Purpose & values
Founded in London in 1947 to study group behaviour, the Tavistock Institute integrates social science, psychoanalytic thinking and the arts. We are here to help you uncover what’s going on in organisations, address challenges of leadership, or enable systems change.
Our purpose
We explore patterns in human behaviour to help people and organisations work better together.
Our distinctive approach
Organisations are not just rational structures — they are emotional systems. What goes unspoken in a group often matters more than what’s said.
We work at the intersection of social science, psychoanalytic thinking and the arts.
We draw on systems psychodynamics, the theoretical framework developed at the Institute over decades that connects psychoanalysis, open systems theory, group relations and socio-technical thinking.
Our status
We are a UK not-for-profit organisation with charitable status, established in 1947. With no shareholders, we are here to benefit the people and organisations we work with.
Our values
Our values explain how we work. Our focus is on how humans relate to each other and non-human systems, how we grow in character and how we embrace learning, creativity and change.
We work across and between boundaries
We work across disciplines and draw on a rich mix of expertise and thinking.
We create safe spaces for difficult conversations
We listen, observe and engage in dialogue. We work with and for people in everything we do.
We work with hidden and sometimes unconscious factors
We stay grounded in the context and in what might be under the surface.
We put theory and knowledge into practice
Our practice is evidence-based and we depend on data - both that which is derived from rational research methods and that which is derived from explorations of the mind. We are able to play with ideas, myths and stories to deepen the meaning and application of our research outcomes.
We bring rigour, reflection and care to our work
We partner with our clients to achieve the best outcome, journeying with them to access and apply their own resources.
We work with the unexpected
Our expertise is in stepping into the unknown whilst navigating anxieties and uncertainties and all that these bring to the fore. We can take helpful risks for clients to reach the goals of our work together.