their experience. He helps build individual and collective capability and responsibility to create different perspectives. From this new perspective new and different choices become available.

He combines his personal beliefs and experience with qualifications in accountancy, therapy, systemic coaching, and coach supervision to create conditions for change.

Michael has a particular interest in mental health and emotional wellbeing. He is actively involved with England Athletics promoting and organising Mindful Running. Michael lives in Cheshire, UK.”

I am currently working as an academic in Southampton University business School and focus on researching and teaching in the areas of Leadership, Change and the impact of individual differences and personalities on the way in which leaders behave. Having moved into academia from a career in business and consulting I am passionate about working on real world challenges and using rigorous research to understand these and produce insights that have practical relevance. It is through this route that I am drawn to working with Still Moving – we share a belief in underpinning our practice with research based insights and that these can help leaders and organisations to deal with the challenges faced in today’s complex environment.

In the course of my work I have increasingly recognised the significance of understanding the impact of complexity when exploring behaviour at work. This leads me to a recognition that we are not going to find any “silver bullets” or template solutions to the “wicked problems” that leaders face. It is important that we use what we know to make sense of the system that we are working in and our place in that system. This is an exciting area for our work and I continue to support Still Moving and their clients in developing our understanding and practice in a way that has a practical impact.

When I came in contact with Deborah in 2020 there was an immediate recognition in the way we go about change processes. For me, being in leadership roles and the field of leadership development and change processes for over 25 years, the insights from the Still Moving research resonated on many levels. The importance of Personal Leadership as starting point and accelerator for successfully leading change. The importance of involving others in the change process and the role of a leader in making sense and creating holding space for all the developments going on at the same time within and around the organization. And above all: the power of the ordering forces in organizations and the use of systemic intelligence in creating powerful interventions that really make a difference.

In working with clients, I bring years of experience in working with leaders in different organizations, both public and private, while at the same time looking with new eyes, valuing the uniqueness of each context and the people involved. My thorough training in systemic work with Jan Jacob Stam, Stephan Hausner and others has brought me a strong ‘fingerspitzengefuhl’ for patterns that hinder or enhance movement in a specific situation. Working with these insights creates lots of joy and a growing compassion for people and the need to see things as they really are (“truth is a turn on”) in order to make a difference.

Annemieke is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

For many clients, Katie Jones is the first point of contact within Still Moving. Her warmth and level-headed manner are appreciated as much as her responsiveness and ability to find straightforward solutions to complicated matters. With her great skills in running smooth processes, sorting logistics and looking at the commercial side of things, she provides the firm ground for most of the Still Moving activities, whether these are client facing or research centered. From her unique vantage point,  she adds invaluable insight to many conversations and decision-making processes and her no-nonsense attitude often is very helpful in rebalancing perspectives. She has been instrumental to the set up of Still Moving and shares a long history with the entity and its predecessors.

 

Of British origin, Katie relocated to France 15 years ago, where she still lives with her family and enjoys the beauty of Dordogne.