Seminar: Use of Drawing as a Socioanalytic Tool

This seminar will explore the use of drawing as a socio-analytic tool in working with individuals and groups in organisations. Drawing offers a way of giving form to experience that is often difficult to articulate—particularly the emotional and unconscious dimensions of organisational life. It can provide a rapid and rich source of data, while at the same time creating a ‘third space’ through which difficult material can be explored with a degree of safety and distance.

In socio-analytic practice, the challenge is not only to think about organisations, but to create the conditions in which thinking becomes possible. Drawing can assist in this by loosening the hold of the purely verbal and inviting a more associative, imaginative engagement with experience. In this sense, it contributes to the development of a ‘mind for the work’—one that can tolerate not knowing and remain open to discovery.

Participants in this seminar will have the opportunity not only to learn about the theoretical underpinnings and applications of drawing in socio-analysis, but also to experience the method directly. Through engaging in a drawing task and exploring the images together, we will consider what emerges—both in the content of the drawings and in the dynamics of the group.

What becomes available when we allow ourselves to ‘see’ before we speak? This seminar offers a space to find out.

Dr Brigid Nossal is co-founder of NIODA and currently serves as Principal Advisor within the Leadership Team, following previous roles as Deputy CEO and Director of NIODA Consulting. She continues to teach and supervise in the academic programs and is available for coaching, consulting, and research projects.

Brigid’s work is grounded in the belief that much of organisational life takes place “below the surface,” in the rich and complex territory of the unconscious. From this hidden domain arise both disruptive challenges and transformative ideas. Exploring these dynamics—bringing the unseen into awareness—creates opportunities for fresh learning and enduring change for individuals and organisations.

For over 20 years, Brigid has dedicated her career to advancing the theory and practice of systems psychodynamics in organisations. Her doctoral research, consulting practice, teaching, and ongoing inquiry all contribute to this field. A long-standing participant in Group Relations Conferences (GRC) in the Tavistock tradition, she has directed conferences in Australia and worked on staff teams in the UK, India, and China.

Brigid approaches her work with a blend of deep care and courage—questioning assumptions, opening space for new perspectives, and fostering meaningful, lasting change in how people live and work together. She sees consulting, teaching, and supervision as collaborative enterprises and brings 30 years of experience supporting diverse organisations.

Her recent work explores Freud’s notion of the Narcissism of Minor Differences (NMD). While organisations rightly focus on visible dimensions of diversity—such as race, gender, and identity—Brigid highlights how some of the most corrosive group dynamics can arise between people who appear most alike. She is interested in how organisations can understand and address these hidden dynamics to build more inclusive, resilient, and psychologically safe workplaces.