Guide
How to run a constellation on a board
Six steps, in order. The first four take a few minutes. The fifth is where the work happens, and it is worth repeating. The sixth is what your client takes home.
Do these in order. Resist the urge to interpret before step four.
Name the system
Decide together what you are looking at, and say it out loud. "Your team" and "your team plus the two stakeholders who keep changing the brief" are different systems and will produce different boards. One system at a time. If the client names three, ask which one is loudest today.
Choose the figures
One figure for each element that belongs in the system. Let the client pick shape and color; the choice is already information. Remind them that a figure can stand for something that is not a person: a rule, a deadline, an absent parent, the company's founding story, their own doubt. Include a figure for the client themselves.
Place them
Ask them to place the figures so it feels right, not so it is accurate. Say as little as possible while they do it. If they start explaining, say "place first, we will talk after". Explanation during placement turns the board into a diagram of what they already believe.
Look at what is there
Now describe, do not interpret. "Two figures are facing away from the middle." "This one is much further out than the rest." Then ask. Circular questions are the strongest move here: "If your colleague could see this, what would she say about that distance?" You are asking the board to talk back.
Move one thing
Change a single position and stop. Ask what that does to everyone else. Then put it back, or leave it, and change something else. This is the step that separates a constellation from a drawing, and most sessions should do it three or four times. Small moves reveal more than dramatic ones.
Say what changed
Compare the first arrangement to the last, out loud. "At the start you had yourself facing the wall. Now you are turned toward the team and the deadline has moved back." Ask what would have to be true off the board for that to hold. That sentence is usually the result of the session.
Four mistakes that flatten a constellation
- Interpreting before step four. The moment you say what an arrangement means, the client stops discovering and starts agreeing.
- Moving a figure yourself. The board belongs to the client. If you want something moved, ask what would happen if it were, and let them decide whether to do it.
- Too many figures. Above roughly eight, the board stops showing a system and starts showing a crowd. If everything matters, ask which three matter most today.
- Stopping at the pretty picture. A rearranged board that nobody has put into words is a nice hour with nothing to take away. Step six is not optional.
What to do when the client gets stuck
| What you see | What to try |
|---|---|
| Everything placed in a neat row | Ask them to place it again, this time with their eyes on the figures rather than on you. |
| "I do not know where to put this one" | Put it far outside the group for now and come back to it. Not knowing where something belongs is itself the finding. |
| Client describes instead of placing | Hand them the next figure mid sentence. The hands often know before the words do. |
| Nothing changes when you move a figure | The system may be missing an element. Ask who else has a stake in this that is not on the board. |
| Strong emotion appears | Slow down and stay with the board rather than the story. If it is clearly therapeutic material, name that and stop. |
Working online
The steps are the same. Two things change. Share your screen and let the client direct you, or let them place the figures themselves and keep your hands off. And say more out loud than you would in a room, because you cannot see their hands hesitate over a figure.
One thing worth saying at the start
Tell the client the board is their picture, not a test, and that there is no correct arrangement. It sounds obvious and it visibly changes how people place the first three figures.
- How long does a constellation on a board take? ▾
- Placing the figures takes a few minutes. The conversation that follows usually runs twenty to forty minutes for one system. A full session with two arrangements and a comparison fits comfortably in an hour.
- Should the coach or the client place the figures? ▾
- The client, wherever possible. The hands should belong to the person whose system it is. If the client cannot drive the software, place exactly what you are told and nothing more.
- How many figures should a board have? ▾
- Usually between four and eight. Above roughly eight the board stops showing a system and starts showing a crowd. If everything seems to matter, ask which three matter most today.
- What if nothing changes when a figure is moved? ▾
- The system is probably missing an element. Ask who else has a stake in this who is not on the board, including things that are not people such as a rule, a deadline or an absent person.
Try it on your own situation
Free, no account, and nothing is uploaded. Place a few figures and see what the distances tell you.
