Why We Started NIODA: Holding the Dream

NIODA’s origin story and our commitment to systems psychodynamic learning

Continuing a Tradition of Depth in a Speed-Driven World

NIODA was born from a singular purpose: to continue and grow the tradition of systems psychodynamic thinking in Australia. Our mission is to help individuals, teams, and organisations make sense of the complex emotional and systemic realities shaping contemporary workplaces, realities that often only become visible when leaders slow down to lead.

We are a not-for-profit higher education institute, established to preserve and deepen a discipline that invites us to uncover what’s really going on, not just what is visible on the surface. Our aim is not to fill large lecture theatres or sell pre-packaged consulting solutions in pursuit of profit. We exist to foster experiential learning, reflective capacity, and values-based leadership.

NIODA was founded in response to a very real loss, a moment when the future of the discipline seemed at risk. What disappeared became the catalyst for what we dreamed into being.

The End That Became a Beginning

In 2010, a long-running postgraduate course in organisational dynamics was closed at RMIT, after having moved from Swinburne University a decade earlier. With more than 30 years of legacy, this was the only formal academic training in systems psychodynamics available in Australia.

Its closure left a profound void, not just institutionally, but emotionally and professionally for those committed to the work. For many of us, it felt like the discipline itself might disappear. Without structured learning and rigorous academic grounding, where would the next generation of practitioners, thinkers, and leaders come from?

Instead of accepting this loss, we chose courage. We gathered our community, our networks, and our belief in the work. We began the complex process of founding NIODA as an independent, accredited, not-for-profit institute, small, committed, and values-driven.

Dreaming NIODA into Being

Founding NIODA was not about replicating scale. It was about protecting what mattered: depth, integrity, and a strong container for experiential learning.

With the support of our community, NIODA achieved accreditation for its Master’s course in 2016 and a PhD program in 2021, a significant milestone for a small institution with large purpose.

From the outset, NIODA has served as a container for dreams. As founders, we became dream keepers, holding, shaping, and sometimes constraining aspirations in service of the institute’s purpose. We resisted pressure to expand too quickly or dilute our values. Slow down to lead became not just a philosophy but a practice that guided our decisions.

We made mistakes. We faced challenges. But we stayed with the task.

Where the Tradition Began

Systems psychodynamics emerged from the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations in post-war London. Tavistock researchers explored how unconscious dynamics, group behaviour, and institutional systems shape human functioning across hospitals, schools, the military, and public services.

Their pioneering work laid the foundations for:

• group relations theory
• organisational role analysis
• socio-technical systems thinking
• applied psychoanalysis in organisations

NIODA carries this legacy in Australia, with rigour, integrity, and care, through both education and consulting.

A Small, Powerful Learning Community

The transformational learning that NIODA offers remains a well-kept secret, shared among those who have been referred or found their way to us.

Since 2017, 53 students have graduated with NIODA’s Master of Leadership and Management (Organisation Dynamics) or its nested qualifications. These graduates join nearly 800 alumni from the RMIT and Swinburne organisational dynamics programs.

Today, NIODA supports:

• 35 postgraduate students
• 26 PhD candidates
• a committed academic faculty
• an international panel of supervisors and experts
• and over 50 volunteers serving on essential committees and governance bodies

This is a community sustaining NIODA’s mission and helping us grow—not through scale, but through commitment.

Not a Commodity - A Commitment

At NIODA, education is not a product. It is a relationship.

Whether in the classroom or the consulting room, our work focuses on thinking, relating, and understanding because these are the capacities that truly transform systems.

Our courses are:

• immersive
• relational
• grounded in real workplace dilemmas
• delivered in small groups
• taught by scholar-practitioners

We also offer short courses, organisational consulting, coaching, and supervision informed by systems psychodynamics.

We operate on a few core principles:

• We don’t teach people what to think. We help them think more deeply.
• We don’t offer generic solutions. We help uncover what’s really going on.
• We don’t scale for growth’s sake. We grow to sustain the quality of the work.

Every student, every candidate, every client matters.

Holding the Dream, Still

Founding NIODA required enormous effort fifteen years ago. Maintaining and growing the institute requires just as much dedication. But the dream remains: a more thoughtful, humane, and psychologically aware way of working.

If you are someone who values deep thinking, real learning, and leadership that connects purpose with action: you may have found your learning home.

We invite you to join our community.