ABSTRACT
Organizational structures and behaviour patterns are marked by a high degree of disturbance and signify that leaders, their teams, and institutions are caught in a cycle of endless transition. In this chapter, the author explores the traumatizing effects on organizations and groups of the frequent change of leader, the transitional nature of organizational structures and the deconstruction of hierarchies. He focuses on the evidence gathered in an ethnographic and group analytic research project on leadership transitions. As one of the tasks of an analytic consultant is to explore new ways in which to sustain hope, the chapter shows a way out of the dilemma of groups and their leaders paralysing each other, lest more authentic and truthful dialogue in public should threaten their job security. The working through of the effects of the cumulative trauma in organizations will, from an analytical viewpoint, require secure enough containers for the externalization of the encapsulated pain and repressed memories.
