Systemic coaching and AVGS coaching What they are and how the two fit together

How the terms differ

So you do not have to choose between the two. You can have systemic coaching paid for with an AVGS or pay for it yourself. In the first case it is called AVGS coaching; the way of working stays the same.

What is systemic coaching?

Systemic means: a person does not live in isolation but within connections. Your job, your team, your family, your plans and your habits are connected and influence one another. That is why a systemic coach looks not only at you but at this whole web.

The approach comes from systemic counselling and therapy and from systems theory. In working life it is used to clarify decisions and plan changes.

Four core ideas

• 1

  You in context

  Work, surroundings and life situation belong together. We ask what is at work around you, not just what is going on inside you.

• 2

  Questions instead of advice

  A coach does not deliver a ready-made solution. They ask questions that open up new perspectives on your topic.

• 3

  What already works

  We look for exceptions, strengths and small steps forward instead of staying with the problem.

• 4

  You decide

  You set the goal. The coach accompanies the journey and leaves the decision to you.

Typical questions

Coaching involves a lot of questions. This is what such questions can sound like:

• Goal question

  “How would you notice that something has changed for the better?”

• Scaling question

  “On a scale from 0 to 10: where are you today, and what would be one small step further?”

• Perspective question

  “What would someone who knows you well advise you to do in this situation?”

• Consequence question

  “What happens if everything stays as it is?”

How a session works

1. 1

   Clarify your concern

   What is your topic, and what should be different at the end?

2. 2

   Widen the view

   What other viewpoints, people involved and possibilities are there?

3. 3

   Weigh the options

   What suits you, and what would the consequences of each option be?

4. 4

   Agree on the next step

   What will you do before the next session?

Please note: Systemic coaching is not psychotherapy and does not replace medical or therapeutic treatment. Nor is it legal, tax or social welfare advice. In a mental health crisis, please turn to professionals.

Where systemic coaching comes from

From family therapy to the world of work

Systemic coaching has its roots in family therapy. From the 1950s onwards, practitioners in many places began not only to talk to a single person but to involve the people close to them. This showed that behaviour which seems puzzling on its own often becomes understandable once you know the context in which it arises.

Important places in this development were the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto (California), founded in 1959, where Gregory Bateson and Paul Watzlawick, among others, worked. Watzlawick is the source of the well-known sentence “One cannot not communicate”. In Milan, a team around Mara Selvini Palazzoli developed methods that are still part of the craft today, such as working with hypotheses and circular questioning. In Heidelberg, Helm Stierlin built up a group from 1974 onwards that strongly shaped systemic thinking in the German-speaking world. In Milwaukee, Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg founded a centre in 1978 from which the solution-focused approach emerged.

In the 1970s and 1980s, systemic thinking spread into other fields: counselling, supervision, team development and organisational consulting. Systemic coaching is part of this development.

The theory behind it, briefly explained

Three ideas help explain why a systemic coach works differently from someone who mainly gives advice.

People live in systems. A system is a network of people and relationships that influence one another: your team, your family, the job market you move in. The sociologist Niklas Luhmann described social systems as consisting of communication. If one part changes, the whole moves with it.

Every person builds their own picture of reality. Constructivism, represented among others by Heinz von Foerster and Ernst von Glasersfeld, assumes that we do not simply depict the world but interpret it. A picture of the situation is good if it helps you go your way. So there is no single correct view that a coach could hand you.

Systems shape themselves. The biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela called this autopoiesis: living systems maintain and renew themselves from within. From the outside you can stimulate, but not determine. In addition, whoever observes is part of what happens. Von Foerster spoke of second-order cybernetics. A coach, too, looks through their own lens.

This gives rise to the way of working: a systemic coach mainly asks questions that open up new perspectives instead of telling you what to do. The solution comes from you, because only you know your life from the inside.

