Why It’s Important for Leaders to Be Trauma-Informed

My friends and colleagues Courtney Bass Sherizen , Claire Hart and I have been having conversations about how we can lead with compassion and courage in the face of crisis.?This is the 2nd post on this topic, which will highlight a passion of mine, the importance of trauma informed leaders and organizations. ? Courtney, Claire, and I all have had different journeys along the path of crisis, trauma, and HR and yet we have come to a similar thought process, which I will distill in this article.

In my late twenties I was going through my hours as a marriage and family therapist.? I conducted over 3,000 supervised hours training as a psychotherapist in CA.? During these years, I was exposed to, listened to, and acknowledged many kinds of trauma from a variety of socioeconomic status and populations. The training and self care wasnt properly given to navigate these deep waters in a healthy and resourced way.? Furthemore, I was only beginning to really understand my own collective, familial, and relational trauma.?

At the same time, I was pivoting into my love and passion for L & D, HR, coaching, DEI, and culture work serving the ELT and senior HR stakeholders. Fast forward fifteen years later, I have invested in a lot of training to understand how trauma shows up in leaders, teams, and organizations, heal my own trauma. We can see the link between our individual and collective traumas that are deeply linked to our larger existential environmental and global crisis of war and climate change.?

In the research I conducted in writing my book (Shine-ignite your inner game to lead consciously at work and in the world) on conscious and inclusive leadership, I distilled 9 conscious leadership capabilities that we can all learn to reverse the trauma in organizations often stemming from unconscious leadership. Most leaders and managers are not equipped with how to “respond” in ways that reduce harm in the face of crisis and trauma.? I share this post as one united voice amidst 3 leaders contributing to an important subject during mental health awareness month.??

When Crisis and Trauma is the New Norm

Trauma and crisis is not new to our organizations.? Estimate are that six in 10 men and five in 10 women experience at least one trauma, and approximately 6% of the population will experience PTSD at some point in their lives. Trauma and distress can arise from a wide array of causes, including domestic violence , sexual assault , racism , bias , harassment , economic uncertainty , political division , and more. New challenges arise every day, and conflict and strife anywhere in our globally connected world affect us all .

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration definition of trauma: Trauma is an emotional injury that affects performance and well-being. The same incident can affect different people differently , so the goal is to assess each individual and provide the supports they need. Trauma informed leaders and organizations are ones that operates with an understanding of trauma and its negative effects on the organization’s employees and the communities it serves and works to mitigate those effects.

Five practices to reduce harm and be a trauma informed leader:?

• Acknowledge and repeat back what you have heard people say. All people want to be heard, witnessed, and acknowledged in their experience.???
• Check in regularly on your team's well being. ?Empower those with supportive resources they need for well being.? This will ultimately increase collaboration, trust, and efficiency. ?
• Encourage safety and trust. Ask for ways you can listen better or support folks where they are.? This may look like admitting your blindspots, asking for feedback, and showcasing humility.??
• Own your trauma- There may be days, you cant bring your best because of the trauma you are navigating at home or at work.? This is a time to be vulnerable, take a pause, get support, and resource yourself so that you can model self care as a leader.??"Hi, my name is Carley and this is the trauma I am working through today, what is yours??"?
• Leaders are learners- Engage in your inner work and learn about experiences that are not yours and how best you can take responsibility to create trauma or repair trauma.??

The # 1 way we can reduce harm is to commit to creating agreements and accountability to build and sustain psychological safety. In my experience, the fastest way to build psychological safety is for the leaders to be owning, being present with, and managing their reactions, triggers, and traumas first. They then have much more compassion, forgiveness, and healthy boundaries to empower and avail resources to their direct reports, teams, and their supervisors when folks are navigating difficult moments or times. The positive impact leaders can have when they commit to do no harm and repair can be corrective for previous traumas at work and at home that had nothing to do with you.?

This kind of approach takes the long view, but I do believe it is the kind of leadership our world needs.

If you seeking conscious leadership development, I have a new course and cohort that I would love for you to be a part of. This course is based on over 10 years of science and validated application of 9 conscious leadership skills to equip leaders with the capabilities our world of work needs now. For more information reach out to me and go to the course page. https://academy.igniteyourconsciousleadership.com/