Do you need a secure base in order to do good work?

From Inside to Outside: Studies in Organisational Life. Do you need a secure base in order to do good work?

As the world changes, new questions emerge all the time that might shake us up and remove any certainties we thought we had. That’s true whether we are leading change from within or working as agents on the outside. Camilla Child and Coreene Archer invite you to consider whether you have or need a secure base for yourself at work and what the dynamics of working groups look like. They will reflect on some key concepts and frameworks used by those who work within the Tavistock approach and encourage you to hold up a lens on your own familiar frames of reference.

Coreene Archer 

Organisational Development Consultant and Principal Leadership Coach, Tavistock Institute of Human Relations

“I am an organisation consultant and executive coach. This is how I frame my professional identity and describe my role. I work with organisations, groups and individuals exploring issues or challenges that occur. Through this process we surface and navigate emerging difficulties, whilst developing new perspectives and responses. For me, people are endlessly interesting. I am curious about what is said and what remains unsaid, what organisations can do to and for individuals, my contribution is exploring how to make the experience of working life better across a range of sectors. I am interested in the role “difference” plays in identity construction and how leadership emerges.”

Camilla Child

Principal Researcher and Consultant, Tavistock Institute of Human Relations

“I have a number of great and enduring passions which form a thread in my career. One of the first questions I asked at a staff meeting when I arrived at the Tavistock Institute three decades ago was ‘Umm... who has the power here?’ The question was driven by an insatiable curiosity to understand unfolding dynamics and make sense of them. And then to help people and groups understand the power they hold and its associated privilege, and help them shape what they do with it, for themselves, and in the service of the people that they represent. 

Where there is social injustice, I find ways to shine a light on it, and am adept at communicating in ways that can (usually, at least) be heard. Finding and working with the interconnections and dissonances within and between groups has always been another great interest: how psychogeography has an impact on cross boundary and working in partnership underpins questions of how can we try and unstick a problem. I will focus on the place and space, on the system as a whole, its tasks, the people, and conscious and unconscious processes.”