The insight-to-action gap is a common pattern in leadership coaching. It occurs when a leader gains clarity and self-awareness and does not translate those insights into behavioural change. When this occurs, it is often attributed to a lack of individual motivation, willpower or cognitive skill. My thesis explored this gap and suggests that it exists because of the complex and often unconscious interplay of psychodynamic, neurobiological, and behavioural processes that disrupt the transformation of insight into action. These dynamics unfold, and often remain unexplored, within the coaching relationship and the wider organisational context.
My research adopted a reflexive, practice-led qualitative approach within a constructivist-interpretivist tradition. It was conducted in four iterative phases: (1) analysis of preliminary coaching cases, (2) semi-structured interviews with six experienced coaches, (3) semi-structured interviews with six senior leaders who had been coached, and (4) experimental coaching sessions with three new coaching participants testing my intentional and integrated coaching approach. Throughout my research process, from inception to submission, I maintained a reflexive self-analysis. I rigorously examined the influence my coaching stance, assumptions and interventions had on the coaching alliance and how these may have enhanced or inhibited the transformation of insight into action.
My review of the literature suggested that coaching has evolved from a remedial intervention, grounded in the assumption that once leaders ‘know’, they will ‘do’, towards a practice that emphasises reflection and self-awareness. However, both the literature and my research findings indicate that this remedial belief, that awareness alone produces change, continues to underpin coaching relationships and organisational expectations. Through reflecting on this within my own practice, I recognised that as coach I bring my own histories, beliefs, and experiences to the work, and that I am also shaped by systemic pressures to achieve outcomes for both the leader and the organisation. These insights, reinforced by what coaches and leaders described in the interviews, suggest that such demands can unconsciously shape how I take up my role within the coaching relationship and at times reproduce the very dilemmas that leaders are attempting to change. In these moments, the coaching process can inadvertently create an experience for the leader of being ‘done to’ rather than worked with.
As I tested and refined my coaching practice, I integrated systems psychodynamics (SP), neuroscience (NS), and action methodologies (AM). Through applying this integrated approach, I experienced the behavioural transformations unfolding within the relational dynamics of the coaching alliance, where the leader and I co-created new ways of thinking and acting. This experience revealed how insight is generated and can become integrated through the relational exchange resulting in meaningful changes. From these observations I developed the, conceptual and practice-led, Relational Arc framework. It proposes that the coach adopts an ‘Other’ stance, characterised by seven practices grounded in reflexive holding, challenge, and systemic orientation, and the leader adopts a ‘Self’ stance, defined by seven practices grounded in agency, experimentation, and ownership. These relational dynamics form the container within which coach and leader co-create the conditions for transforming insight into action. The Relational Arc enables learning to unfold between coach and leader as they navigate their dynamic. It offers a shared language and structure for working together with intention and systemic awareness, while remaining attuned to the emotional, biological, and contextual dynamics that shape behaviour. This approach supports the design of developmental practices that enable sustainable behaviour change. In doing so, my research offers a new understanding of leadership coaching as a relational and embodied practice that can bridge insight and action, showing how the work itself can become the site of inquiry and transformation, repositioning coaching as a relational, embodied, and systemic practice through which coach and leader co-create the transformation of insight into action.
The Relational Arc enables learning to unfold between coach and leader as they navigate their dynamic. It offers a shared language and structure for working together with intention and systemic awareness, while remaining attuned to the emotional, biological, and contextual dynamics that shape behaviour. This approach supports the design of developmental practices that enable sustainable behaviour change. In doing so, my research offers a new understanding of leadership coaching as a relational and embodied practice that can bridge insight and action, showing how the work itself can become the site of inquiry and transformation, repositioning coaching as a relational, embodied, and systemic practice through which coach and leader co-create the transformation of insight into action.
This thesis is embargoed. Please contact Dr Tiffany Gray if you'd like to read further.
2026
Using a systems psychodynamic approach, this thesis explores the social defences and complex dynamics (conscious and unconscious) surrounding behaviour and conversations about the treatment of animals and meat eating. It is an exploration of the ‘social politics of meat’, in other words, what people talk about, and don’t talk about, with regards to the eating of animals. A major intent behind the research is to raise awareness and encourage discussions about the current plight of farmed animals, particularly those within industrial agriculture, i.e. factory farms, in Western, developed countries. Within the field of anthrozoology, much research has been done on how humans relate and interact with animals, but to date there has been little study into how people relate to one another, about the eating of animals. Taking a wide interdisciplinary approach, the thesis integrates the fields of systems psychodynamics and anthrozoology and presents many parallels between the two. Using the systems psychodynamics research methods of auto- ethnographic stories, socio-analytic interviewing, socio-analytic drawing and focus group discussions, as well as background knowledge from the discipline of anthrozoology, the research explores the core question: what are the current social politics of meat in Australia, as representative of Western, developed countries? The thesis also narrates the journey of the researcher as she explores the core question, stumbles through the ethical minefield of asking others to help her explore discomforting topics, and ‘lives’ the research. Constantly questioning herself, her views, feelings, power and influence is a key part of the work. Three hypotheses are presented on the issue. The first suggests a collective social dynamic coined by the researcher as ‘meat-eating fragility’. A second discusses the entwined systemic influences which all encourage and promote the eating of animals, creating an almost impenetrable barrier to change. The third suggests that the phenomenon of meat- eating fragility is both a defence against change, and a sign of change, as is the small group of outliers challenging the dominant invisible ideology of carnism. This thesis explores and challenges hidden paradigms, worldviews and values around the eating of meat. The exploration uncovers collective denial, dissociation, and collusion about the plight of farmed animals in Western, developed nations. Nonetheless, the final hypothesis and suggestions for further research are both optimistic and hopeful.
