Why is it important to name and address organizational trauma?
Organizational trauma negatively impacts, harms, and sometimes destroys organizations. Trauma and traumatization debilitate the organization’s cultural fabric, overpower its structures and shred the social fabric of relationships.
Organizations weaken and become less able to respond to external and internal challenges (Kahn, 2008). A traumatized organization is left feeling vulnerable and helpless, and the harm, if not noticed, creates ongoing psychic and cultural pain. Debilitating impacts persist in the organization’s functioning and culture. Recovery and healing cannot happen without recognition of the trauma and harm that has occurred.
We name the possibility of organizational trauma and describe it so we can believe it is happening when we observe it. Otherwise, our natural tendency to focus on individuals and interpersonal relationships masks the deeper cultural patterns and influences. In the same way that individual harm/trauma needs to be acknowledged, addressed and healed, so does organizational harm/trauma need to be acknowledged, addressed, and healed. By recognizing and addressing both, we can help organizations and the people within them heal, build resilience, and thrive.
Want to learn more? Check out our most recent publication in the Winter 2023 issue of Organization Development Review. Click on the button below to download a copy.
“I worked with a TORCH member during the summer of 2022 to better understand how organizational trauma can present itself within the nonprofit sector. she not only defined organizational trauma for me, she also described the history and research behind its origin. She helped me develop three different solutions or strategies for addressing the organizational trauma that we see present in our community. Importantly, she emphasized the first step should start with ensuring nonprofit leaders can understand and identify organizational trauma within their establishments. She was warm, compassionate, and strategic; she went above and beyond to offer guidance and help.”
“The TORCH member I talked with had broad and deep knowledge about how organizations can move forward from their own trauma. She was also enormously insightful on how to help organizations deal with trauma in their community. Thanks to her, a diverse nonprofit board reworking their vision in the aftermath of a horrific neighborhood mass shooting can address their own unique biases, unite as a group, and work together to transform the community.”
