I offer a unique perspective on psychological safety and vulnerability for leaders.
We aren’t talking about psychological safety enough -especially in the workplace.
Without it, no organization – nor the people within – are reaching their full potential.
Conversations that need to happen – don’t. Critical information gets lost.
A lack of it disintegrates engagement and motivation.
Creativity and innovation are strangled.
When psychological safety is lacking, people don’t feel safe to share honest criticisms, concerns, and out-of-the-box ideas.
They’re too busy keeping their heads down trying to stay safe. Keeping their butts covered.
As a leader, psychological safety is an essential tool in your toolbox.
If you’re talking #culture without exploring psychological safety, you’re missing the boat.
But I’ll suggest something different from the usual: Start with yourself.
It’s hard to create #psychologicalsafety for others when you haven’t first established it within yourself.
Not exploring it can leave you vulnerable.
There’s a funny thing in the way we humans operate. We have the ability to tell ourselves everything’s fine, that we’re handling it (or this is as good as it gets), when, in fact, it’s not.
Our rational side is good at tamping down our experience.
But our bodies know better. When you feel under threat, the body responds – with or without your awareness. Cortisol levels rise.
And emotionally, you shut down. You get disconnected from yourself.
That’s why shining awareness on this area is so powerful. It will change the quality of your life – affecting #burnout, and physical and #mentalhealth.
Here’s the thing about #leadership from the inside-out:
You can work hard to create psychological safety within your organization.
But you’ll do it with more ease – and to a new level – when you as a leader develop it first within yourself.
And bonus: you’ll free up capacity in new areas you didn’t even realize were being affected.
#personaldevelopment #wellbeing