Do You Feel Safe?

To Action: Feeling Safe - Moderating Stress Through Companionship

When a squirrel monkey sees a snake in its environment, it releases the hormone cortisol.

Cortisol creates a state of hyperarousal - something we often call the ‘fight or flight response’. During which, a waterfall of hormones speed up our heart rate, constrict our blood vessels and slow our digestion.

Great for outrunning lions.

Not so much for dealing with workplace created stress.

But we all know this.

What you may not know, however, is if this squirrel monkey happens to be accompanied by a member of its group when that snake arrives - the amount of cortisol that is released is much lower.

The same is true for us humans.

Our own fight or flight responses are heightened when alone. (Ever woken in the middle of the night on a solo work trip, seen a shadow in your room and had that adrenaline hit we know all too well?)

The truth is that there is safety in numbers. Both physically, but also emotionally.

And this fact seems to be on everyone’s mind at the moment.

Psychological safety, an idea from the 1990s, has increasingly become one of the new organisational buzzwords. Like?‘synergy’?and?‘waste’?in years before - it’s now ‘safety’s turn in the spotlight.

While there seems to be a million different approaches to achieve it - the underlying message is one of trust and social confidence. In short - does your team feel safe enough to take risk? (i.e. are your team operating above ‘Fearful’ on the momentum path).

With that in mind, what can you do this month to promote a greater sense of safety within your teams?

I’ll make a humble suggestion here. Don’t look past an oldie, but a goodie: the buddy system. It’s so simple, yet it can make such a huge difference for your team to know they have someone they can talk to. A while back, I had a colleague that used to call me every day or two at about 9am to just check in, chat and laugh for 10 mins. A small time investment for both of us - yet our respective stresses for the day were dramatically lessened.

We’re social beings.

To Ponder: Community Inferred Credibility

Later this year I’m collaborating with the fantastic Leanne Hughes on an event that I’m really excited about:?Beyond Bureaucracy

Shameless plug aside - the culmination of the event is a story that’s quite interesting.

It may surprise you, but a month or so ago, Leanne and I were effectively strangers. We had never spoken or even interacted online. Yet we knew of each other through a high performing, fairly niche, consulting community. A community that attracted a specific type of person - an entrepreneurial expert.

It was that shared community membership that ultimately created the bridge for us. A ‘credibility bridge’ strong enough to overcome any initial scepticism for each of us. Within an hour of meeting we had both agreed and started to design our collaboration on Beyond Bureaucracy.

This, under most other circumstances, would be crazy. Leanne and I were essentially strangers - but we knew the standards of the community, and that credibility was inferred onto each of us respectively.

It’s an interesting thing to reflect on - and it’s something for us all to consider moving forward.

How can you create a community around your change that creates inferred credibility for its members?

My suggestion - embrace the principles of a Valuable Community: Exclusivity, Reputation and ‘Edge’.

To Reflect: Your Weekly Anti-Platitude

Communities are made up of individuals.

In other words - there is an ‘I’ in community.

Paradoxically, communities are built, and sustained on individual-level value.

Are You Driving Change In A Hard Place In 2022?

Are you spending an untold amount of time and money spinning your wheels - yet creating no meaningful change momentum?

It’s not a surprise.

Between the layers upon layers of decision making, the three and a half committees that you need to convince, and the ever present challenge of finding the right person to enlist to your cause - creating change in the face of complexity is a tall order.

And yet - you have to.

Every successful business and every successful leader knows that change is the only constant.

But why does it have to be so hard?

This year, join the master of unforgettable experiences Leanne Hughes and myself for Beyond Bureaucracy: Generating Momentum in Complex Places.

Find our more and join?the waitlist today at beyondbureaucracy.com?to get access to (significantly discounted) early-bird pricing!

I’m looking forward to seeing you there.

January is just flying isn’t it!?

As always, I’m just an email away - and no question too silly.

Have an awesome week.

BB

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