A five-day ONLINE Group Relations Conference
31 August - 4 September, 2021
Conference Director: Michelle May
Conference Associate Directors: Jean Cooper and Keith Lequay
Conference Administrator: Lurinda Maree
Conference Associate Directors: Jean Cooper and Keith Lequay
Conference Administrator: Lurinda Maree
Our 3rd Group Relations Conference - for the first time online - hosted in South Africa
The conference can be taken as a stand-alone event or as part of the Certificate Programme by The Institute for Leadership and Transformation (TILT) and the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (TIHR).
Letter from the Conference Director
Dear prospective conference members,
I anticipate that South Africa’s socio-political and socio-historical experience will be especially insightful for global group relations experiences in 2021, following a year marked by global crises, national health crises, lockdowns and self-imposed isolation. As we are confronted by many challenges in our daily lives, our work contexts, our different countries, all in the context of the COVID pandemic. In the immediate future, we could find ourselves called to transform our leadership roles in complex contexts, through specific connections, while navigating online, hybrid and in-person contexts personally and professionally.
Participating in this online conference is such a call about which I am quite excited. Perhaps you, like me and the rest of the conference directorate, find yourselves involved in organisational or societal transformation – providing leadership opportunities for others in online, hybrid and in person contexts. Suddenly the challenge is that I and perhaps you (as we are confronted by the pandemic and hopefully soon its aftermath) are confronted by our leadership roles in online, complex situations. As we take up this challenge in an ongoing and fear-filled pandemic cycle, (at the dawn of a new global COVID-entwined order), we could experience ourselves at the mercy of forces outside of our awareness (influencing our sensemaking). Perhaps we experience being hostages of the unconscious, somehow forgetting that there is strength and efficacy in our personal connections.
This conference could not have come at a better time for us to explore the unconscious dynamics which are alive and well in our social systems through this online context. I am also aware of how these dynamics can be paralysing outside our awareness. Our work in this conference should/may provide opportunities to access and explore the unspeakable transformation and leadership dynamics that we dance with, which seduces us to the edges of our destructiveness and at times twirls us into unbearable stuckness. Through the conference, we as staff will create spaces for co-creating and exploring the process for transforming our leadership in these complex times. As we journey, we may encounter resistance and threats to our connections and leadership. Simultaneously, we could encounter, engage and enhance our existing strengths and capacity to work with unbearable dynamics. I remain hopeful that we will also meet joy as we transform our leadership within the complexity and supported by our connecting. This conference offers us all the opportunity to increase our awareness as we work on detangling ourselves from destructive dynamics, by linking to our collective strengths in a COVID-19- laced dispensation.
Michelle May,
Conference Director
Primary task
To provide opportunities to learn, through experience and in the here-and-now, about transforming our leadership roles during the ever-
shifting complexities and connections of the online conference, as a temporary institution.
An opportunity to learn
South Africa’s historical experience could be insightful for global group relations experiences during this 2020-21 of national health crises, lockdowns and self-imposed isolation. The pandemic has alerted us to how much we must truly know ourselves in our leadership roles to transform our immediate contexts.
A Group Relations Conference (GRC) provides unique opportunities to study organisations as ever-evolving human systems. The conference takes the form of an online temporary learning organisation that comes to life during the opening moments of the conference, studies its own dynamics as they unfold, and dissolves at the end. It is an accelerated ‘real time’ learning laboratory. The invitation is to use this opportunity to learn through here-and-now experiences how to adapt within our leadership roles, how to shift and redefine our boundaries and tasks in order to leading transformation.
The complexity of role adjustment and the desire for human connections through transformed leadership roles in 2021 will provide an opportunity to co-create an online conference experience like no other, we eagerly await your participation.
Who should attend?
Anyone who desires an in-depth understanding of leadership and organisational life: Team leaders, CEOs, project managers, entrepreneurs, consultants, coaches and educators. Participants come from business, education, government, health services, NGOs, the arts, politics etc.
Benefits to organisations
Structure
This year the conference will consist of two sub-conferences. Some conference events are specific to each sub-conference whilst others are for the conference-as-a-whole. Over the course of the conference the complexities and ever-shifting relations within and between these sub-systems are open for scrutiny:
Dear prospective conference members,
I anticipate that South Africa’s socio-political and socio-historical experience will be especially insightful for global group relations experiences in 2021, following a year marked by global crises, national health crises, lockdowns and self-imposed isolation. As we are confronted by many challenges in our daily lives, our work contexts, our different countries, all in the context of the COVID pandemic. In the immediate future, we could find ourselves called to transform our leadership roles in complex contexts, through specific connections, while navigating online, hybrid and in-person contexts personally and professionally.
