As I’ve written about previously, the shadow represents the parts of ourselves that we often deny or hide, sometimes out of fear, shame, or simply because they don’t fit with our ideal identity.

Swiss Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist, Carl Jung (1875-1961) talked about the shadow as an aspect of the psyche that we are unconscious of. It’s a powerful aspect that drives and motivates us despite the fact that we are largely unaware of it.

We personally have a shadow, but so too can our teams, organisations and even nations.

What is the organisational shadow?

Just as we have a personal identity, our organisations have an identity. It sits alongside organisational culture and image and is the sense of ‘who we are in our organisation’ [4].

Just as we too deny aspects of our selves within our personal shadow, our organisations do the same; denying, ignoring or repressing aspects of itself that are unliked or that we prefer not to notice or acknowledge. These aspects are relegated to the margins of our organisational identity and awareness.

Qualities and behaviours such as chronic gossip, favouritism, poor performance management, fear of speaking up or making mistakes, intimidation, deceit, lack of transparency - these are all examples of how an organisation’s shadow might appear.

Organisational shadow and identity in theory

Martin L. Bowles described the organisational shadow as “facts which organizations [sic] wish to deny about themselves, due to the threat posed to self-image and self-understanding and, more generally, the need to be viewed in a favourable light by others”[1].
Hatch and Schultz noted in 2005 drew attention to the media’s interest in the “private lives of organisations” and in exposing the “divergence it finds between corporate images and organizational [sic] actions” [2].
Stimpert, Gustafson & Sarason (1998) described organisational identity as the shared theory that members of an organisation have about who they are as a collective [3], while Gioia, Schultz & Corley (2000) asserted it as the perception of the organisation held by insiders that helps to answer the question ‘Who are we as an organisation?’ [4].

Why does it matter?

The organisational shadow shows up in ways that hinders or holds businesses back: entrenched and unchallenged behaviours, attitudes, beliefs and biases that can be resisted and ignored only so long before they become barriers to growth, improvement and success.

We might see the effects of the shadow in:

high turn-over of staff
poor performance and productivity
low wellbeing and high burn-out
failing staff survey results
reputation perceived negatively by stakeholders
project deadlines and strategic achievement that consistently slip
a lack of operationalisation of high-level aspirations and plans
negative or toxic work cultures
ineffective management and leadership.

Building awareness of the shadow within our organisations can help transform our understanding of our business identity and its relationship to culture and image.

By starting to examine these aspects, we can reveal areas of denial or dissonance between what an organisation says it stands for, and how it acts or is perceived by stakeholders internally and externally.

Being able to see more clearly how our business really behaves and is perceived equips us as leaders with greater choice, enabling us to make better decisions to safeguard our business’s reputation, culture, service, productivity and longevity.

We can then take steps to integrate aspects of the shadow and plan strategically to change, improve and overcome them in tangible ways.

Bringing congruence to these aspects helps to strengthen the alignment between culture and strategy, which is critical for business success.

From the perspective of establishing trust, integrity and transparency, the alignment of identity, culture and image is key - because the who we are and how we act matters when building trust and commitment with stakeholders and customers, internally and externally. In essence, as with interpersonal relationships, congruence between our words and deeds matter for building trust with and within organisations.

How does this knowledge solve problems?

This may result in:

a reduction in risk
establishing stronger trust with stakeholders internally and externally
improved reputation
stronger performance
better employee wellbeing and engagement
a healthier, more sustainable self-image and internal culture.

How do we do it?

Packages are tailored to the needs of you and your business, but can include:

Root cause analysis
Open, transparent and collective reflection, analysis and observation
Strategic and operational recommendation package
Project planning, implementation and support
Impact measurement and evaluation.

Contact us

If you’re curious to explore any of the issues mentioned here, or how the shadow in you or your business or organisation might be getting in your way, contact us to find out how we can support you and discuss a package.

An infographic describing an introduction to the organisational shadow © Attuned Leadership Ltd.

Sources

1. Martin Bowles, The Organisational Shadow (1991).

2. Mary Jo Hatch and Majken Schultz, The dynamics of organizational identity (2005).

3. J.L. Stimpert, Loren Gustafson & Yolanda Sarason, Organizational Identity within the Strategic Management Conversation: Contributions and Assumptions (1998).

4. Dennis Gioia, Majken Schultz & Kevin Corley, Organizational identity, image and adaptive instability (2000).