Ghosts in the system - the memories linger on

Is your organisation haunted by ghosts? Not things that go bang in the night but the memories and energies of past people and significant events that linger on and continue to affect behaviour, actions and attitudes.

Recently I was listening to a woman who worked for an environmental agency. She shared a story of tensions between managers which seemed unconnected to present circumstances. When she questioned those involved she discovered a still-bubbling feud with roots 10 years previously that had nothing to do with present staff. In fact some of them hadn't even been in the agency when the original events occurred. Such is the power of the ghost role.

Ghost roles are invisible third-party presences that can come and go. Often we think of such things as having a negative effect yet some can carry positive energies. This brings to mind a company whose founding managing director was a very charismatic, dynamic leader who was great with people and had a very clear vision. He was dearly loved by all. He decided to sell the company to a management buy-out. After he left staff still referred to the “good old days of John” or said "If John where here, he'd say…"

In one organisation the ghost was of a Head of HR who 'butchered' the team and left. Those remaining became deeply suspicious and very guarded. In another case a senior manager controlled her entire department very tightly, some would say to the point of bullying. Even after the department was restructured and that particular manager had left there was great resistance from staff to working across departmental boundaries because the culture had been so impacted by the high level of control.

This is the impact ghost roles can have on the emotional field of a team, department or whole organisation. Unattended to, these ghosts can be a problem to organisational functioning and working relationships. Often teams we've worked with don't 'see' the ghost for what it is, or what impact it's having. The great news is they can be acknowledged and dealt with enabling the team to move forward to create new, healthy ways of working, free from the influence of the ghost.

In the current economic climate with redundancies and restructures announced daily the potential for ghost roles to start appearing is greatly increased. What ghosts are lurking in your corridors?

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