To admit that you’re afraid gives you strength.” — Counselor Troi to Lieutenant Worf (Star Trek: TNG)
As a leader, being/feeling/appearing vulnerable can be uncomfortable and make us doubt ourselves. Strong emotions aren’t typically on display in work environments. That hasn’t necessarily been the case since the world has flipped upside down. Many of us are working from home full time, for the first time. Seeing your coworkers in their homes on video conferences is surprisingly humanizing. More so than when they are working from home and calling into a conference at work. Seeing every person you work with, their homes, pets, kids, hobbies (i.e. guitars on the wall, knitting projects in the background), makes everyone a little more human. A little more vulnerable.
How can we, as leaders, provide our teams with the compassionate, empathetic support they need in times of difficulty, while also taking care of ourselves? In this talk, I’ll focus on strategies to ensure you’re providing thoughtful leadership to your team, and help your own leadership understand you and your team’s needs.
