Battling Workplace Trauma

Workplace trauma is a physical and psychological response to crisis or critical incidents (re)produced within the workspace. It may display as high absenteeism, alarming turnover, poor communication, conflict among team members, social anxiety, toxic masculinity, an unwillingness to participate, and more.

Workplace trauma can stem from personal or professional experiences, which are then triggered or created within the four walls of the workplace. Some of these triggers may be racism, sexism, bullying, harassment, job insecurity, overworking, manipulation, power-over, control, and neglect.

HOW DO I NAME IT

Whether you’re a Team Lead, Manager, CEO, HR Expert, Team Member, or even a Customer/Client, it’s important to recognize, acknowledge, and validate that trauma.

When you experience this trauma, take note of how your body reacts to the situation. There is a physiological effect to trauma, whether that is sweaty palms, shaky hands, increased heart rate, chest pain, dizzy spells, or stomach aches.

Your body responds to the mental and emotional trauma you experience, and much of that comes from stress related ordeals entangled within these oppressive, divisive, or threatening systems. Taking a note of how your body reacts will help you to notice it within yourself so you can name those side effects as Workplace Trauma Effects.

As a leader and team member, you also want to be in tune and perceptive so you may assist the people around you. Only by deconstructing those traumatic practices or behaviors and implementing new measures and ways of doing things, can we heal the work culture from the inside out.

33% report feeling extreme stress within the workplace, and of those, 70% experience stress that directly affects their health within the workplace.

Part of the ongoing issue circulating workplace trauma is that so many people do not feel safe enough to be their authentic self or to have those authentic and vulnerable discussions. This is often due to the stigma that those who speak up or shed light on these critical issues are the problem.

Francesca Walker via 15Five Event

As a leader, it is important that you acknowledge the individual, validate their experiences and emotions, and maintain this level of understanding.

Even if you do not directly understand what it is like to be in their shoes, you can understand that it is so significantly crippling to the point that they were brave enough to come forward as a means of survival and activism, because they felt it had gotten so bad that they had no other choice.

Instead of operating with this thought of...

“Oh they’re just being problematic and negative”

“You just can’t make them happy”

“They’re not a good fit”

You want to lead from the mental space that says:

"They are not the issue, the environment/culture is the issue and if I am not proactively part of the solution I am equally part of the problem.”

THE INNER VOICE

How leadership and corporate handle these situations becomes the inner-voice that either dismisses and belittles, or validates and empowers.

When individuals experience trauma and think to themselves...

“I can’t stand up for myself”

“It’s not that big of a deal”

“I’ll be fine”

“I’m used to it”

“Nothing is going to change”

“There’s no point”

These are toxic voices implanted within their subconscious. Your duty as a leader is to help your people unpack those voices so you can then help them find and amplify their own voice.

You think you are thinking your thoughts, you are not. You are thinking the culture’s thoughts. - Chris Murphy

LEADERSHIP TRAUMA

Leaders are not beyond experiencing trauma in fact, Jesyka Simpson, Founder of 10K Collective, says:

“Sometimes using your voice or speaking up about your experience and standing for the experience you're having puts your very security at risk... Particularly as we move up in our careers, the higher we go the harder it gets. And we're taught we're to fight for this seat at the table... But my experience was that getting that seat doesn't necessarily protect you from anything. Because oftentimes that seat is conditional. That seat is contingent upon the ability to assimilate and ensure the comfort of those around you... We minimize our self-worth to keep the title.”

4 STEPS TO FREEDOM

Freedom Within
Freedom Without
Freedom Of Direction
Freedom Of Expression

The first step is to embody freedom within yourself.

You have to find freedom from gaslighting yourself and your experiences by acknowledging what you're going through and validating not just how you are feeling but your right to those feelings.

You have to get real and honest with yourself so you can name it instead of simply saying, "I'm good," "I'm used to it," "It is what it is."

Honor your truth, and allow it to set you free.

Secondly, find freedom without the influence of dominant culture norms.

Reinvent your definition of what success is, what it looks like, and what it takes.

Discover what that looks like to you personally and you may even find that what you desire is not success as much as it is a life of abundance.

The third step is finding freedom of direction.

This means taking back the power to choose your own path, and envisioning the destination that is calling out to you.

Forget what everyone else says is “the right way” because oftentimes it’s really not right for everyone nor is it a timeless pathway. As time presses onward it brings with it new ways, data, information, technology, opportunities, and methods that produce innovative and oftentimes better paths to choose from.

Fortunately, power-over and oppression based systems that once stood as “correct” are being dismantled and now human rights, value-mission alignment, mental health, work-life balance, and making room for the personal within the professional have been raising the bar for organizational operations.

The traditional route is not always the best route, so find the route that fits your journey.

"Lastly, freedom of expression or the freedom to express your true capacity and capability, and all that you are able to bring to this world from a place of legacy.” - Jesyka Simpson

Keep in mind that your voice is not a sacrifice or a target, rather it is a way to heal and free others. Own your own power. Own all that you are and all that you have to give.

TRAUMA IS THE DEFAULT SYSTEM.

But investing in your teams and leadership to foster a healthy thriving environment where everyone feels safe, heard, and valued within the work culture... That is a very realistic goal or rather a necessity for organizations today.

At Grow Dialogue we help our clients cultivate these very aspects of a thriving work culture to instill a sense of community with effective communication, authentic dialogue, and high performance collaboration.

Check out our feedback OR tell us about your experiences of workplace trauma

Grow Dialogue | www.growdialogue.com

This article features: Jesyka Simpson & Francesca Walker via a 15 Five Event