Sometimes we fear the figures of darkness so much that we don't dare utter their names.

We trap ourselves in a belief that by vocalising their names, or even thinking of them, we will court disaster and attract doom. Therefore, we suppress all thoughts of darkness and create and maintain a system around us where any mention of those who represent darkness is met with a teeth-gritted ‘Shhhh!’.

But, wasn’t it so good in the Harry Potter books, when a young Harry spoke out the name that represented all darkness, ‘Voldemort’. And, interestingly, as the story unfolded, others started to discover and summon the courage to mention his name too. It was almost as if by mentioning his name that the darkness was dragged into the light. It started to be recognised in a different way...even normalised. It’s size started to diminish and other possibilities emerged to the extent that even characters like Neville Longbottom could directly face Voldemort, the greatest darkness of all time.

We often expend significant energy creating mechanisms, codes and structures to avoid the internal darkness and the darkness in our connections with others in a belief that by avoiding it, it may diminish and disappear. And by doing this, we become fragmented within ourselves and superficially polite with others. Deeper engagement and learning is lost. We become disconnected.

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Often, when working with teams, I am interested in the darkness. I am listening for the taboo, the myth, the assumptions, the judgements, the rejection, the dissent, the cynicism, the shame, the paranoia, the interruption, the insecurity, the resistance, the anger, the hurt. I am looking for Voldemort, the Death Eaters and Dementors (maybe not all at once!).

In my experience, fragments of most of the above exist in all senior teams. And when these are left unattended, they have the potential to grow in size and occupy the space. Team environments become less psychologically safe and the opportunity to genuinely create and collaborate gets postponed.

When a team creates the space to bring a fragment of darkness into the light, another Horcrux is found and ultimately defeated.

And this journey starts with a little bit of curiosity and courage. A question that you could begin to reflect upon is:

“What are you not talking about?”

By starting here, you may defeat a Horcrux.