Systemic staff consultation in staffed accommodation: what do we mean by systemic? what do we mean by working systemically?

Mark Haydon-Laurelut, Diane Bissmire & Helen Hall pick up the themes of using questions and hypotheses in consultation to staff and management of residential accommodation. They provide a general introduction to systemic thinking including appreciative inquiry and then apply the ways of working to the context of a Community Learning Disability Service. Readers might best take the article as a worked example of explaining systemic approach to other professionals and managers. It could also be a useful template for others who need to convince colleagues of the value of a systemic approach, while giving them the experience of how positive it can be.