Student Profile: Amandeep

While working towards her Professional Doctorate in Consulting and Leading in Organisations, Amandeep has also started her own consultancy practice – describing the programme as her “anchor” through the process.

Amandeep began our Professional Doctorate in Consulting and Leading in Organisations in 2022. “The idea of doing a doctorate was always at the back of my mind”, she says. “I liked the sound of the systems-psychodynamic approach to thinking about organisations and working with change.”

At the time, Amandeep was working in a senior leadership position, with responsibility for inclusion, training and workforce development. She remembers feeling curious about phenomena she had observed over the course of her career – why we seem to “go round in circles” rather than make real change, the “histories” that organisations hold, and why people choose to stay in roles despite being unhappy.

“As soon as I started reading the theory – the systems-psychodynamic approach to organisations – it all made sense. The penny dropped. I was able to see things that I wasn’t quite able to name, understand or see before,” she explains. “It was the missing part of the puzzle for me.”

As well as supporting Amandeep to navigate the dynamics of her role at the time, the doctorate also gave her the confidence to strike out on her own as an independent consultant, building on her experience of in-house consultancy and expertise in diversity and inclusion.

“There’s a lot of authority in the title of a doctorate from the Tavistock”, she reflects. “The course has helped me think about the role of the consultant and working with organisations and helped me set up my own practice. Just being on the doctorate while setting up gave me an anchor, and I was able to go back to my peers and tutors and talk through some of the challenges I was facing.”

Amandeep’s consultancy work has allowed her to focus on some of the areas that she feels most passionately about, including culture, workforce development, staff wellbeing and retention. Meanwhile, her research interests have evolved over the course of her studies, and her doctoral thesis is now focused on how the senior inclusion and diversity role (I&D) is experienced within organisations – a role which she herself once held. “I am keen to understand how this role is positioned and how authorised the person in-role feels, and the motivations for taking up the role” she says.

Exploring the experiences of South Asian women leaders, Amandeep’s research will help organisations think about how they position and authorise the role, and ultimately how they can support the role holders themselves.

Underpinning both her research and consultancy is the systems-psychodynamic framework that is championed at the Tavistock. “I use it heavily, actually,” says Amandeep. “I’m a leadership coach, a facilitator and an organisational consultant, the framework helps me understand organisational and group dynamics on a deeper level, I use it in all areas of my work. It was the missing piece of my toolkit.”