Last week, we reminded you that our Leader in You® framework, can support you in creating a sense of trust and psychological safety with the people in your lives.
When people feel a sense of safety and trust,
they’ll be more likely
to bring their best to the relationship.
Today, we’re going to share an example of how a client used the Leader in You framework to create psychological safety as a leader.
Daniel’s immediate thought was, “I need to lock myself in my office and put a new plan together asap!” And he did. For several days, no one knew what Daniel was up to locked away in his office, and his team started to believe that they were going to lose their jobs. Daniel – in thinking he was helping the team – was creating angst, fear, and resentment by secluding himself from the people who were supposed to be helping him turn things around.
An employee saw Daniel one afternoon and said, “Did you even try to save our jobs? I hear they are going to let us all go.” Daniel was shocked. How had the situation gone from him thinking he was going to save everyone from being laid off, to his team believing he had thrown them under the bus?
Unsure how to proceed, Daniel connected with us and we took him through the Leader in You. As we talked, he understood the importance of working collaboratively with his team to create an environment where they could trust him, and saw that the steps of our Leader in You framework could help him do just that.
As Daniel understood the concepts, he paused, and checked in with himself by asking, “Is what I’m about to do in alignment with my goal of being a collaborative and enthusiastic leader?” He realized that creating a new plan in isolation from his team was NOT in alignment with his goal, so he gathered his team and decided to create a new plan together.
He reminded himself that by influencing the team with his thoughts and then allowing them to influence him, they could create a great solution together.
Once the team was together, Daniel was transparent about the situation and said, “I’m invested in each of you and in this company, so let’s talk about the possibilities inherent in this challenge. Let’s share ideas about how we can create success with a new marketing plan. I have some thoughts and would love to hear yours as well. Given our various strengths and experiences, I’m confident we can come up with a winning plan to boost sales in the final quarter of the year. Let’s all take 10 minutes or so to brainstorm and then share. All ideas are welcome!”
After meeting a couple of times, Daniel and the team crafted a final plan together and then enabled action by getting input from others on, what the actions would be, who would own them, and when the due dates would be. Finally, they scheduled daily review and refine huddles in order to share successes, challenges, and to course correct in a timely manner.
By including the team in the process, Daniel was demonstrating that he valued their input, ideas, and suggestions. Team members felt part of something bigger and were motivated to go all-in to create success, together.
As you use any of our Leader in You steps, you’ll find it gets easier to both influence your world, and be influenced by your world…and invite others to do the same! You’ll be creating a solid foundation of trust and psychological safety, which is a winning combination for an engaged, motivated, and successful team.
Next week, we’ll share a couple of examples of what it could look like to create psychological safety when you’re not the leader of the team.
Let us know how you’ve been using the Leader in You steps to create success!
If you’d like support
to create psychological safety on your team
contact us today.