The Tavistock Method of business coaching

The Tavistock Method

We believe that the successful development of an organisation lies in achieving a dynamic alignment between corporate strategy and individual capability. Executive Coaching and Development is key to that alignment, generating ideas, which can drive strategy and accomplish organisational change.

Executive coaching is a transformative and enjoyable process. We work with individuals to understand what their job requires and what they uniquely bring to it. We explore how they can get the best out of themselves, their teams and colleagues, in the context of their organisational culture.

Our distinctive approach is based on an understanding of :

the social and psychodynamic factors that shape a leader’s behaviour
the organisational system in which he or she operates
cooperative imperatives.

Individuals develop improves capacities to relate to complex systems of interest and responsibility, and to understand their own part in the process. Organisations gain from the clarity of contribution leasers can make to the achievement of organisational objectives. Executives coming for coaching often do so at points of change and transition in their lives and careers. We are particularly aware of the challenges that executives face, either through taking up new leadership roles, managing succession and exit strategies, or balancing diverse working portfolios.

Tavistock History

The Tavistock Institute of Human resources, a novel, interdisciplinary, action orientated research organisation, was founded in London in 1946 with the aid of a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. It was set up for the specific purpose of actively relating the psychological and social sciences to the needs and concerns of society. In sustaining this endeavour for more than fifty years, it has won international recognition.

The circumstances of World War Two brought together an unusually talented group of psychiatrists, clinical and social psychologists and anthropologists in the setting of the British Army, where they developed a number of radical innovations in social psychiatry and applied social science. They became know as the Tavistock Clinic. Though only some of them continued their involvement with the post-war Tavistock organisation, those who did built on the war time achievements to introduce a number of far-reaching developments in several fields. This style of research related theory and practice in a new way.

The objectives of the Institute were to study human relations in conditions of wellbeing, conflict or breakdown, in the family, the community, the work group and the larger organisation, and to promote the health and effectiveness of individuals and organisations. Since that time, the Tavistock Institute has evolved into an organisation that does research and consultancy, evaluation and professional development work in support of change and learning. We try to contribute to the development of the social sciences by publishing our work. We also own and edit Human Relations, an international social science journal, and edit the journal Evaluation.

The Institute was located in the Tavistock Centre in Belsize Park, which we shared with the Tavistock Clinic until the summer of 1994, when we moved to our current office in central London.

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