Gestalt Africa is a training and experiential learning organisation established in 2021 by five colleagues with deep experience in the teaching and application of Gestalt in organisations, and great passion for the African continent. Our mission is to develop a generation of leaders who have the inspiration, confidence, and tools, to bring about meaningful change on the continent.
One of our core beliefs is that individual and organisational effectiveness require attention to be paid to not only the strategic/technical elements of work, but also to the relational, or human dynamics. Gestalt provides a frame to attend to both these aspects, supporting individuals to become more aware of process (how work is being done, not just what work is being done) and in so doing, opening space for new and different action.
We are located in South Africa and Ghana and we offer training opportunities throughout the continent, both online and in person. Broadly, we…
Gestalt provides simple, theoretically sound models to support artful navigation of professional and personal life. Central to our teaching is the cycle of experience, which teaches that through deeper awareness we can mobilise energy for sustainable action, leading to more satisfactory outcomes as we progress through the world.
Chantelle, a Director of Baobab Consulting & Training, is a South African facilitator and coach with a background in community capacity building, training and consulting in socio-economic development. Her major focus is leadership development (training, facilitating, coaching) using Gestalt and Emotional Intelligence. She began her journey with Gestalt in 1995 and has trained with the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland, Ohio, and the Gestalt International Study Centre, Cape Cod. She is on the faculty of the International Gestalt Organization and Leadership Development Program (iGOLD) offered by the iGOLD Center (see www.gestaltod.org), and has taught coaching skills on the coaching programs of three South African business schools. She has been instrumental in (re)introducing Gestalt training in South Africa. She is also an associate of the Teleos Leadership Institute (Philadelphia, USA).
John is an Organisation and Leadership Development expert and a Development Planning and Management consultant. He has worked as an international consultant, trainer and process facilitator in Africa and Europe for more than 30 years, for clients including GIZ, DFID, World Bank, UNICEF, SNV and IBM. He was a faculty member of the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland IOSD programme, and is currently a Partner of the iGOLD Centre GestaltOD Partners registered in USA, that offers the International Organisation and Leadership Development (iGOLD) programme. He has been an executive coach to leaders in the public sector, corporate and non-profit sectors in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, UK, Hungary, Ukraine, ECOWAS and AU Commission. John’s professional experience covers diverse fields including peace and security, governance, agriculture and natural resource management, diversity, equity & inclusion, public financial management, organisation development and change management, project cycle management, monitoring, evaluation and learning, and behaviour change communication.
A Director of Distillery Consulting, Jeremy is fascinated by the human condition and the multifaceted ways in which humans engage with each other. He trained as a city and regional planner, cut his teeth in local government, and has spent much of his career exploring that factors that get in the way of great plans being implemented. He loves looking at issues from different attitudes and altitudes. He’s worked for, and consulted to, all three spheres of the South African public service. He serves on the faculty of the International Gestalt Organization and Leadership Development Program (iGOLD) and the faculty of GIBS’s Facilitation for High Performing Teams where he teaches a module on “Facilitation in Complex Systems”.
Ato Kwamina Nkum is an Organization Development Consultant with several years’ experience in facilitating organizational change towards increased effectiveness using systems thinking and other organization development methodologies. He has co-facilitated OD interventions, multi-stakeholder dialogue, strategic planning, implementation design and training workshops for clients in Ghana and internationally for the public, private and non- government organizations. He holds a practitioner certificate from the internationally recognized International Gestalt Organisation and Leadership International Gestalt Organization and Leadership Development Program (iGOLD).
Michael is a Director of Distillery Consulting. He spent the first 10 years of his career in the private sector, working in the UK and Southeast Asia before returning to South Africa to pursue an interest in psychology. He decided not to complete his clinical training, but human behaviour – and the forces that guide and shape it – remains his principal interest. He worked on organisational development projects in the private sector before joining National Treasury, where he worked for 8 years before leaving to establish Distillery. He is a certified coach and has completed a number of Gestalt related courses, including the prestigious International Gestalt Organization and Leadership Development Program (iGOLD).
A 2 day introductory programme that covers the fundamentals of Gestalt in organisations, introduces four primary roles (being, reflecting, theorising, acting), and provides opportunity to practice skills in these areas.
These are 1 or 2 day events covering specific topics, e.g. Working with Resistance, Gestalt Facilitation Skills, and Flourishing in/with Complexity. Add some more copy here to make this section similar in length to the other 2 or shorten the other two.
A 3 week residential programme which takes place over 12 months in 3 different countries on the continent. This intensive Pan-African programme immerses participants in Gestalt organisational and leadership approaches.