Working with the Elephant: Methods for Engaging with the Unsaid in Groups and Organizations

We’ve all been there. We are in a working group or at a meeting, discussing a topic or a challenge, and all the while, as a separate track running underneath our conversation, there is a subtext that no one explicitly addresses.

This is an example of ’the elephant in the room’. Most of us notice the elephant, it gets in the way, and it’s difficult to deal with until someone points at it and says, ’There it is, let’s take a look at it and reduce its impact.’ With an engaging use of examples and questions, Lotte Svalgaard addresses how we can best deal with the elephant and thus promote job satisfaction, creativity and productivity. In the context of action, what we notice often recedes into the background and gradually slips out of focus until we eventually reconnect with our need to reflect and recreate a space for it. This book addresses the challenge of focusing on, holding onto and acting on what we notice ’in the middle of it all’. Maintaining a simultaneous focus on task and process - what we do and what we notice - is what the author defines as ’double awareness’. Double awareness is not only a core capacity but also a core challenge.

While the aim of The Elephant in the Room was to promote understanding and awareness of this core challenge and to inspire both reflection and action for anyone wishing to improve engagement in their workplaces, Working with the Elephant is taking this challenge a step further by providing ten core challenges in dealing with elephants in groups and organizations. It is a workbook about the difficult transition from avoidance to action. With help, support and tips, it guides readers to take action where it will make a difference for them, their group and the organization as a whole. It can be used as a workbook for The Elephant in the Room or it can be used independently.

Lotte Svalgaard holds a Phd and a MSc in Business Psychology. Her research investigates how individuals can be awake and aware, show up and engage with challenges outside of their comfort zone. Her writing has appeared in Management Learning, Action Learning - Research & Practice, Socioanalysis and SAGE Research Method Cases. Her passion, to contribute to create more passionate and mindful organizations, makes up the platform for her work, her research and her authorships.

She is a global leadership development professional with extensive experience within group dynamics, experiential leadership development, and organizational consultancy. Lotte is currently a senior leadership consultant and executive coach at INSEAD, consulting and coaching on senior executive leadership programs across multiple industries around the world.

Besides her work at INSEAD, she is a senior partner in Action Lab, where she designs and implements business driven action learning programs for global companies. Since 2001, she has been an associated professor, lecturer and supervisor at the ’Master of Psychology in Organisations’ at Roskilde University, Denmark. She is the author of The Elephant in the Room: Engaging with the Unsaid in Groups and Organizations, Routledge, 2023.