Consultant as Container

This case study recounts an intervention into the senior leadership group of a state-owned organization in South Africa. What started as an executive education program was transformed into a consulting project, a journey of discovery for both the leadership of this organization and the consultants. The turbulent and oftentimes inverted experiences of the work with this senior leadership team are examined via five anomalous events that form the basis for theorizing about how consultants can function as containers for the emotions of the client system. In this project, the consultants' willingness to absorb and work with the leadership's anxiety, hopelessness, and projections enabled the participants to address the many troubling emotions blocking their growth. This article documents the processes and the theory that led this executive group to an independent and mature way of functioning.