Participating in this online conference is such a call about which I am quite excited. Perhaps you, like me and the rest of the conference directorate, find yourselves involved in organisational or societal transformation – providing leadership opportunities for others in online, hybrid and in person contexts. Suddenly the challenge is that I and perhaps you (as we are confronted by the pandemic and hopefully soon its aftermath) are confronted by our leadership roles in online, complex situations. As we take up this challenge in an ongoing and fear-filled pandemic cycle, (at the dawn of a new global COVID-entwined order), we could experience ourselves at the mercy of forces outside of our awareness (influencing our sensemaking). Perhaps we experience being hostages of the unconscious, somehow forgetting that there is strength and efficacy in our personal connections.
This conference could not have come at a better time for us to explore the unconscious dynamics which are alive and well in our social systems through this online context. I am also aware of how these dynamics can be paralysing outside our awareness. Our work in this conference should/may provide opportunities to access and explore the unspeakable transformation and leadership dynamics that we dance with, which seduces us to the edges of our destructiveness and at times twirls us into unbearable stuckness. Through the conference, we as staff will create spaces for co-creating and exploring the process for transforming our leadership in these complex times. As we journey, we may encounter resistance and threats to our connections and leadership. Simultaneously, we could encounter, engage and enhance our existing strengths and capacity to work with unbearable dynamics. I remain hopeful that we will also meet joy as we transform our leadership within the complexity and supported by our connecting. This conference offers us all the opportunity to increase our awareness as we work on detangling ourselves from destructive dynamics, by linking to our collective strengths in a COVID-19- laced dispensation.
Michelle May,
Conference Director
Primary task
To provide opportunities to learn, through experience and in the here-and-now, about transforming our leadership roles during the ever-
shifting complexities and connections of the online conference, as a temporary institution.
An opportunity to learn
South Africa’s historical experience could be insightful for global group relations experiences during this 2020-21 of national health crises, lockdowns and self-imposed isolation. The pandemic has alerted us to how much we must truly know ourselves in our leadership roles to transform our immediate contexts.
A Group Relations Conference (GRC) provides unique opportunities to study organisations as ever-evolving human systems. The conference takes the form of an online temporary learning organisation that comes to life during the opening moments of the conference, studies its own dynamics as they unfold, and dissolves at the end. It is an accelerated ‘real time’ learning laboratory. The invitation is to use this opportunity to learn through here-and-now experiences how to adapt within our leadership roles, how to shift and redefine our boundaries and tasks in order to leading transformation.
The complexity of role adjustment and the desire for human connections through transformed leadership roles in 2021 will provide an opportunity to co-create an online conference experience like no other, we eagerly await your participation.
Who should attend?
Anyone who desires an in-depth understanding of leadership and organisational life: Team leaders, CEOs, project managers, entrepreneurs, consultants, coaches and educators. Participants come from business, education, government, health services, NGOs, the arts, politics etc.
Benefits to organisations
- It locates / connects leadership to its environment;
- Improves strategic thinking;
- Enhances navigating online contexts personally and professionally;
- An understanding of how organisational culture works;
- Developing capacity for thoughtful and sustainable (effective) action;
- More effective management, (based on understanding people in context as individuals), as members of groups, organisations and the wider society;
- Increased capacity to lead and manage in uncertain or rapidly changing environments; and
- The opportunity for direct feedback about issues and challenges in the workplace and how to apply the conference learning back in your organisation.
Structure
This year the conference will consist of two sub-conferences. Some conference events are specific to each sub-conference whilst others are for the conference-as-a-whole. Over the course of the conference the complexities and ever-shifting relations within and between these sub-systems are open for scrutiny:
- Beginning Sub-Conference for people who are new to Group Relations work in the Tavistock tradition;
- Advancing Praxis Sub-Conference for people who have had multiple Group Relations Conference experiences and who wish to specifically advance their ability to work in conferences and apply their Group Relations experiences in real world / other settings.
