We talk about “the elephant in the room” when there is an issue that cannot be spoken about, even if everyone knows it is there.

It can be very destructive and stressful as people affected by the issue cannot address it and people around them can feel the tension.

As a minimum, it is distracting.

At it is worst, it can tear teams and organisations apart or have unethical actions and decisions go unquestioned.

The thing about not confronting the elephant in the room is that the elephant doesn’t go away, it actually sits down and breastfeed other baby-elephants.

Soon you will have an untidy room full of elephants and no place for you to sit.

The problem you can’t talk about… is now two problems.