Trauma-Informed Leadership: How "Just Get Over It" Harms People, Performance, and Profits!
I introduced the concept of Trauma-Informed Leadership in my post yesterday. I am so pleased with the response. I would like to explore how important trauma-informed leadership can be in the workplace—and not merely for the benefit of our individual employees!
If a leader takes the time and concern to assist in guiding someone whose performance issues may have emerged from trauma, it not only amounts to a tremendous gift, both personally and professionally, to that individual, but also serves as a deeply worthwhile investment for the workplace and for themselves.
As a leadership coach and consultant, I became very interested in the effects of trauma when I came to understand that many of the performance issues that my leadership clients were complaining about could be traced back not to incompetence, not to unwillingness, and certainly not to defiance, but simply to limiting self-beliefs—self-sabotage, if you will—as a result of previous traumatic or micro-traumatic experiences in the workplace or elsewhere, such as at home or school.
Here are the kinds of complaints I was hearing about direct reports from my clients:
“He’s completely capable, but just won’t.”
“She knows what needs to be done and then does something else!”
“I keep saying the same thing over and over again and it’s like they’re not listening to me!”
“They’ve had weeks to work on this and nothing is done!”
But it was this one that REALLY got me thinking:
“He had a setback recently but he really needs to just get over it.”
That last comment clarified to them that, more often than not, these kinds of issues can be traced back to trauma. When someone who is talented and capable suffers an adverse event or an unexpected negative surprise, their views of themselves and their environments can drastically change all at once. Or, in the case of cumulative micro-traumas, repeated negative encounters can erode someone’s faith in their own abilities. Doubt replaces confidence, avoidance supersedes ambition, and opportunities start to look an awful lot like threats.
Trauma may likely be playing a role when someone has the ability, desire, opportunity, and resources to be successful but nonetheless faces what I call an "invisible internal impediment."
“Trauma may likely be playing a role when someone has the ability, desire, opportunity, and resources to be successful but nonetheless faces what I call an ‘invisible internal impediment.’”
Invisible Internal Impediments
Invisible Internal Impediments can take the form of what I’ve labeled “The Four BL’s.” These four words are helpful for my leader-clients in seeing where trauma might be the underlying problem.
Blocks
“I know what I need to do but just can’t seem to get myself to do it.”
Blanks
“I have an immense task before me but I don’t know where to begin; I’m drawing a blank.”
Blunders
“I’m fully capable, but I have no idea how I messed that up or why I didn’t take care of that detail.”
Blindnesses
“I don’t see the importance of my work, how it impacts others, how much I’m capable of, or how necessary I am.”
“When someone who is talented and capable suffers an adverse event or an unexpected, negative surprise their views of themselves and their environments can drastically change all at once. Or, in the case of cumulative micro-traumas, repeated negative encounters can erode someone’s faith in their own abilities. Doubt replaces confidence, avoidance supersedes ambition, and opportunities start to look an awful lot like threats.”
I will go into more detail about the BL’s in a future post, but I hope you get the idea and know what to look for.
All of these really come back to a particular kind of behavior: AVOIDANCE.
An employee suffering from the effects of trauma or micro-trauma is likely to feel a deep and primal urge to avoid the kinds of situations that remind them of painful events from the past.
What A Leader Can Do
In a productive and supportive coaching conversation, a leader can offer to assist the individual they’re concerned about in bringing the relevant issues to light and finding a way forward. I plan to write another article on what a trauma-informed coaching conversation can look like, but for now, here are some examples of critical questions a leader can ask:
“What’s the feeling that keeps you from doing what you want to do?”
“Does that feeling remind you of something that happened to you in the past?”
“You seem to be believing that . . .” (and share your observation about the avoidance behavior)
“I can see you’d rather avoid _____. That’s understandable considering what happened before. I imagine you avoid those situations now because you’d rather not feel . . . how?”
“What do you suppose you’d like to accomplish if you didn’t have those worries?”
What Workplaces Have to Gain From Being Trauma-Informed
As you can imagine, the avoidance behaviors that are a symptom of trauma can cause repercussions in the workplace that further compound the trauma already experienced. Disciplinary action, being “yelled at,” termination, and burnout are very real potential consequences. Hearing a comment from the boss like “I don’t know what’s wrong with you but you need to get over it” isn’t going to solve the issue. It’s going to drive it deeper. Further decline, quiet quitting, or even choosing to leave the workplace or profession entirely are undesired but realistic possible outcomes.
Yesterday, I shared that leaders can’t afford to have talented people removing themselves from the workplace. Today, I’d like to add that leaders can’t afford to lose access to their team members’ greatest assets due to invisible internal impediments that stem from trauma.
Especially when productivity, critical thinking, creativity, curiosity, innovative problem solving, and the inspiration toward continuous improvement are all hampered by the ill-effects of trauma, it is critically important for the success of everyone involved to handle such issues with skill, sensitivity, acceptance, and compassion.
If a leader takes the time and concern to assist in guiding someone whose performance issues may have emerged from trauma, it not only amounts to a tremendous gift, both personally and professionally, to that individual, but also serves as a deeply worthwhile investment for the workplace and for themselves.
Jesse Katen is a leadership coach and consultant at his firm, Jesse Katen Leadership Consultancy, based in Binghamton, New York. Visit his website at www.jessekaten.com or email him at jesse@jessekaten.com.