Photo Festineuch, Neuchâtel, Switzerland – Pierik Falco
Who am I?
I came to systemic coaching after 25 years of being a professional musician and a teacher. I have Bachelors and Masters degrees in English Literature, and a lifetime’s worth of navigating different cultures and languages, from a childhood in southern Africa to now 12 years in Berlin, via French and English Canada.
I’m a qualfied Systemic Coach. I completed my training at the Artop Institute (Humboldt University) here in Berlin. I can accompany you on a path of exploratory questions that look at questions or issues you have. My goal is to help trigger insights and help come up with possible strategies to deal with them. I intentionally don’t have any “inspirational” wall quotes, or flowery academic-sounding phrases, or complex descriptions to explain what I do here because it’s not about promoting myself. It’s about creating a safe space for you in which you can explore.
Please have a quick read through the interview role-play below. I hope this will answer any questions you might have.
And since you are already here and reading this on my website, I encourage you to reach out and contact me. We can have a free introductory consultation of 20 minutes to see if this is the right direction for you.
I look forward to getting to know you!
Home in Berlin
Hiking with my kids in the Alps Vanoises, France
Night time paddle in Magliaso, Switzerland
An interview with myself
To put it simply, through my training at the Artop Institute (Humboldt University) in Berlin, I learned and practiced methods that have a single goal – to help the coachee find the answers to their own questions. Rather than only looking at your goals and actions, a systemic coach looks at the deeper patterns that shape you in the context of the systems you are a part of – your creative community, your relationships, your history, and your identity. By going beyond the surface of you in your world, the goal is to find a path that leads to more sustainable and meaningful change.
To be clear, I am not a consultant who will suggest what someone should do. I am also not a therapist – I am only trained to work with people who still have the emotional resources to work through the question at hand. I accompany the person on a joint adventure of exploration and questioning in a safe and confidential environment.
That’s a valid question. Maybe you don’t have to. But if you still find yourself, even after talking to friends and family, in a position of blurriness and possessing a level of inactivity or passiveness that frustrates you, maybe it’s time to try a different approach. Sometimes we need a bit of help to correct the direction of our inner compass.
A session would be a very conversational and collaborative process in which we would together dive deeper into your question in a variety of ways, such as circular questioning to help illuminate different perspectives; use role plays to explore difficult social situations; use problem and solution driven approaches to highlight from where you’ve come and where you want to go; or use mapping or visual aids to better understand the system in which you live and work. These are just a few of the possibilities, but the process is fundamentally a joint venture between myself and you.
If you are looking for advice or feedback related to the worlds of the music industry or language education, then I will gladly share my thoughts based on my 25 years of experience in both of these fields. But then I would clearly state that I am now taking off my “coaching” hat and putting on my “consultant” one.
This is a valid question. My personal story and professional careers directly relate to intercultural relationships, musicians of any genre or stage of their careers, as well as people who work in language education. But the Systemic Coaching approach does not necessitate that I know the intimate details of the coachee’s career. Although those can help with the understanding of context, the underlying issues that all human beings face, based on my own experience, are part of the same pool. So the quick answer is: yes, absolutely!
Yes, I give songwriting, arrangement, and lyric writing workshops as well, in groups or one-to-one. I’m currently a songwriting and voice instructor at Babelsberg University, Potsdam in the Konrad Wolf Theatre Department, for example, and also give yearly workshops at the Gustav Academy in Fribourg, Switzerland for young and aspiring musicians.
No, unfortunately I don’t. It’s been my dream since I was a boy to go there, though. I remember dreaming about roaming its vast open spaces as a kid in Eswatini drooling over a geography book. Yes, I was that kind of kid. However, I can coach in English (mother tongue), French, and German (I have a B2 level in German, so with a bit of Dinglish, it works quite well. The coachee can feel at ease speaking only in German).
Please contact me and we can discuss the fee. I want to make my services accessible to people in general, and specifically to young artists. I wish I had had access to such a service when I was starting out:)
Backcountry canoe trip on the West Coast of British Columbia, Canada
Do any of these questions apply to you?
I’m not sure where to go with my career
I feel overwhelmed by the industry I’m in
I’m frustrated because I can’t seem to achieve what I want to achieve
I’m stuck between a few options and I don’t know what to do
I’m not sure how I can focus on what matters to me the most
I feel lost
I’m having constant problems with my boss / colleagues
I find myself questioning my place in the world today
I seem to always have problems working with people
I tend to do and choose things that aren’t in the end good for me
If any of these apply to you, contact me and we’ll see what we can do to help you with it!
Berlin
Contact
Please contact me here by email for an introductory session. Online or in person appointments are possible: markberube@gmail.com
markberube.com 