When Team Energies Pull in Different Directions: How Constellations Can Bring Clarity and Flow

In every team, especially in times of transition or pressure, energies can begin to diverge. One person pushes forward with urgency. Another holds back with caution. Someone else disengages quietly. The meetings go on, decisions are made, but something underneath feels off. The team’s movement—once fluid—becomes fragmented.

As a coach working with individuals, teams, and leaders, I’ve come to value a tool that may seem unconventional at first: systemic constellations.

Initially used in the context of family systems, this approach has evolved into a powerful lens for understanding what lies beneath the surface of team behavior.

More Than Just a Method—A Way of Seeing

Constellations help us pause and ask:

• What forces are influencing each person's position and behavior within the team?

• What loyalties—conscious or unconscious—might be pulling people in different directions?

• What dynamics remain unspoken, yet shape every meeting, every email, every decision?

  
  

In a constellation, we “map” the system using physical space or symbols, allowing representatives (or even objects) to stand in for team members, roles, goals, or even abstract forces like “fear of failure” or “the missing voice.” Suddenly, what felt vague becomes visible. Patterns emerge. We see how some team members may be carrying the weight of past roles, or how someone might be resisting a current direction out of loyalty to an old identity or departed leader.

Symptoms vs. Root Causes

Too often, organizations try to “fix” surface-level issues—conflict, disengagement, misalignment—without understanding the system that creates them. Constellations help distinguish between symptoms and root causes. What appears as resistance or lack of motivation might be a sign of deeper misplacement in the system. Someone might be stepping into a role that isn’t truly theirs, or there may be an unacknowledged absence or unspoken tension that's quietly shaping the dynamic.

What Emerges Is Not Always What Was Expected

What makes constellations so effective is their ability to evoke insight beyond logic. This is not a tool for rational analysis, but rather one that invites embodied knowing and systemic awareness. In a recent constellation with a leadership team, it became clear that the person who appeared to be "slowing things down" was actually sensing a risk no one else wanted to acknowledge. Naming it allowed the entire team to breathe differently, recalibrate priorities, and move forward with more coherence.

A Quiet, Systemic Leadership Move

As a coach or leader, introducing a constellation into a team conversation can be a subtle yet transformative move. It signals that we’re willing to look beyond roles and tasks into the living web of relationships, emotions, and histories that shape how teams truly function.

When diverging energies stall momentum or create friction, constellations can help realign not just tasks, but trust. They open a space where everyone’s position makes sense, where underlying patterns can be addressed without blame, and where new movement becomes possible—from the inside out.

Questions to Reflect On

• In your team, what are the unseen forces pulling people in different directions?

• What or who might be missing—and how does that absence affect the group?

• Where might a systemic lens reveal fresh understanding or unlock a new path forward?

If this resonates, I invite you to reach out. Whether you’re navigating a specific challenge or simply curious to explore your team’s dynamics through a new lens, I’d be happy to guide the conversation.

—Nachum Katz | Coaching through Complexity