Flood frequency has increased across the globe as a result of human activities including, in certain circumstances, the use of flood and drainage infrastructure. Natural Flood Management (NFM) is a holistic flood management approach that works with “natural” hydrological processes to slow and store water in the landscape, delivering multiple benefits including water quality, biodiversity and amenity improvements. Despite the potential benefits of NFM, it has yet to be adopted as a mainstream flood management strategy; this transdisciplinary research aims to investigate why. Practitioners’ perspectives on barriers, and their importance in restricting delivery were explored and mapped via a process of social learning, using a novel adapted methodology, “Group concept mapping with Ketso”. Three detailed case studies of NFM delivery were examined to explore whether perceived barriers were found in practice. A systems thinking analysis then drew together both methods in a process of transdisciplinary integration that showed flood risk management practitioners were deterred from actively participating in NFM planning or delivery as a result of an inflexible, unsupportive, funding framework. The research concludes with the proposition that in reframing NFM as ‘hydrodiversity restoration’, an opportunity exists to encourage greater collaboration between multiple sectors, whilst creating alternative methods to demonstrate and measure the effectiveness of NFM.