Every person is different in the workplace. Some are very open with their emotions and feel things deeply, whereas others can be more pragmatic. This is the case at any level and there’s no right or wrong when it comes to emotions, in fact it is hugely beneficial to have both types of individual within your organisation, below I outline some ways in which to use vulnerability as your power and to encourage it within your teams and also your client relationships.
Be honest – It is not a sign of weakness – It is essential to be true to yourself as a person. Be honest and transparent about how you deal with stress so your team understand what you need in order to do your job well. Some people need a cry, others need a solo walk around the block, others need to talk it through. Each person is different and it’s important you know yourself well enough to express what it is you need so your team and superiors can support you.
Create a culture that isn’t afraid to fail – One of the most important things in the workplace is owning up to when you’ve done something wrong. And this needs to come from the top to create a culture that isn’t scared to fail and be honest about it. The test and learn approach isn’t just for product teams, it needs to be a culture across the organisation. Yes this requires a huge amount of vulnerability and shining a light on something negative, but nobody learns from mistakes otherwise.
Encourage vulnerability with clients – This is of course client-dependent and works better with long term clients who trust you, your product and your knowledge, but the more you both understand the real pain points, the stronger your relationship will be and the greater the impact you will have. The test and learn culture is critical to this and success comes from openness and vulnerability in that customer relationship, both ways.
And we always encourage clients to promote vulnerability in the mentors they recruit . When mentors are writing their bios, they’re always much more successful if they are open, honest and vulnerable with potential mentees. Being transparent about failings and being honest about how they got to where they are always makes them more approachable when mentoring. It enables mentees to open up much more about a problem they are tackling, whether that’s writing the perfect CV, preparing for an upcoming interview or improving their strategic focus – we find mentees bring much more information to their mentors, if their mentors have led with openness and vulnerability.
Have healthy boundaries
This is linked to the culture you create, but make sure you have healthy boundaries that lead from the top. Being vulnerable is important but remember boundaries are essential too, your vulnerability needs to predominantly focus on your work self, try to avoid bringing too many of your out of work problems into work (obviously this may not be possible and that’s where HR really needs to support!).
