We are delighted to share this invitation to the fifteenth Group Relations Conference, offered by Group Relations India:
“It is with pleasure and a sense of anticipation that Group Relations India is offering our 15th Group Relations Conference (GRC), on a theme we believe is of timely as well as timeless relevance for each of us: the question of deploying our personal authority towards the well-being of all systems that we are part of.
As a nation we are inheritors of an independence movement led largely by the use of personal authority. Currently we face a set of complex realities: increasing polarization in society, weakening belief in institutions large and small, and perhaps as a defense against the anxiety it produces for us, a turning ‘inwards’, with the consequence that the idea of collective well-being is on the retreat, be it in our public institutions or in the private ones, including in our families.
There are many pathways to reclaiming the idea of collective well-being, but there is no escaping the realization that our own individual stances and actions have a bearing on the collective. Here is where the powerful idea of personal authority, which holds a special place in the Group Relations framework, performs its function: of getting us out of a sense of feeling overwhelmed, to examining what can we, in our individual capacity, do for the well-being of the multiple systems we belong to: family, organization, community, and even society.
This GRC focuses on how we can deploy our personal authority in each of our multiple roles, and find our leadership in the process. Of particular interest would be the study of the conscious and unconscious processes that support or detract us from using our personal authority, and thereby exercising our leadership.
Designed as a temporary institution, away from the clutter of daily life, with a minimum of predetermined structure, a GRC offers a fresh and different space to see familiar processes, but with new eyes. Note that we use the word ‘conference’ in the sense of to ‘confer’: to bring together – through exploration and making meaning of ‘here and now’ experience.
Our conferences have a very diverse set of participants representing a range of roles, lived realities, and identities, which furthers the possibility of nuanced and unexpected insights for all. Learning in a GRC is neither standardized, nor a guaranteed set of outcomes.
It is a singular, individual process that each member undertakes, because it derives from one’s own direct experience, and is also a question of deploying personal authority!
If this is appealing to you, then this ‘conference’ is likely to be of immense value to you. Along with my associate director Rosemary Viswanath and all my colleagues on the staff, I look forward to hearing from you, and welcoming you right at the start of the new year, into GRC 2025: Deploying Personal Authority in Exercising Leadership”.
Ganesh Anantharaman, Conference Director
Dr Eliat Aram, CEO, Tavistock Institute of Human Relations and member of the consultant team
How to apply
To apply for membership of the conference, you would need to fill in the online application form available HERE
Speak to us!
For further discussions to assist your decision about participating in the conference, we would be happy to speak to you. Kindly message Ganesh (+91 98864 06806) or Rosemary (+91 98454 03773) to schedule a conversation. Or email us at grc@grouprelationsindia.org