Experience has shown that group dynamics cannot be understood simply by reading books. Books provide readers with many ideas, of course, and very useful ones; but in order to understand group processes, and above all to learn how to work with what they stir up in us, we need to experience group life. To be precise, we need to experience the life of groups and the institutions that “contain” them.
ALI is an international residential seminar that will reach its 26th edition in 2026. The acronym that designates it summarizes in three words the issues that the tradition of “group relations conferences” (Tavistock Institute in England, AKRI in the USA and IL NODO in Italy) has long identified as indicative of the most frequent problems: Authority, Leadership and Innovation.
The 2026 edition will have the following title: Authority and freedom. Understanding and Changing the Institutions in Which We Live.
The words that make up the title were chosen because we felt it was necessary to reflect (reflect as we do within the framework of this methodology: that is, to reflect while immersing ourselves in group processes) on the conceptual pair that constitutes the first part of the title.
Authority and freedom are always more or less in conflict on a logical and ethical level. But in times of crisis, when authoritarian temptations arise and social conflicts become more acute, these two concepts become dramatically antithetical.
This applies not only to those who work in institutions but also to citizens who observe and take part in what is happening in national and international politics, public life, the press, state bodies and cultural events.
Rebuilding hope
The stakes are high: it is a question of (re)building hope as workers and as citizens. ALI 2026 offers participants a temporary institution in which to explore, through direct experience, the tension between authority and freedom that runs through every collective context.
Understanding and Changing Institutions means first and foremost understanding and changing the way each of us participates in them — how we exercise or suffer Authority, how we build or deny Freedom. In the here and now of the Conference, it will be possible to observe and understand the processes that animate institutional life, learning from one’s own participation and experience how forms of authority and belonging are constructed, defended or transformed in the organizations to which we belong.
Join ALI
The 26th edition of ALI will be held in Brisighella, Emilia Romagna, in a simple and welcoming location offering spaces suitable for work and shared reflection. A sober setting that encourages concentration on the experience and, by putting excess aside, allows us to rediscover what is essential in the life of groups and institutions.
We invite you to come and live/reflect with us.
Giovanni Foresti, Francesco Noseda, Antonio Samà, Juliet Scott
Registration
Administrators: Federica Belosi (+39 349 7813278), Stefano Rambelli (+ 39 347 1323483),
Laura Ravaioli (+39 333 1417247)
