Understanding ‘Transference’

Do you get anxious around your Manager / Team Leader or colleagues?

I was honoured to meet recently with Emma April and record an episode for her Resilient Lounge Podcast, entitled “Unravelling Transference and Building Resilience”. In our chat, which you can access on YouTube and Spotify, we discussed the concept of ‘Transference’, where old feelings sneak into new relationships without us even realising it.

We explored how our past experiences shape how we deal with colleagues, often without us knowing it. This led to some practical tips about how to acknowledge what might be going on for us ‘in the moment’, and how to improve communication with colleagues, friends and family.

Without developing our self-awareness, unresolved issues can keep popping up in different jobs. If you find that you repeat the same patterns of behaviour throughout your career, or there is always ‘someone’ who causes you problems at work - no matter the job - then it can be healthy to explore what is really going on in the background for you.