Our approach

We work alongside leaders, teams and organisations as they navigate change and organisational life.

Tavistock Consulting is a specialist organisational consultancy working with leaders, teams and organisations. Our systems-psychodynamic approach brings together systems thinking, group relations and psychoanalytic thinking to consider both organisational structures and processes and the human dynamics within them.

What is a systems-psychodynamic approach?

Systems psychodynamics is a way of understanding organisations that looks at how structures, roles and tasks interact with the emotional and often unconscious life of the people and groups within them. It brings together three overlapping frameworks of thinking:

Systems thinking considers the organisation as an interconnected system, paying attention to its purpose and task, roles, boundaries and authority, and to the wider environment in which it operates.
Group relations helps us understand what happens when people work together in groups, including roles, group dynamics and shared assumptions that support the task or get in its way.
Psychoanalytic thinking brings attention to the emotional and unconscious aspects of organisational life, including how people relate to one another and how these less conscious dynamics influence leadership, relationships and responses.

Bringing these frameworks together allows us to consider different aspects of organisational life and how they connect, whether we are working with an individual, a team or a whole organisation. Rather than providing a single explanation, the approach supports enquiry, helping us develop and test hypotheses and deepen our understanding of what may be happening.

How does systems-psychodynamic thinking inform our work?

Systems-psychodynamic thinking helps us engage with the full complexity of organisational life. We pay attention to the emotional and less conscious aspects of organisations alongside their structures, processes and wider context. This shapes what we notice, the questions we ask and how we make sense of what is happening with you.

By connecting what is happening for individuals and groups with what is happening across the wider organisation, we can help you develop a fuller understanding of what may be supporting your organisation’s task, what may be getting in the way, and what this means for what you do next.

What is distinctive about the way we work?

We treat experience as a source of information. Feelings, relationships and what happens between people during the work can offer clues about organisational dynamics that are not yet be recognised or expressed in words. We do not treat these as facts, but as information to think about, question and explore alongside other organisational evidence.

This means staying curious for longer, working with uncertainty and developing hypotheses rather than moving too quickly towards a solution. It creates space to think about what may otherwise be overlooked, avoided or difficult to articulate, particularly when the pressures of organisational life make it difficult to stand back and think.

How do we work with clients?

We begin by understanding your requirements, the challenges you are facing and what you want to achieve. From there, we work collaboratively with you to shape an approach around your particular organisational context.

Our work is built on strong, in-depth working relationships that create a safe and containing space for reflection, challenge and learning. This allows difficult or complex issues to be explored thoughtfully, including those that may be harder to discuss within the pressures of day-to-day organisational life.

The work can take different forms, from organisational consultancy and executive coaching to team and leadership development and work across organisational systems. Whatever the form, we keep the organisation’s purpose and task, and the outcomes you need to achieve, in view.

As the work develops, we review what is emerging and what we are learning together, adapting the focus as understanding develops, circumstances change or new requirements emerge.

Where does the Tavistock approach come from?

The Tavistock approach, sometimes called the Tavistock model, has its roots in work developed from the mid-twentieth century, bringing together psychoanalytic thinking, the study of groups and open systems theory.

It draws on the work of Wilfred Bion, influenced by Melanie Klein, alongside Kurt Lewin, and was further developed and applied to organisations through the work of Isabel Menzies Lyth, Eric Trist, Ken Rice and Eric Miller.

Their work established ways of thinking about organisations that connect task, role, authority and boundaries with group dynamics and unconscious processes. This intellectual tradition continues to inform how Tavistock Consulting understands and works with organisations today. Many of our consultants also teach on the Tavistock’s Masters and Professional Doctorate programme in consulting and leading in organisations, and continue to publish and present on this work.

When might Tavistock Consulting’s approach be useful?

Our approach can be particularly valuable when something appears to be getting in the way of the organisation’s task but is difficult to understand or address. Familiar explanations may not fully account for what is happening, or previous attempts to make changes may not have had the impact expected.

It can also be valuable when there is a curiosity to understand organisational life more deeply, including how roles, relationships, emotions and less conscious dynamics may be influencing the work. This requires a willingness to reflect on experience, question assumptions and engage in enquiry rather than move too quickly towards an answer.

The purpose is not deeper understanding for its own sake, but to develop the capacity to think and act more effectively in relation to the organisation’s task.

What do you need help with?

Our work starts with what is happening in your organisation and what you need to achieve. We draw on our approach in different ways depending on your requirements, whether the focus is a leader, a team, organisational change or the wider system.

Explore our areas of expertise to find the support most relevant to you.

Find out more about our expertise