Key terms in one sentence

• Context: A concern is always considered in context, that is, together with role, surroundings and life situation.
• Interaction instead of blame: Instead of searching for the one cause, you look together at patterns in which people influence one another.
• Resources and solutions: The focus is on what already works, and on exceptions when the problem was smaller.
• Multi-partiality: The coach does not decide who is right and meets the views of people who are not in the room with curiosity, too.
• Hypotheses: Provisional assumptions that keep the conversation flexible. They are tested and may be discarded again.
• Circular questions: Questions about how others see things, for example: “How would your colleague notice that you are doing better?”
• Miracle question: It comes from the Milwaukee team around de Shazer and Berg: “Imagine a miracle happens overnight and your concern is resolved. What is the first thing you notice tomorrow morning?”
• Reframing: A situation is given a new frame and thus a new meaning, without the facts changing.
• Clarifying the assignment: At the start you clarify together what it should be about, what should be different at the end and who else has expectations.
• You are the expert on your life: The coach looks after the course of the conversation. The decisions remain yours.

Who describes systemic coaching

In Germany, two professional associations set the standards for systemic training: the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Systemische Therapie, Beratung und Familientherapie (DGSF) and the Systemische Gesellschaft (SG). The DGSF writes: “The aim of systemic coaching is to expand the options for decision-making and action […].” The stance, it says, is “dialogical, resource-oriented and context-sensitive”.

Sources: Systemische Gesellschaft: Der systemische Ansatz und seine Praxisfelder (brochure); DGSF: Systemische Beratungsformate in der Arbeitswelt; Mental Research Institute: About

What is AVGS coaching?

AVGS stands for Aktivierungs- und Vermittlungsgutschein (activation and placement voucher). It is a certificate from the Agentur für Arbeit or the Jobcenter stating that you can receive funding for a measure that supports your job search, for example one-to-one coaching. With the voucher you choose an approved provider, and the authority covers the costs. AVGS coaching is therefore coaching that is paid for with this voucher.

• €0for you, with an approved voucher
• Scopeset by your placement advisor in the voucher, in teaching units of 45 minutes each
• Onlineby video and nationwide, if the voucher says so

Who gets an AVGS?

Please note: Whether you get a voucher is at the discretion of your placement advisor. There is no legal entitlement to a voucher for coaching.

Five steps to coaching

1. 1

   Meeting at the Agentur or Jobcenter

   Register as unemployed or as a jobseeker and actively ask your placement advisor for an AVGS for one-to-one coaching. It will not be offered automatically.

2. 2

   Voucher with goal, content and duration

   The advisor determines what the voucher is valid for. There must be a recognisable link to the job market.

3. 3

   Choose your coach freely

   You choose an approved provider. The advisor may not recommend a particular one.

4. 4

   Hand in the voucher before you start

   The original must reach the Agentur before the start. Coaching only begins after approval; nothing is covered retroactively.

5. 5

   Coaching begins

   The costs go directly to the provider. You pay nothing.

What the voucher should say

• One-to-one coaching. as the type of measure
• Goal and content. matching what you want to achieve
• Scope. in teaching units of 45 minutes each
• Online and nationwide. instead of just your region, otherwise an online coach becomes difficult
• Valid until. the coaching must begin before it expires

Handout to take with you (PDF)AVGS check: could a voucher be an option for you?How to applyMore about the AVGS voucher

Sources: § 45 SGB III: Maßnahmen zur Aktivierung und beruflichen Eingliederung (legal text); Bundesagentur für Arbeit: Fachliche Weisungen zu § 45 SGB III, Maßnahmen bei einem Träger (as of 01.12.2025)

The legal framework

Who issues the voucher

If you are unemployed or at risk of unemployment, the Agentur für Arbeit issues the activation and placement voucher (AVGS). If you receive Grundsicherungsgeld (basic income support, called Bürgergeld until June 2026), the Jobcenter is responsible. The same rules apply (§ 45 SGB III, at the Jobcenter via § 16 SGB II).

The Agentur decides case by case

There is no fixed entitlement to a voucher for coaching. The law says the Agentur “may” issue one. It checks whether the coaching will significantly improve your chances of finding work and takes your personal situation into account. A legal entitlement exists only for the voucher for private job placement: if you receive unemployment benefit (Arbeitslosengeld) and, after six weeks of unemployment, have still not been placed within three months (§ 45 (7) SGB III). You do, however, have the right to have your request properly examined and weighed up (§ 39 SGB I).

Since 1 July 2026, the Jobcenter has been expressly bound by the priority of job placement (§ 3a SGB II). There, coaching comes into question mainly if it promises more for lasting employment than direct placement. The law names this exception specifically for people under 30.