Conference staff
The conference staff provides and maintains the boundaries of the conference as an online temporary learning organisation. Within these boundaries the conference participants (members and staff) work towards the primary task of the conference and the various tasks of the different subsystems and events that constitute the conference. The role of staff is not to passively observe or evaluate members, but to utilise their experience and being-in-the-moment to offer working hypotheses, interpretations and observations to assist members in their work towards the primary task, in the here-and-now. The staff therefore has both a management and a consulting role. The way in which staff take up their roles is always open for exploration.
Conference Directorate
Conference Director & Director of Beginning Sub-Conference
Conference Administrators
Consulting Staff will be drawn from the following list:
The conference staff provides and maintains the boundaries of the conference as an online temporary learning organisation. Within these boundaries the conference participants (members and staff) work towards the primary task of the conference and the various tasks of the different subsystems and events that constitute the conference. The role of staff is not to passively observe or evaluate members, but to utilise their experience and being-in-the-moment to offer working hypotheses, interpretations and observations to assist members in their work towards the primary task, in the here-and-now. The staff therefore has both a management and a consulting role. The way in which staff take up their roles is always open for exploration.
Conference Directorate
Conference Director & Director of Beginning Sub-Conference
- Michelle S. May : DLitt et Phil (South Africa) - Clinical psychologist: HPCSA (Health Professions Council of South Africa); Professor: Department of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, UNISA (University of South Africa); Programme manager: Doctorate in Consulting Psychology; Director (2002 to 2014): Robben Island diversity experience (RIDE).
- Jean Cooper : PhD (South Africa) - CEO: The Institute for Leadership and Transformation (TILT); Organisational and Leadership Consultant; Registered Industrial Psychologist.
- Keith Lequay : Ph.D. (Trinidad & Tobago): Organisational Psychologist; Associate & GR consultant: AKRIce Institute (USA).
Conference Administrators
- Lurinda Maree : (South Africa). MCom, University of Pretoria. Registered Psychologist (cat. Industrial); Organisational Consultant in Change and Transformation. BA Drama (Hons), University of Pretoria. Systems Psychodynamics Consultant. Applied Theatre Specialist.
- Mncedisi Nkhoma : B.Compt (Unisa) - Professional Accountant (SA).
Consulting Staff will be drawn from the following list:
- Eliat Aram PhD, CEO: The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations; Applied Complexity theory educator; Chartered Psychologist, BPS (British Psychological Society); Gestalt psychotherapist and supervisor, London, UK; Partner, the Group Relations faculty Teachers College Columbia University, NYC, USA; Member, OFEK (The Israeli Association for the Study of Group and Organizational Processes), Israel.
- Frans Cilliers (DPhil, North West University). Emeritus Professor (UNISA), Extraordinary Professor (NWU), Psychologist (cat. Industrial ), Systems Psychodynamically informed organisational consultant and coach.
- Thembi Kgengwenyane BComm Honours Industrial and Organisational (UNISA) - Organisational excellence, diversity, change, transformation, and strategic facilitation. Trained in Diversity Dynamics through systems psychodynamics model (Tavistock application model), Member and administrator: RIDE (Robben Island Diversity Experience).’certified Analytical network coaching.
- Hanna Kotze MA Soc Work (NMU). Organizational, collective trauma and diversity consultant, business and leadership coach in private practice. Clinical private practice.
- Lineo Ledwaba MA Rhodes University, Group Relations Consultant , Analytic -Network Coach and Organizational and Leadership Consultant.
- Matome Enias Mafokoane MBA, MM Public & Development Management (South Africa) - Organisational Change & Development Consultant and Coach; Founder and Managing Member: Ditlou Solutions, Organisation Development and Training Consultancy; Board Member: Africa Board for Coaching, Consulting and Coaching Psychology.
- Adrian Parsadh, PhD (UNISA), A registered Industrial/organisational psychologist, with focus areas are in organisational development, organisational consultation, leadership development and executive group coaching Organisational development, Leadership, Change consultant and executive coaching psychologist. More than 20 years combined experience in various sectors. Member of the SIOPSA Interest Group in Systems Psychodynamics of organisations and Interest Group in Coaching and Consulting Psychology; and the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organisations.
- Henk Struwig D Lit Ed Phil (UNISA)- Head of Organisation Development at Investec Ltd.; Registered Industrial and Organisational Psychologist.
