Hey. It’s Stacy Rocklein. I want to share an experience I had today and share a really powerful tool to use as a leader.
I had the honor to train an amazing group of people today. I started out by asking them to introduce themselves and to tell us about a challenge they faced in the past and how they overcame that challenge.
The first few people to respond were members of the leadership team and the owner. In fact, she (the owner) started and shared really vulnerable moments to the group and how she overcame those.
After they shared these vulnerable moments, a super cool thing happened in this group. Everybody felt safe enough and clearly had trust in each other, because they shared amazing stories.
And I’m reminded that being vulnerable…I call it a tool but really it’s a mindset or a practice…but being vulnerable is so important as a leader. We spend so much time trying to be the expert and be the one who knows everything, because people are following us. But there is something really important about showing your tender side and letting people get to know you, get to know you in an intimate way. Because that bonds people. That bonds your team to you. It also establishes a climate of safety and trust and allows them to create bonds between themselves and intimacy in the team even beyond you.
It’s not always easy but as I was sitting there with these amazing people with such profound stories…they don’t even know me and they’re willing to share like that.
That’s their leader. That’s their leader having been vulnerable in the past and leading with that today. Creating an environment that was just stunning and remarkable.
It’s a good lesson for all leaders. In the scheme of humanity, you might be in charge and responsible but we’re all peers. We’re all equal in that way. People want to believe and feel like you’re accessible. Vulnerability helps with that. It allows people to feel like they can connect with you and get in there a little bit. That helps people get invested in the relationship and invested in what you’re doing.
Certainly taking this to our personal lives as well, vulnerability is how we establish intimacy and how we create relationships that have a connection.
That’s my insight for the day. It was an awesome day with an amazing team.
I hope you have an amazing day, too!