Past trauma, culture and another painful exit

As someone interested in psychology, I know a bit about how past experiences shape individuals and trauma can either make us stronger (post traumatic growth) or it can create a sense of 'learned helplessness' (a term coined by psychologist Martin Seligman in the 1960s), a sense that our actions can't shape our destiny.

A recent conversation, introduced me to the concept of organisational trauma, which I knew less about, I'd heard about it in families but not companies. It can be defined as "the collective psychological and emotional damage an organisation suffers from catastrophic events"  The Nestle baby milk scandal being a prime example of a culture that pervades, in spite of a refresh of the workforce.

Individuals, families, companies… what about sport's teams?

The nature of England's exit last night reminded me of this. The trauma of previous defeats and the weight of unfulfilled expectations seemed to weigh heavy on the team -  in spite of being 1 nil up, once Argentina started posing a serious threat, all those doubts and fears seemed to surface.

It really does prove the point that culture eats strategy for breakfast. Put another way culture is something much harder to build, preserve and hardest of all to put right when it goes wrong.

Observing where your culture has gone wrong starts with judgement-free observation, curiosity, an open-mind and listening deeply. It’s very much a coaching conversation.

 Gareth Southgate is the man who tried hardest to change the culture in the England camp (check out the TV series and play 'Dear England'), but not everyone was willing to come on the journey.

 Interested to hear where have you seen an organisation culture shift for better or worse, pop your thoughts in the comments.

This post was written by Mark A King. You can follow him on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/markkingbravo/