A quick reminder of something many of us love<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There is this moment that everyone who has ever worked with the classic wooden board knows: You pick up a piece. You feel the wood. You place it on the table - and suddenly it's there. This figure. This person. This subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The wooden board has a few properties that no one can take away from it. It is tactile. It is warm. It has something binding, almost ritualistic about it. And it works - for decades, in countless sessions, in therapy rooms, in counseling situations, in coaching and mediation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We started with it. We love it. We would never say it's a bad tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that is precisely why what follows is not a declaration of war. It is an invitation<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the history of many methods, there is a moment when something new is added and does not replace the old, but expands it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That's how it was when the telephone came along and didn't do away with letters - but suddenly made long-distance relationships possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That's how it was when the car came along and didn't make the horse superfluous - but multiplied the radius of movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And so it is now that the virtual system board has been added. It does not replace the wooden board. It opens up a space that the wooden board could not open up by its very nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyone who has ever worked with it often describes it like this: \"It's like switching from a narrow country lane to a six-lane highway - with unlimited access to anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What exactly that means requires a few concrete images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Imagine this: A client sets up her professional system. She stands there herself. There is her boss. There is the team. There is a task that has been dragging on for months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the wooden board, you now look at the tableau from above. You ask, you point, you encourage movement. That works - and it works well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The virtual system board has a function that leaves many coaches speechless on first contact: the Inside view<\/strong>. You choose a character - and see the world through their eyes. Literally. What this character would see if they could see appears on the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Suddenly the client is no longer sitting next to her system. She is inside it. She can see how far away the boss is - and how close the task is. She can see whether the team is looking at her or looking away. She sees something that she has been discussing for weeks - but has never seen before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is not just a nice extra. This is an intervention that goes deep. And it goes deep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In coaching, we often talk about things that are there but that nobody can see. Loyalty to someone who is no longer part of your active life. A role that someone shares without really having taken it on. An expectation that hangs in the air without ever having been expressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can place a figure on the wooden board - and it will be just as present as all the others. This is a powerful method. But it has a limit: what seems invisible becomes visible like everything else the moment you present it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The virtual system board offers a subtle but effective option here: Transparent figures<\/strong>. You can bring a figure into the picture - and let it shine through at the same time. So it is there without being in the foreground. It makes an impact without dominating. It is present without filling the space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Exactly how these topics often work in real life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the moment comes in the course of the session when the client discovers this transparent figure, perceives it, turns to it - then things often happen that would never have happened in a purely verbal conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Imagine you are working with a client on a topic. You have an impressive session. A constellation that has moved a lot. At the end of the session, you clear away the wooden board, the pieces go back into the box and the picture - this whole, dense, meaningful picture - is gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It remains with the virtual system board. You save the list. You open it again in the next session. And after three weeks or two months, you are both back exactly where you left off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This fundamentally changes the quality of consulting processes. It's no longer about remembering the last session. You see them again. You see the shift when the client moves a figure. You can see what has changed since the last time - and what hasn't.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And another thing: the figures have their own names. With the wooden board, you had to remember which piece stood for whom. With the virtual system board, it's easy to read. Immediately, at any time, even weeks later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the most remarkable changes happens outside the actual session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the wooden board, the work ends when the client leaves the room. What remains is the memory - with everything that memory has to offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the virtual system board, the client can take the session with them. They can look it up. He can move a figure if he notices something between two sessions. They can place a new question on the existing picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This shifts something fundamental: Coaching becomes a process that continues, even if the coach and client are not sitting in the same room. And for people who process a lot between appointments, this is a gift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In all of this, it is important to say what the wooden board can do that no screen in the world can replicate:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is tangible. It is warm. It has a weight in your hand. It creates a special kind of commitment because you have to bend, stretch, really reach for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For many clients - especially in certain settings - this is exactly the right form. There are topics that need wood. There are people who need the wood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We would never claim that one replaces the other. But we would say - with the experience of years and thousands of sessions behind us - that the possibilities offered by the virtual system board are an enhancement that no one who has experienced it would want to do without.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The virtual system board really comes into its own in certain situations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Methods evolve. The wooden board was once a bold innovation - back when someone first said: \u201eLet's not just discuss this. Let's put this up.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n The virtual system board is the next door in the same row. And anyone who has ever walked through it knows that it is not cramped behind it. On the contrary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is far. And it is bright. And it leads everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you haven't tried it yet - do yourself a favor. One hour is often enough to feel what we have tried to describe here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The door that suddenly opened<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Image 1: Seeing through the eyes of a figure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Image 2: Making visible what is invisible<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Image 3: A line-up that goes with you<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Figure 4: Self-coaching between sessions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What the wooden board can - and always will be able to do<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What this is particularly worthwhile for<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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One last thought<\/h2>\n\n\n\n