How to Come Back Stronger From Organizational Trauma

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How to Come Back Stronger From Organizational Trauma

By Payal Sharma | MIT Sloan Management Review | Summer 2024 Issue

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It is a sobering reality of life today that many organizations across sectors and industries will face trauma. According to the author his institution, the Lee Business School at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), became one of them on Dec. 6, 2023, when a shooting on campus profoundly changed  their community.

When we experience trauma, it shatters our belief that the world makes sense, and we consequently feel less safe, less in control, and more vulnerable.  However, psychology research has also found that as they recover from trauma, individual survivors can experience post-traumatic growth (PTG).  This process doesn’t minimize the suffering or psychological challenges that survivors encounter but rather taps the “rich and remarkable resources, creativity, and success of the human spirit to adapt, cope, and survive.

 In the aftermath of trauma, how might leaders help their organization move forward to collectively survive — and even engage in learning and growth that surpasses its pretrauma state.

Events that cause trauma for organizations are catastrophic, life-threatening, or life-altering, and disrupt core functions; their causes can be either internal or external. They include incidents such as workplace violence, natural disasters, and terrorism. 

For leaders to understand how to facilitate organizational growth after trauma, they first need to understand the psychological impact of trauma.   Trauma destroys assumptive worlds or three core assumptions we have about the world and ourselves: We are safe.  We have control. And we are deserving. 

Thus, in the aftermath of trauma, leaders can facilitate their organization’s growth through the collective construction of revised beliefs that are more complex and concrete about safety, control, and protection. The goal is to create a rebuilt assumptive world that integrates the trauma, including an accompanying collective sense of vulnerability and disillusionment — but allows the group to move forward and cease fully defining itself by the trauma.  This is also the path from seeing oneself as a victim to seeing oneself as a survivor.

Research into PTG in individuals has found three pathways for growth.  The first, seeing strength through suffering, is recognizing that one has sufficient strength to tolerate and continue on despite pain and suffering. The second pathway, generating psychological preparedness, can be seen as building the capacity to face future traumatic events with equanimity. The third pathway, crafting greater meaning and purpose, arises as survivors of trauma often experience a change in perspective and reprioritize what they most value; they stop taking what’s important for granted.  These can be activated in an organizational context by following the following:  define your organization by your collective strength, generate organizational preparedness, and craft greater organizational meaning and purpose.

3 key takeaways from the article

1. It is a sobering reality of life today that many organizations across sectors and industries will face trauma. When we experience trauma, it shatters our belief that the world makes sense, and we consequently feel less safe, less in control, and more vulnerable.  Events that cause trauma for organizations are catastrophic, life-threatening, or life-altering, and disrupt core functions; their causes can be either internal or external. 
2. For leaders to understand how to facilitate organizational growth after trauma, they first need to understand the psychological impact of trauma.
3. Research into Post Trauma Growth  in individuals has found three pathways for growth.  One, recognizing that one has sufficient strength to tolerate and continue on despite pain and suffering. Two, building the capacity to face future traumatic events with equanimity. Three, crafting greater meaning and purpose.  These can be activated in an organizational context by following the following:  define your organization by your collective strength, generate organizational preparedness, and craft greater organizational meaning and purpose.

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Topics:  Trauma, Organizational Sustainability, Leadership