What the voucher says

In the voucher, your advisor sets out the goal, content and duration of the coaching. The voucher is only valid until a certain date, and the coaching must begin by then. It may also be restricted to a region.

You choose the provider yourself

With the voucher you choose the provider yourself. The Agentur and the Jobcenter may not recommend a particular provider to you, because they must remain neutral. You can find approved offers in the Federal Employment Agency's AVGS search (arbeitsagentur.de/avgs).

Only approved providers and measures

You can only redeem the voucher with a provider that is approved, and only for a measure that is also approved. Both are checked by an expert body (fachkundige Stelle), which in turn is accredited by the German Accreditation Body (DAkkS) (§§ 176 to 179 SGB III, AZAV). A coach can also work under the umbrella of an approved provider. Before the coaching begins, you receive a notice that your participation has been approved. If the Agentur rejects a particular provider, your voucher remains valid and you can choose another one.

Costs

With an approved AVGS, the Agentur or the Jobcenter pays the costs of the coaching directly to the provider. Necessary costs you incur by taking part, for example travel costs, can be reimbursed on application.

What the Agentur or the Jobcenter learns

The provider is legally obliged to report your days of absence and the reasons for them every month, and to report immediately if you do not start or if you drop out. It also sends a report on your participation, and you must allow the provider to assess your performance and conduct (§ 318 SGB III, § 61 SGB II). Your advisor then discusses this report with you. The Agentur and the Jobcenter must protect your data as social data (§ 35 SGB I).

Coaching is not therapy

Coaching is not psychotherapy. Anyone who is not a doctor and wants to diagnose, cure or alleviate illnesses needs a state licence (§ 1 Heilpraktikergesetz). The professional title “Psychotherapeut” (psychotherapist) is tied to a state licence to practise (Approbation) (§ 1 Psychotherapeutengesetz). No therapeutic content may be funded through the AVGS either. If health issues are in the foreground, the Agentur will refer you to the responsible body, such as your health insurance fund.

If something goes wrong

If the Agentur or the Jobcenter rejects your application, you can lodge an objection (Widerspruch) within one month of being notified (§ 84 SGG). If you were only told of the rejection verbally, you can ask for written confirmation (§ 33 SGB X). If you drop out of approved coaching without good reason, there may be consequences: a suspension period (Sperrzeit) for unemployment benefit, or a reduction for Grundsicherungsgeld (§ 159 SGB III, § 31 SGB II). If you fall ill, let the provider and the Agentur know immediately.

Please note: This overview is not a substitute for legal advice. The decision notice from your Agentur or Jobcenter is what is binding in your case.

Sources: § 45 SGB III: Maßnahmen zur Aktivierung und beruflichen Eingliederung (legal text); § 16 SGB II: Leistungen zur Eingliederung (legal text); Bundesagentur für Arbeit: Fachliche Weisungen zu § 45 SGB III, Maßnahmen bei einem Träger (as of 01.12.2025); Bundesagentur für Arbeit: Fachliche Weisungen zu § 16 Abs. 1 SGB II i. V. m. § 45 SGB III, Maßnahmen bei einem Träger (as of 02.06.2026); § 3a SGB II: Vorrang der Vermittlung (legal text); § 39 SGB I: Ermessensleistungen (legal text); §§ 176 bis 179 SGB III: Zulassung von Trägern und Maßnahmen (legal text); Akkreditierungs- und Zulassungsverordnung Arbeitsförderung (AZAV); § 318 SGB III: Auskunftspflicht bei Maßnahmen der Arbeitsförderung (legal text); § 61 SGB II: Auskunftspflichten bei Leistungen zur Eingliederung (legal text); § 35 SGB I: Sozialgeheimnis (legal text); § 1 Heilpraktikergesetz (legal text); § 1 Psychotherapeutengesetz (legal text); § 84 Sozialgerichtsgesetz: Widerspruchsfrist (legal text); § 33 SGB X: Bestimmtheit und Form des Verwaltungsaktes (legal text); § 159 SGB III: Sperrzeit (legal text); § 31 SGB II: Pflichtverletzungen (legal text)

AVGS coaching and self-funded coaching

The way the sessions work is the same in both cases. The differences lie in payment and framework: