Sociometry for Teams – Explore Trust, Influence, Relationships & New Ways of Working
About the Event

Every team has an official structure. There are formal roles, reporting lines, responsibilities and established ways of working.

But alongside that formal structure, another network of relationships is constantly shaping how work actually gets done.

Who trusts whom?

Who influences the group?

Who do people naturally turn to for help?

Whose contributions are frequently overlooked?

Where do alliances form?

Where does communication become blocked?

These informal relationships can have a significant impact on how teams communicate, collaborate and make decisions.

This programme explores how sociometry can be used as a practical and engaging way to make these relationship patterns more visible.

Sociometry can help teams explore the often-unseen dynamics that exist between people. Through simple and joyful interventions, participants can connect, participate, discover common ground and begin having more honest conversations about trust, influence, power, agreement, disagreement and exclusion.

The programme examines how sociometric interventions can make relationship patterns visible, broaden the people team members turn to and bring previously overlooked contributions into the group.

It can also create opportunities for teams to move beyond established patterns and experiment with new roles, relationships and ways of working.

The programme is designed particularly for leaders, HR leaders, HR consultants, organisational development consultants, coaches and facilitators who work with teams.

The session is facilitated by Aruna Gopakumar, Founder-Director of The School of You and a Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst in the psychotherapy field (TSTA-P).

With more than 33 years of experience, Aruna integrates Transactional Analysis, psychodrama and autobiographical storytelling into her leadership-development and psychotherapeutic work.

Explore the relationships beneath the structure. Make team dynamics visible. Discover new possibilities for working together.

What Is Sociometry?

Sociometry is a way of exploring relationships within groups and teams.

Every group develops patterns of connection over time. Some people become central to conversations. Certain individuals may be approached more often for advice or decisions. Others may contribute valuable ideas but remain less visible within the group.

These patterns are not always reflected in an organisation chart.

A team may appear balanced structurally while having very different patterns of trust, influence and connection in practice.

Sociometry can provide ways of making some of these relationships and choices more visible, creating opportunities for teams to understand how their informal structure affects their work.

Formal Structure Versus Informal Relationships

An organisation's formal structure tells people who is responsible for what.

However, the formal structure does not always explain how communication actually happens.

Work may move through informal relationships. People may seek advice from colleagues outside their reporting lines. Certain voices may have more influence than their formal role suggests, while others may have expertise that is not sufficiently recognised.

This difference between formal roles and informal relationships can sometimes contribute to problems that appear to be structural.

The programme invites participants to examine this distinction and understand what may be happening beneath the visible organisational structure.

Making Team Dynamics Visible

Many team dynamics remain difficult to discuss because they are not immediately visible.

People may sense that communication is blocked, trust is uneven or certain individuals have become disconnected from the wider group, but it can be difficult to describe exactly what is happening.

Sociometric interventions can help make aspects of these dynamics quickly visible.

The approach can provide a practical way to explore who people turn to, where connections exist, where gaps appear and how different members experience the group.

Making these patterns visible can create a starting point for more meaningful team conversations.

Exploring Trust

Trust is an important part of effective team relationships.

Yet trust within a team is rarely distributed in exactly the same way between every person.

Some colleagues may rely heavily on particular individuals. Others may have limited interaction despite working within the same team.

Sociometric exercises can create opportunities to explore these relationship patterns and consider how trust operates within a group.

The goal is not simply to identify relationships, but to encourage greater awareness and open conversation around them.

Understanding Influence

Influence does not always follow organisational hierarchy.

A person's formal position may give them authority, but informal influence can emerge through expertise, relationships, credibility, communication style or other factors.

Sociometry provides a way to explore who people naturally turn to and who influences group thinking.

Making these patterns visible can help teams understand the difference between formal authority and informal influence.

This can be particularly useful for leaders and facilitators working to understand how decisions, communication and collaboration actually happen.

Seeing Agreement and Disagreement

Teams often contain different opinions and perspectives.

Sometimes those differences are openly expressed. At other times, disagreement may remain hidden beneath apparent consensus.

Sociometric interventions can help make agreement and disagreement more visible, allowing groups to explore differences rather than allowing them to remain implicit.

This can create opportunities for more honest conversations and help teams recognise the range of perspectives present within the group.

Recognising Overlooked Contributions

Not every contribution receives the same level of attention.

Some team members may speak frequently or hold visible roles, while others may have valuable perspectives that are less often recognised.

The programme explores how sociometric interventions can help bring previously overlooked contributions into the group.

Creating greater visibility for these contributions can broaden the range of ideas available to the team.

It can also help participants reflect on whose voices are being heard and whose perspectives may need more space.

Exploring Exclusion and Inclusion

Every team develops patterns around participation.

Some people may naturally be included in conversations and decision-making, while others may find themselves at the edges of the group.

Sociometry can provide ways to explore these patterns in a more visible and experiential manner.

The programme creates opportunities to consider questions around who is included, who is excluded and how relationships influence participation.

These conversations can help teams become more aware of patterns that may otherwise remain difficult to identify.

Broadening Who People Turn To

Teams can become dependent on established relationship patterns.

People may repeatedly approach the same colleague for advice, problem-solving, information or support.

While these relationships can be useful, over-reliance on established connections can also limit the range of voices and expertise that circulate through the group.

Sociometric interventions can help participants broaden whom they turn to, creating opportunities to discover different sources of knowledge, support and collaboration.

Moving Beyond Established Patterns

Teams naturally develop habits.

People become accustomed to familiar roles and familiar relationships. Over time, these patterns can become so established that alternatives are rarely considered.

The programme explores how sociometry can help teams identify these existing patterns and create opportunities to move beyond them.

The focus is on discovering possibilities for new roles, new relationships and new ways of working.

Creating New Ways of Working

Once relationship patterns become visible, teams can begin to consider alternatives.

What happens when someone who is rarely consulted becomes part of a conversation?

What happens when people intentionally connect with colleagues outside their usual circles?

What changes when assumptions about influence or expertise are made visible?

These explorations can help teams think differently about how collaboration takes place.

Sociometry therefore becomes not only a way of understanding the existing team but also a method for exploring what a different team dynamic might look like.

Simple and Joyful Sociometric Experiences

The programme emphasises that sociometry can be used in simple and joyful ways.

The aim is not to turn every team interaction into a complex analytical exercise.

Instead, simple interventions can provide experiential ways for participants to connect, move, respond, observe and reflect.

This can make conversations about potentially difficult subjects such as trust, influence, power and exclusion more approachable.

The experiential quality of the work allows participants to learn not only by talking about team dynamics but also by experiencing them.

For Leaders and People Professionals

The programme is specifically designed for professionals who work closely with teams.

Leaders

Leaders can use sociometric approaches to become more aware of the relationship patterns influencing their teams.

HR Leaders

HR leaders can explore informal team dynamics that may not be immediately visible through formal organisational structures.

HR Consultants

Consultants working with people and organisations can add sociometric tools to their facilitation and intervention approaches.

OD Consultants

Organisational development professionals can explore ways of working with team relationships, participation and group dynamics.

Coaches

Coaches who work with individuals and teams can gain another perspective for exploring relationships and interaction patterns.

Facilitators

Facilitators can use sociometric methods to help groups make patterns visible and create richer conversations.

About the Facilitator – Aruna Gopakumar

Aruna Gopakumar is the Founder-Director of The School of You and a Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst in the psychotherapy field (TSTA-P).

She is a psychotherapist, trainer and organisational consultant with more than 33 years of experience.

Her work integrates several approaches, including:

Transactional Analysis
Psychodrama
Autobiographical storytelling

Aruna uses these approaches in both her leadership-development work and psychotherapeutic work.

Her professional experience spans individual development, leadership, organisational consulting and therapeutic practice.

Author and Published Contributor

Aruna Gopakumar is the co-author of And How Do You Feel About That?, published by Penguin in 2022.

She has also published in the Transactional Analysis Journal and contributed a Springer chapter on psychodrama supervision.

These publications form part of her wider contribution to conversations around Transactional Analysis, psychodrama and human development.

Leadership Development and Organisational Experience

Aruna is an engineer and IIM Bangalore alumna.

Before founding The School of You, she founded the leadership-development firm Navgati.

Her professional experience therefore includes both organisational leadership development and deeper work involving human behaviour, relationships and personal growth.

She has also served as President of the South Asian Association of Transactional Analysts.

Transactional Analysis, Psychodrama and Storytelling

Aruna's work brings together several complementary approaches.

Transactional Analysis

Transactional Analysis provides a framework for understanding personality, communication, relationships and patterns of interaction.

Psychodrama

Psychodrama brings experiential approaches to exploring relationships, roles and human experience.

Autobiographical Storytelling

Storytelling can provide a way for individuals to connect personal experiences with learning and reflection.

By integrating these approaches, Aruna's work combines conceptual understanding with experiential exploration.

What Participants Can Explore
Formal and Informal Structures

Understand how official organisational structures differ from the relationship patterns that shape day-to-day work.

Trust

Explore how trust is distributed within a team and how people choose whom to rely on.

Influence

Examine who influences the group and how informal influence differs from formal authority.

Power

Open conversations around the ways power may operate through relationships and group dynamics.

Inclusion and Exclusion

Explore who participates, whose contributions are visible and where people may become disconnected from the group.

Agreement and Disagreement

Make different perspectives more visible and create space for honest conversations.

Relationships

Understand how established interpersonal relationships influence the way teams function.

New Possibilities

Explore opportunities for new roles, relationships and ways of working.

What Sociometric Interventions Can Help Reveal

The programme explores how sociometric interventions can make several aspects of team life more visible.

These may include:

Who do people turn to?

Who influences decisions?

Where are communication pathways strong?

Where are they blocked?

Who is included?

Who may be overlooked?

Where does agreement exist?

Where does disagreement emerge?

Which relationships have become fixed or habitual?

These questions can create a more concrete starting point for team reflection.

A Practical Approach to Team Development

The programme is not only about understanding concepts.

Its focus on sociometric interventions makes the experience practical and experiential.

Participants can explore how relationship patterns become visible and how teams can respond to what they discover.

This creates a bridge between observation and action.

Rather than simply discussing that a team has communication challenges, participants can explore what those patterns actually look like and consider what new relationships or behaviours might make a difference.

From Awareness to Possibility

Making a team dynamic visible is only the beginning.

The programme also explores what can happen after those patterns have been identified.

Teams can begin asking:

What could change?

Who else could be involved?

What relationships could be strengthened?

Whose contribution could be brought into the conversation?

What new role could someone try?

What different way of working might become possible?

These questions help shift the conversation from simply observing existing patterns to considering alternative possibilities.

Why Explore Sociometry With Teams?
Understand What Happens Beneath the Organisation Chart

Discover how informal relationships can influence the way work gets done.

Make Invisible Patterns More Visible

Use sociometric interventions to explore trust, influence, participation and connection.

Create More Honest Conversations

Open space for discussions about agreement, disagreement, power and exclusion.

Broaden Team Connections

Help participants explore who they turn to and discover new relationship pathways.

Bring Overlooked Contributions Forward

Create opportunities for less-visible voices and contributions to become part of the group conversation.

Experiment With New Ways of Working

Move beyond established patterns and explore new roles, relationships and possibilities.

Event Details

Programme: Sociometry for Teams
Focus: Team relationships, trust, influence, participation and informal structures
Format: Sociometric exploration and team-development learning
Designed For: Leaders, HR leaders, HR consultants, OD consultants, coaches and facilitators
Facilitator: Aruna Gopakumar
Founder-Director: The School of You
Professional Background: Psychotherapist, trainer and organisational consultant
Qualification: Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst in Psychotherapy (TSTA-P)
Experience: 33+ years
Approaches: Transactional Analysis, psychodrama and autobiographical storytelling

The supplied event information does not specify the date, venue, timings, ticket price or organiser name.

A Space to Explore Team Relationships

Teams are made up of more than formal responsibilities.

They are also made up of connections, habits, preferences, alliances, trust and informal patterns of influence.

Understanding these dynamics can provide another perspective on why a team communicates the way it does and why certain patterns may persist.

This programme creates an opportunity to explore those dynamics through sociometry in an experiential and engaging manner.

For Teams Ready to Discover Something Different

The programme is suited to professionals who want to understand teams beyond their formal structures.

It can be particularly relevant when leaders, consultants, coaches or facilitators are working with questions around:

Trust
Influence
Participation
Power
Communication
Inclusion
Exclusion
Collaboration
Established team patterns
New ways of working

The focus is on exploration rather than simply assigning labels to team behaviour.

Important Entry and Security Guidelines

By accepting, holding or using a ticket, attendees acknowledge that they have read, understood, accepted and agreed to the full terms and conditions.

The organiser reserves the right of admission.

The organiser may alter the event schedule without prior notice.

Entry is permitted only after a thorough security check and through designated entrances.

Re-entry is not permitted.

Prohibited Items and Security Checks

The venue does not allow the following inside the venue or seating area. These are classified as Prohibited Items:

Food
Beverages
Liquids
Bottles
Cans
Tins
Bags
Lighters
Matchboxes
Flammable items
Illegal substances
Hazardous substances

Security personnel will search ticket holders' belongings at entry.

If a ticket holder refuses a required search and/or is found in possession of Prohibited Items, the organiser may deny entry without refund or compensation.

Attendees are requested to cooperate with security personnel and comply with venue procedures.

Drug-Free Event

This is a drug-free event.

Any ticket holder found using, possessing, procuring, supplying or consuming drugs, narcotics or psychotropic substances, as defined under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, may be immediately evicted from the venue without refund or compensation.

The organiser also reserves the right to initiate legal action as permitted under applicable law.

Admission and Behaviour Policy

The organiser reserves the right to refuse admission or eject a ticket holder who:

Appears intoxicated
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Behaves dangerously or inappropriately
Engages in behaviour likely to cause harassment, damage, injury or nuisance

The organiser's decision in such matters shall be final.

Guests are requested to cooperate with the organiser and venue management at all times.

Photography and Recording Policy

The use of audio or video recording equipment, including still cameras, is strictly prohibited.

Participants should comply with all applicable event and venue rules concerning photography and recording.

Ticket and Refund Policy

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Except as specifically stated otherwise, tickets are non-refundable and cannot be exchanged, cancelled or returned once purchased.

If the organiser cancels the performance, the organiser will refund the ticket fee.

Other charges, including:

Parking fees
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remain non-refundable.

The organiser and venue are not liable for issues arising from unauthorised copies or reproductions of tickets.

The ticket is also invalid if its security features have been tampered with.

Alcohol Regulations

In accordance with applicable law, persons below the legally permissible age may not purchase or consume alcoholic beverages.

All attendees are required to comply with applicable legal and venue regulations concerning alcohol.

Personal Safety and Property

The organiser does not accept responsibility for injury to persons or for any loss of or damage to personal property brought to the event.

Participants are advised to take reasonable care of their belongings and follow all applicable safety and venue instructions.

Communicable Disease Risk

Attendees voluntarily assume all risks related to contracting COVID-19, H1N1 or any other communicable disease or illness, whether occurring before, during or after the event.

Ticket holders also voluntarily waive all claims against the organiser arising from such risks, subject to applicable law.

Force Majeure and Event Changes

The event is subject to force majeure conditions.

The organiser may alter the event schedule without prior notice.

The organiser may also modify these terms and conditions from time to time at its discretion.

Any secondary performances, if applicable, and the event lineup are subject to the artist's discretion.

Attendees are requested to provide their cooperation at all times.

Privacy and Information Collection

To ensure a high-quality user experience, the organiser may collect certain information during booking, registration or payment.

This may include personally identifiable information such as:

Name
Email address
Phone number

Such information may be collected in accordance with the applicable Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Jurisdiction

All disputes or claims relating to the event shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts in Mumbai.

Experience Sociometry With Aruna Gopakumar

Sociometry for Teams offers leaders, HR professionals, organisational consultants, coaches and facilitators an opportunity to explore the relationship dynamics that shape how teams actually work.

While formal organisational structures define roles and responsibilities, informal relationships can influence trust, communication, participation, power, influence and decision-making in ways that may not be immediately visible.

Through sociometric interventions, the programme explores how these patterns can be made more visible and how teams can create space for more honest conversations about agreement, disagreement, inclusion, exclusion and overlooked contributions.

The programme is facilitated by Aruna Gopakumar, Founder-Director of The School of You, psychotherapist, trainer and organisational consultant, and a Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst in psychotherapy.

With more than 33 years of experience, her work integrates Transactional Analysis, psychodrama and autobiographical storytelling across leadership development and psychotherapeutic practice.

She is also the co-author of And How Do You Feel About That? (Penguin, 2022), has published in the Transactional Analysis Journal, contributed a Springer chapter on psychodrama supervision, founded the leadership-development firm Navgati, and has served as President of the South Asian Association of Transactional Analysts.

The supplied event information does not specify the exact date, venue or ticket price, so those details should be checked in the latest event listing before registration.

Look beneath the structure. See the relationships. Open new possibilities.