Sam Bobertz, Managing Director, StarMaker HK, conducts the second in a series of dialogues with Teresa Norton, the company’s founder (and Sam’s mother).
Sam: On the issue of psychological safety—the environments that are created to give individuals the permission to share their authentic selves, true voices, feelings and ideas—I’d like to explore your experience as a coach. As somebody who has experience in the theatre and who’s worked with several leaders, what do you identify as the conditions that really speak to creating a psychologically and safe environment to capture a few takeaways that people can apply in their lives, both in and out of the workplace.
Teresa: I think that a psychologically safe space definitely involves having the most senior person in the room making themselves accessible. There can be resistance to the term “vulnerable” because they equate that to being a weak leader. So let’s just say “accessible” because it’s not about the word; it’s about its essence, the meaning of it. It’s about being willing to bring your whole self into the room with your team. While part of this is to do with physicality—being warmer, smiling more, paying attention to things like how you’re sitting and eye contact, it also means sharing more about what is challenging for you. For example, being willing to acknowledge that you don’t “have all the answers”. Everybody has difficult things going on in their lives, particularly now, and acknowledging this is a way of letting the team know “We’re in this together”.
Sam: It’s interesting looking at that because I think most people these days understand the idea of psychological safety, about making yourself accessible and available. Bosses have been saying, “I’ve got an open-door policy,” for decades, but it’s never been about the door. It’s about the extent to which people actually feel they can feedback, share good news and bad news with the boss. So the theory is the same, but I think the conversation around psychological safety has moved from “just be nice” to a more academic exploration of “why” we need to create the psychological conditions for an optimal work environment, with the emphasis on “optimal”. We “speak to” these conditions, but I don’t know if people feel able to make themselves genuinely available. We know the difference between theory and practice, and I still see, even in my generation, people holding back or resisting that idea of just making yourself accessible, speaking your truth, really bringing your whole self into the room.
Teresa: It can be a harder gear change for leaders who don’t feel confident, comfortable letting go of the reigns, and letting down their guard.
Sam: There’s no shame in that. Can you talk more about ‘shame’ because I think in terms of creating psychologically safe environments for other people, it’s in part reckoning with your own sense of inadequacy and insecurity?
Teresa: Absolutely right, and no shame in getting help overcoming those obstacles. Going back 20 years, coaching was extremely “hush, hush”. Clients rarely told anybody that they were working with a coach. That’s changing. It’s not viewed as some remedial “fix”; it’s now recognised as just part of ongoing leadership development. And now leaders are developing coaching skills in themselves.
Sam: What do you model as a coach that leaders can take away and use in developing their own coaching skills?
Teresa: My approach is somewhat unconventional because I work with leaders the same way I worked as a theatre director with actors, but the idea is the same. The coach is there to... the word that comes up for me is “provoke” a conversation with the coachee by asking the questions that allow them to safely unpack the things that are difficult so together we can strategise new ways of thinking and acting as a leader. One of the hallmarks of a great coach is that the person being coached does not feel judged. So that you are creating an environment where you’re not assessing the other person’s capabilities, you’re simply there to help turn the volume up on the things that naturally work well for them and guide them to the areas where maybe they need to turn the volume down on some things.
Sam: To suspend judgment, you have to be able to at least accept other people as they are. To accept other people, you have to accept realities about yourself. And to be able to interject in there a little bit of forgiveness...of yourself.
Teresa: Absolutely, creating that optimal work environment—that safe space for people on all levels to feel they are understood and can contribute—begins with leaders making themselves accessible and interested in others. That leadership journey begins with self-knowledge, self-acceptance and self-compassion. You can’t give away what you haven’t got!
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
