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Kamini Wood works with high achievers on letting go of stress, overwhelm and anxiety that comes with trying to do everything, and trying to do it all perfectly
Hi there, and welcome to another episode of Rise Up Live Joy Your Way, whether it's morning, afternoon, or evening. Thank you for spending some time here with me. So I'm curious when you hear the word leader. What's the first image that comes to mind? Someone tough, unwavering, and always in control.
Or perhaps someone who never shows weakness and always keeps their emotions tightly bottled up. But what if I told you that the strongest leaders aren't those who hide behind walls, they're the ones who [00:01:00] have the courage to show vulnerability. Today I wanna explore how embracing vulnerability can help actually revolutionize your leadership style, strengthen your relationships, and inspire.
We found trust and respect within your team. So let's start by clarifying what vulnerability actually is. Particularly in the context of leadership, vulnerability is not weakness, nor does it mean oversharing or burdening others with every emotional detail of your life. According to researcher, renowned author, Brene Brown, vulnerability is about uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure.
It's the courage to show up authentically and also without what control over the outcome. So while vulnerability such as vulnerability could be misunderstood as weakness, really that's an outdated idea. When we think about vulnerability in modern terms, in modern psychology, research actually consistently shows that leaders who openly acknowledge their mistakes, uncertainties, and even their own emotional experiences, foster significantly stronger trust and [00:02:00] loyalty amongst their teams.
And I would like to say that even in parenting, when we show up vulnerably and authentically and share those emotions with our kids, it actually does lead to a stronger bond between parent and child. But let's go into the research for just a second. Research published in the Harvard Business Review underscores that vulnerability in leadership establishes emotional safety.
I create an environment where team members feel secure enough to innovate and voice their thoughts and collaborate authentically. Leaders who show vulnerability encourage a culture of transparency and mutual support, and it boosts overall performance and job satisfaction. So to just illustrate this, one of, uh, my clients, a senior executive who had initially believed that showing up with vulnerability would actually undermine her authority and she'd appear weak and she worked really hard to.
Maintain this image of control. But her team felt disconnected and distant and they were very cautious and kind of timid around her. So [00:03:00] she realized something had to change. So as we were working together, we explored that. Root belief that vulnerability equals weakness. We kind of identified where it came from, and then through our coaching sessions, we recognized that her vulnerability stemmed, or her fear of it stemmed from the worry that she would be looked at as incapable.
So she slowly began opening up and acknowledging these uncertainties and acknowledging them even with her team and when. That happened, it actually built openness and dramatically improved their team cohesion, and it created an environment where they were actually starting to trust her and genuine collaboration happened.
So why does this happen? From a psychological perspective, vulnerability and leadership triggers positive. So positive social emotional response. According to neuroscience research, when leaders are vulnerable. Actually humanizes them and it makes them relatable and it fosters empathy, connection, and trust.
And our brains are wired to respond positively to that genuine, genuine vulnerability because it signals honesty, it [00:04:00] signals authenticity. It signals actual courage and bravery to be be honest with each other. And those are all essential qualities for deep and lasting trust. Vulnerability also encourages emotional intelligence within teams.
So when leaders model that openness and that emotional honesty, they normalize the behaviors. And so team members become more comfortable sharing their own vulnerabilities and they also will share their challenges, which then creates an atmosphere where if there are challenges or problems, they can be addressed openly and with some compassion.
And respect. So how do you start embracing this in your leadership journey? Well, here are three strategies you can think of very. The very first one is practice admitting mistakes openly. If you slip up, acknowledge it without defensiveness or excuses, just use it as an opportunity to show accountability and how you're gonna grow through it.
Second, share your uncertainties. You don't have to know everything. And sometimes the most powerful thing you can say as a leader is, I'm actually not sure. Maybe [00:05:00] we could figure this out together, because that invites collaboration and it also normalizes that we're not always gonna have the answers. And then the third is to ask for feedback and actually genuinely listen to the feedback.
Check in with your team, ask specific open-ended questions about what their experiences are working with you, and then be open to receiving that constructive feedback. And thank them for their honesty. Because what that happen, what happens with that is we're demonstrating respect, humility, and also the willingness to grow alongside our team and not appear that we have all the answers.
The strongest leaders aren't the ones who never falter. They're the ones who are brave enough and courageous enough to admit when they do, because what happens is they also inspire others to be willing to make a mistake and grow through it because the truth. Truth is none of us are perfect anyway. So embracing vulnerability doesn't diminish your leadership.
It actually magnifies your strength and multiplies your influence. If you wanna talk about how coaching could help you maybe shift from your [00:06:00] previous leadership style. If you're feeling like it's not working for you into how you could maybe step into a more vulnerable, emotionally intelligent leadership style and wanna see how coaching could help you make, make that shift.
Feel free to reach out to me anytime@coachwithKamini.com. And until next time, stay well.