2006
Systems Psychodynamics is unique as an approach to consulting to organisations in the way it integrates three theory streams: psychoanalysis; group relations and open systems theory. Consultants who work in this way focus on the many layers of interactions and exchanges taking place both within organisations and at the interface between an organisation and its external environment. The territory for collaborative exploration with clients extends from interpersonal and group dynamics to service and product- related systems and processes. It is a holistic approach that creates opportunities for transformational learning at every level of the organisation. As a practice, consulting with a systems psychodynamics approach is complex and difficult to master. Arguably, the most challenging dimension of this work for consultants is developing a capacity to think within a psychoanalytic conceptual framework: to discern and hypothesise about unconscious processes in organisations. But what precisely does this mean and what is this experience like for the consultants? This research project was designed to explore and describe the experience of working with a systems psychodynamic approach from the consultants’ perspectives within the Australian context. To this end, 20 consultants who self- selected as working with a systems psychodynamic approach were involved in this research. From the data created in this process, what is documented in this thesis is the first detailed description of the experience of ‘working in this way’ taken from the combined perspectives of these 20 consultants. Further, a systems psychodynamic approach to research is defined and applied in this thesis. In this way, the systems psychodynamics within the temporary ‘system’ created by the research was part of the territory under investigation. This process led to an important discovery. 18 of 20 consultants strongly asserted the importance of working with colleagues in pairs or teams when adopting a systems psychodynamic approach. However, at the time of interviewing, all 20 consultants were working alone and only 3 had immediate plans to work with others. An exploration of the reasons for this gap between beliefs about best practice and actual practice became the focus for the analysis of the data. 2 What is discovered through this analysis is that the reasons why consultants are predominantly choosing to work alone are likely to be complex and irreducible. An exploration of the issues that working together can surface for consultants who apply a systems psychodynamic approach is presented under four sub-topics: system domain issues; theory-related issues; interpersonal issues and intrapsychic issues. In this detailed analysis, what is revealed is an absence of ‘good enough’ containment for the anxieties that are likely to be aroused when consultants work together. To this end, four ‘containers’ are proposed: organisation/brand-as- container; management-as-container; supervision-as-container and theory/praxis-as container. This research has uncovered some important challenges facing the community of practitioners in Australia. It is the contention in this thesis that they need to be addressed if the practice of consulting with a systems psychodynamic approach is to flourish and continue to grow.
2005
This thesis argues the importance of the quality of relation between the individual and the large group in work organisations. The main thrust of this argument is that where relations between the individual and the large organisation are mutually recognising both the individual and the large organisation benefit. The research explores three unstructured large groups through experiences of participants. The conceptual framework underpinning the research follows system psychodynamic traditions. These traditions support in depth exploration of both conscious and unconscious aspects of group life. A multi case study design allows analysis of each of the case studies of the large groups, first separately and then together. Each of the single case analyses reveals patterns of interaction that are thought about as defense against the difficulties of being in the particular large group. The findings of the single case studies then become data for the multicase analysis. In the multicase analysis intersubjective theory is introduced. These theories, along with traditional system psychodynamic theories, allow opportunity to deeply consider the way in which individuals relate to the large group, and the impact of this relation on the formation and development of the large group. The multicase analysis shows the difficulties group members had in asserting themselves and finding recognition in each of the large groups. The analysis also shows that despite these problems members continued to seek a recognising relation to the large group. This type of recognition, ‘large group recognition’, is distinguished from recognition found within interpersonal relations. The multicase data suggests group members found large group recognition through direct and representative relations to the formal authorities and through subgroup competition. However, this recognition appeared to be characterised by dynamics of domination and submission rather than by mutual recognition. In intersubjective terms this is the dialectic of the master and slave. Recognition garnered through a master slave dynamic is understood to be compromised and vi deplete of the self-affirming qualities of mutuality. Consequently, where large group culture and structure are characterised by, and perpetuate master slave dynamics, the large group and the individual do not function optimally. This is proposed as the circumstance in the large groups of this study. Specifically, it is argued that the large size of the groups, along with tendencies towards patriarchal structure and culture, were instrumental in fostering master slave dynamics in each of the groups. To conclude the thesis the research findings are considered with respect to large work organisations. This discussion explores the value of organisational contexts informed by mutuality, most particularly as organisations face the challenges of the post industrial era.