Fees
All prices quoted include VAT.
Conference Delegates:
Discounted Fee for Independent practitioners, Full-time students, Academics and Participants from the Non-profit sector:
Bursaries are available. Please enquire from our Conference Administrator, Lurinda Maree on +27 (0)82 477 9409.
Application process
All prices quoted include VAT.
Conference Delegates:
- Conference Fee - R15 180.00
Discounted Fee for Independent practitioners, Full-time students, Academics and Participants from the Non-profit sector:
- Conference Fee - R13 662.00
Bursaries are available. Please enquire from our Conference Administrator, Lurinda Maree on +27 (0)82 477 9409.
Application process
- Spaces are limited, so apply as soon as possible.
- Application deadline:
- 13 August 2021 : General application deadline
- Submit your application online or download the PDF form and email your completed form to our Programme Administrator, Kirsten Zellmer.
- All applications should be accompanied by a 50% deposit, which is non-refundable except in the event that an application is unsuccessful or the conference is cancelled.
- Eligible applications will be taken on a first-come basis, taking into account the programme directors’ selection policy of aiming to achieve a diverse and balanced participant group.
Testimonials
“I come away from these experiences challenged, deeply reflective and in some ways fundamentally changed. I also learn to see systems, people and interactions very differently” - Organisational Consultant, Johannesburg
“This time around attending this Conference helped me Get My Voice Back.” - Financial Manager, Johannesburg
“It was indeed a great opportunity to attend the GRC outside of India. The experience was really awesome being amongst some of the most evolved individuals which helped me in introspection and learning” - Senior Executive, India
“The diversity of the participants was an extra factor to get a deeper learning and understanding about inclusion and exclusion in society, organizations and groups.” - Organisational Consultant, The Netherlands
“The opportunity to discover your role in a group/system and to see the unconscious dynamics play out is theatre at its best – except it is not mirrors or smoke but your reality. I realized that you can only learn best when you are outside of your comfort zone, at the boundaries of the unknown…” - Industrial/Organisational Psychologist, South Africa
“What an experience! I cannot help to notice my role and the world around me in a much different light than before.” – Lean/Agile Coach, South Africa
“I am surprised at how I can take up an authentic role in different scenarios in my own life more frequently and with more ease. I will highly recommend attending this conference to anyone who is willing to understand their own dynamics as part of a system. It is fascinating!” – Industrial/Organisational Psychologist and Business Consultant, South Africa
“I didn’t know then how the conference would impact me months afterwards. I learned a lot about myself and learned how to articulate things better. Also, the experience of sharing with others a journey together and alone opened my thinking to a lot of different views and to experience the points of view.” – Social Entrepreneur, South Africa
“This time around attending this Conference helped me Get My Voice Back.” - Financial Manager, Johannesburg
“It was indeed a great opportunity to attend the GRC outside of India. The experience was really awesome being amongst some of the most evolved individuals which helped me in introspection and learning” - Senior Executive, India
“The diversity of the participants was an extra factor to get a deeper learning and understanding about inclusion and exclusion in society, organizations and groups.” - Organisational Consultant, The Netherlands
“The opportunity to discover your role in a group/system and to see the unconscious dynamics play out is theatre at its best – except it is not mirrors or smoke but your reality. I realized that you can only learn best when you are outside of your comfort zone, at the boundaries of the unknown…” - Industrial/Organisational Psychologist, South Africa
“What an experience! I cannot help to notice my role and the world around me in a much different light than before.” – Lean/Agile Coach, South Africa
“I am surprised at how I can take up an authentic role in different scenarios in my own life more frequently and with more ease. I will highly recommend attending this conference to anyone who is willing to understand their own dynamics as part of a system. It is fascinating!” – Industrial/Organisational Psychologist and Business Consultant, South Africa
“I didn’t know then how the conference would impact me months afterwards. I learned a lot about myself and learned how to articulate things better. Also, the experience of sharing with others a journey together and alone opened my thinking to a lot of different views and to experience the points of view.” – Social Entrepreneur, South Africa
Please note: The conference is designed as an environment for learning and should not be seen as a substitute for personal psychotherapy. If you are currently experiencing acute personal difficulties we advise you rather consider joining next year’s conference. Or speak with Lurinda Maree, Conference Administrator, personally before registering: +27 82 477 9409.