How Systems Intelligence Can Heal the Way We Lead with Marita Fridjhon
- chri116
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
Summary:
This week on The UpLevel Podcast, join us for a transformative episode as we welcome Marita Fridjhon, Co-Founder and CEO of CRR Global and one of the original architects of Relationship Systems Intelligence (RSI), a framework that has reshaped how leaders, teams, and organizations across the globe connect, collaborate, and evolve.
For over two decades, Marita has guided leaders from Google, NASA, UNICEF, and Harvard to access the collective wisdom of their systems, showing that leadership doesn’t live in individuals but in the spaces between us.
Born and raised in apartheid-era South Africa, Marita’s early experiences with injustice sparked a lifelong dedication to creating connection where there is conflict and community where there is fragmentation.
We’ll explore what it truly means to live and lead in right relationship with our teams, our partners, our communities, and the wider web of life itself.
In This Episode:
A practice rooted in the wisdom of “all our relations,” reminding us that leadership is relational, not transactional
Why organizations thrive when leaders slow down, listen deeply, and invite every voice, including the unseen
How emotional intelligence expands when we honor the whole system, not just the parts
Lessons from love, loss, and leaning into another’s journey without trying to fix it
How recognizing even small wins replenishes teams, families, and movements alike
Order of Topics:
The Origin Story of Right Relationship
Indigenous Roots and All Our Relations
Witnessing and Emotional Intelligence
Practices for Repairing and Aligning Right Relationships
The Skill of Rehearsal and Internal Reflection
The Power of Witnessing and Sacred Alliances
Caregiving, Personal Mountains, and Human Development
Navigating Major Transitions and Organizational Wisdom
Relationship Matters in Teams and Organizations
Systems Perspective: Evolution, Roles, and Leadership
Organizational Structures, Field Theory, and Parallel Process
Celebration, Recognition, and Relationship Coaching
Reflections on Personal Evolution and Legacy
The Intelligence of the System and Power of Community
Connection and Community Building
Prayer for Right Relationship
Action Items:
Slow Down to Connect
Before engaging in conversations or meetings, take a moment to pause and reflect.
Practice “rehearsal”: sit quietly, notice your inner thoughts and feelings, and choose which parts of yourself should show up.
Witness Others Without Judgment
In any interaction—personal or professional—focus on truly seeing others beyond their roles or achievements.
Replace judgment with curiosity; offer presence rather than solutions.
Expand Your Circle of Relations
Remember that right relationship is not just about people—it includes animals, nature, community, and even organizations.
Make conscious efforts to appreciate all relations in your environment each day (a smile for a stranger counts!).
Practice the RSI Model Daily - Break down interactions using this four-step process:
Slow down and meet people where they are—not where you want them to be.
Reveal: Create space for honest sharing; ask open-ended questions like “What’s really present for you?”
Align: Find common ground based on what’s been shared.
Act: Take action rooted in true alignment—not rushed decisions.
Celebrate Small Wins & Recognize Achievements
Regularly acknowledge progress within teams—even small steps forward boost morale and energy.
Offer positive feedback often; amplify appreciation as an antidote to burnout.
Honor All Voices in Systems & Teams
Use exercises like having team members “speak as the system” (e.g., representing collective wisdom) during meetings.
Encourage leaders—and yourself—to admit when you don’t know something; invite input from everyone affected by decisions.
Distinguish Caregiving From Fixing
When supporting someone through a challenge (illness, grief), focus on being present rather than trying to fix their situation.
Respect personal boundaries: honor whose “mountain” belongs to whom.
Integrate Indigenous Wisdom into Everyday Life
Adopt holistic practices such as considering how your actions affect not just individuals but the whole community/field around you (“all our relations”).
Build Relational Currency at Work & Home
Remember: “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”
Make relational dialogue central—from living room conversations to boardroom strategies.
Invest in Vertical Development Through Adversity
Recognize that hardship deepens understanding of relationships more than formal training does—reflect on challenges as opportunities for growth instead of setbacks.
Simple Actions You Can Start Today
Appreciate one person outside your usual circle daily
Pause before responding/reacting during conflict
Celebrate completion of tasks—even minor ones—with genuine recognition
Hold space for someone else’s story without offering advice
About Marita:
Marita Fridjhon
ORSCC, ESIA, ICF-PCC, MSW
Co-Creator of Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSCTM)
Co-Founder of CRR Global / Chief Product Innovation & Faculty Oversight Officer
Marita Fridjhon is co-founder of CRR Global and mentor to an ever-growing community of practitioners in the field of relationship systems work. A co-creator of the world-recognized Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSCTM) program, she designs curriculum and training programs for coaches, executives and teams. Marita invites us to unlock the potential of systems-inspired evolution, using thought leadership that shifts the paradigm from the individual to the interdependent.
Over two decades ago, Marita and co-founder Faith Fuller developed the simple yet
revolutionary idea of Relationship Systems Intelligence (RSITM)—that leadership lives in the whole system rather than individuals, and that each system has a personality and intelligence of its own. Coaches and leaders around the globe now wield the ORSC skillset, taking team coaching competencies into government, non-profits and corporate contexts including Nova Nordisk, IBM, Boeing, UNICEF, Harvard University, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Cisco, Google, Salesforce, and Kaiser Permanente.
Growing up in South Africa, Marita was deeply aware of and actively campaigned against social injustice. She realized that even the most dedicated individual cannot achieve systemic change alone, that hearing all voices matters, and that developing connection within teams and systems supports us in tackling the most complex of problems. Working in collaboration with an international team at CRR Global, Marita excels in supporting client systems to uncover systems-inspired solutions from the collective wisdom of the larger whole. Her commitment is to be a systems-inspired leader, leveraging differences and creative conversation, collaborating to resolve conflict, and empowering teams to call forth transformation from the system itself.
Experience & Education
Marita is an accredited coach and trained therapist with degrees in social work and medical social work. She completed her training in psychiatric social work before acquiring qualifications in process work, alternative dispute resolution, coaching and team coaching. She is an accredited coach supervisor. Marita has led initiatives for systemic change in South Africa, the British West Indies, United Kingdom, Brazil and the United States. In the company of her colleagues, global partners and faculty at CRR Global, she has trained and supported collaborative change in Egypt during the Arab Spring, Japan during the tsunami crises, in Israel, Turkey and in other significant moments of social and political upheaval. Globally recognized as a thought leader in relationship systems coaching and leadership, Marita has served as a keynote speaker for the International Coaching Federation, the Organization Development Network, Scrum Academy. and others. Marita appears at leadership conferences, in human potential summits and in virtual speaking engagements for audiences around the World. Marita is co-author of “Systems Inspired Leadership” and “Creating Intelligent Teams.“
Book links:
Systems-Inspired Leadership: https://crrglobal.com/book/systems-inspired-leadership/
Creating Intelligent Teams: https://crrglobal.com/book/creating-intelligent-teams/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRRGlobal
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crrglobal/
Website: https://crrglobal.com
Personal
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maritafridjhon/
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