The Institute's history

The Institute for Systemic Leadership was set up in 2011 by the independent OD consulting practice Prometheus Consulting founded in 1991 by William Tate.

Legally, the Institute remains wholly owned by Prometheus Consulting. But all our work has now been brought to together under the Institute’s systemic leadership brand.

It had become apparent that organisation development activity and coaching were increasingly being informed by the discipline of Systems Thinking. This trend was reshaping the study and practice of leadership. It was also becoming apparent that Systems Thinking itself was being transformed by complexity science, so-called ‘wicked problems’, and non-linear causality i.e. getting away from ‘A causes B, and the correct response is therefore ….

These developments and realisations were challenging the basis of many HR and OD interventions such as performance management.