Dr Jo Chaffer

I'm a global consultant focused on helping organisations, systems and people shift to wherever they need to be. I've worked all over the world, in war zones of many different characters, latterly mostly with higher education systems. My research here at ADFA supports this through inquiry into the practices of leadership and their development, considering the 'emptiness' of leadership and systems approaches to how people and organisations work together to get stuff done.

Currently working on systems approaches to: disaster recovery and wellbeing as an emergent property; optimising collaborative partnerships through re-focusing on foundational processes; creating lead indicators that work; unpacking and problematising assumptions around big, mystical words like leadership, performance, community etc.

I also research around practices of psychological safety developing a new approach to 'containment' or holding environments, moving away from the 'container' metaphor to one of entanglement of relationships and how those limit and enable us. My focus and expertise is on group psychodynamics - the power plays and flows that connect us. I'm applying these ideas in organisational, educational and therapeutic contexts. I hold an MA in Development Training (experiential learning processes) and a PhD, from Lancaster University, UK.

Previous work has involved post-earthquake insurance struggles and the tourism industry in Nepal; mountain workers' conditions, challenges and drivers in across four continents; culture and conflict - roles for UK government agencies.

I also lead treks, climbs and other adventures in the Greater Ranges.

Photo Credit: Nomi Baumgartl