Recovering From a Toxic Workplace Takes Trusting Yourself Again

Trusting yourself again after being injured is an exercise in taming demons.

I say this literally and figuratively.

Athletes recovering from injuries to their bodies and individuals injured by a toxic workplace share a common journey of rediscovering self-trust by breaking free from self-protective habits.

Let me explain.

I have been rowing with an injured tailbone since last spring. Several years ago I fell on some slippery stairs and unbeknownst to me at the time, dislocated my tailbone. I recovered partially through time and physical therapy. When I returned to rowing last spring after a 30-year hiatus I was so in love with it that I adjusted my stroke to protect my injured tailbone so I could keep rowing. The problem is that these adjustments had an impact on the power of my stroke.

So, when I started up again this spring, I knew I needed to fix my tailbone issues so I could row without hesitation. What I didn’t expect was that the adjustments I made would be hard to correct even after my tailbone started feeling better because they were now habit. A habit that didn’t serve me or my teammates well and that I no longer needed. Tucking my tailbone or not laying back at the finish of the stroke protected my tailbone, but made my oar lose inches of time in the water reducing the power I was delivering to the boat.

Overcoming the habits I have learned to protect my tailbone means I have to trust my body again. I have to trust that it is strong enough to deliver a full stroke in the water. And I have to really listen to the pain I feel to know if it’s me getting stronger, or me getting reinjured.?

I hear echoes of this from clients who develop self-protective behaviors to survive in toxic work environments.?

I can tell when there has been injury to an individual or team when I see the following behaviors:

• Defensiveness
• Working in silos
• Shifting blame to others
• Lack of accountability

These maladaptive behaviors impact a team by:

• Undermining the psychological safety needed for trust
• Preventing the collaboration needed for creative problem-solving
• Making continuous improvement difficult, if not impossible, because people want to sweep problems under the rug instead of examining them for learning

This traps teams in mediocrity because the kind of risk-taking necessary for innovation and creativity is impossible.

Healing can happen by re-building trust in self and others and creating psychological safety by:

• Establishing open and respectful communication
• Being transparent to built trust
• Setting clear expectations
• Reframing failures and mistakes and learning opportunities
• Taking a supportive and consultative approach to leadership.

If you’d like to be an AGILE leader who creatives cohesive teams that deliver transformational results, reach out to learn more

Ebb Tide develops AGILE leaders who are:

Adaptive

Goal Oriented

Have Integrity

Are Lifelong Learners

And Emotionally Intelligent