Explorations in Human Relations in Shifting Environments

A Group Relations Conference (GRC) is not a typical conference. It is often described as a temporary learning organization—a kind of living laboratory where we explore how leadership, authority, and role emerge within groups. The learning is not theoretical, but lived. Rooted in the Tavistock tradition, this methodology brings together psychoanalytic insight, systems thinking, and organizational analysis.

At its heart, a GRC studies what happens beneath the surface of group life: unconscious processes, dynamics of inclusion and exclusion, the drawing of boundaries, and how people take up—or refuse—roles of leadership and responsibility.

This year’s NYC GRC will be different.

Why This Conference—and Why Now?

We are living in a time of uncertainty, fragmentation, and rapid digital transformation. The spaces in which we meet, work, and build relationships have changed—and so must the ways we learn together.

This year’s conference will be held online, not as a digital copy of an in-person event, but as a purpose-built, experiential space designed for the world we now inhabit.

We will begin on Zoom, a platform many of us know well. But the conference will not stop there. Together, we will migrate into The Territory—a groundbreaking virtual environment in beta testing. Unlike traditional meeting platforms, The Territory was designed for the study of group processes, discovery, and reimagining how we relate in digital space.

This migration is part of the experiment. It asks:

How do changes in our virtual environments affect the way we learn, lead, and connect?

By participating, you won’t just be attending—you’ll be co-creating the future of Group Relations work in digital spaces.

Three Opportunities in One Conference:

This temporary learning cooperative offers:

Personal Insight:

• Discover how you take up roles in virtual environments.

• Explore presence and absence, leadership and followership, collaboration and resistance.

• Bring these followershipp to your organizations, communities, and everyday systems.

Contribution to the Field:

• Join an inquiry into how the GRC methodology evolves in the digital age.

• Participate in beta testing and real-time exploration of The Territory platform.

• Help shape the next generation of Group Relations learning.

Socio-Technical Research:

• Contribute to research exploring how digital tools shape roles, authority, and relationships.

• Investigate how technology mediates systemic life in our fragmented and hybrid world.

A Relational Approach to Leadership in the Digital Age:

As Conference Director, my position is deeply relational. My practice is grounded in the Tavistock tradition but critically attuned to the present moment—drawing on field theory, intersubjectivity, and an evolving understanding of leadership and authority in digital contexts.

I do not see Group Relations as a static methodology, but as a living, contextually grounded experiment. This conference is built around a primary task I call “my boss”: to study, through direct experience, the dynamics of presence, accountability, authority, and leadership within evolving virtual spaces.

But it is also an invitation—to join an experiment in ethical imagination, systemic reflection, and collective learning.

Who Should Attend?

This conference is for you if you are:

• Curious about what lies beneath the surface of human connection.

• Interested in leadership as a lived process—not just a title.

• Navigating the complexity of digital, hybrid, or global systems.

• Working in environments shaped by rapid technological change.

• Seeking a space to reflect, challenge assumptions, and grow.

Whether you are completely new to Group Relations or a seasoned practitioner, your presence will shape what we become together.

Practical Details:

Dates: September 26–28, 2025

Time: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM Eastern Time

Location: Online (Zoom & The Territory)

This is a short-term commitment—but the learning will last long after the conference ends.

Your Invitation

Bring your questions, your uncertainties, your leadership—and most of all, bring your curiosity.

Let’s learn together what it means to lead, connect, and take responsibility in a digital age.