Vulner - a - what? Being Your Authentic Self In The Workplace


As of the last few years, vulnerability in the workplace has been a topic of conversation. The conversation of when to be vulnerable, with whom to be vulnerable and how to be vulnerable can all be tricky and confusing.

I’m not sure if you’ve ever taken stock of what occurs during a single work day but it’s a lot. In a span of 8 hours, you can feel an array of emotions from anger, to disappointment, to excitement back to anger. Being in this tornado of emotions all day, week, month and year can and does take a toll on employees. On top of this, we have an additional 8 hours at home which can present to us the same types of emotions so how do we handle it all?

And the answer to that is being vulnerable.

Being vulnerable in the workplace is saying to your co-workers, boss, or team your current state of presence and trusting they will respect and support you.

For example, you’ve just received an update that your proposal for your project was rejected by senior management. You’ve spent 6 weeks on your presentation and felt great about the work you had put together. Once you’ve received the news, you feel a wave of disappointment and anger.

Within moments of reading the email, your team approaches you with an incident that needs attention but your not in the state of mind to give this incident the thought it needs to give a clear answer. What do you do?

When you approach situations with vulnerability, your response can be something like this: “Thanks for looping me in on this incident. I understand you need support at the moment but I’ve just received some updates that I need to take some time to digest. I trust you and the team to know the best course of action to take based on your history with client and will be available to support you in the next 30 mins”

You’ve just communicated to your team that you can’t be their sounding board at the moment and are not in the right mental space to manage a client issue. You’ve opened up and stated  that you trust their ability, work and talent to manage this incident on their own. You’ve just become vulnerable with your team through acknowledging your trust with them.

That is vulnerability - admitting when you need support and trusting the people around you to give you the support you need when you ask for it.

Vulnerability is not easy and not a street you should walk alone. Being vulnerable is a journey best taken with more people that want to support and show up for you the best way that they can. Vulnerability allows for honest, transparent and trusting conversations that allow your communication to be fluid for everyone to be and perform at their best.