“The need for connection and community is primal, as fundamental as the need for air, water, and food.” Dean Ornish

When you are the leader, you have the ability to “make things happen”.  Your position provides a level of authority that enables you to determine the course and direction the organization takes.  By extension, you have the ability to direct the expected behaviors and performance of the members of that team.  Should the individuals choose not to follow the direction you have established, they can either leave the team or you can help them leave.  Both exit plans involve their separation from the team, and if it’s a paid position then their livelihood is impacted.

There’s a difference between driving someone somewhere and leading them somewhere.  You probably clearly understand that forcing someone to become something they’re not doesn’t typically end well.  It doesn’t end well for the individual, nor does it end well for the team.  There are consequences to your actions.

At the most basic level, your attempts at making someone do something they don’t want to do, or feel ill-prepared to do, can create resentment and fear on their part.  Nobody likes to be forced to do anything.  It’s basic human nature to push back when someone is trying to make you do something you don’t want to do.

Thou Shalt Not Control!

The feeling of being controlled certainly doesn’t support a belief that the other person supports you.  It absolutely doesn’t make you feel as if the other person is for you.  In fact, if someone isn’t for you then they are more than likely against you.  And even if they’re not actively against you they could be quickly.

Individuals who believe, that in a position of authority, they have the right to force people to do something they don’t want (or are afraid) to do create an environment of manipulation.  You may be trying to do something that in the end is good for the team, but forcing the outcome can be destructive.  While you may not intentionally be trying to manipulate the outcome, it certainly comes across that way. 

Simply put, people want to feel as if they are heard and understood.  Even when the final action taken to implement a plan doesn’t go the way they want, they do feel some level of relief in knowing that you heard them and understand their feelings.  Ensuring that a follower feels heard and understands isn’t simply a matter of allowing them to speak and then blowing right past their concerns.

Leadership vs. Drivership

When you intentionally take the time to hear and understand them you create an opening for connection.  Its during this time that you have the ability to help them see, and take, the next step closer to where you need them to go.  Helping people move to the next step is leading, but forcing them to take the next step is driving.  It’s called leadership not drivership. 

Leadership consistently involves moving people out of their comfort zones.  Quite often, this results in them going places they never imagined themselves being.  It’s not unusual for these to be places they were afraid to go either.  What we know is comfortable and what we don’t know is scary.

Be the Rock!

You are out front and you see the horizon better than those following.  Not because you are smarter or more talented than anyone else, but because you are in more optimal seat.  In that seat you not only have a responsibility to move the organization forward, but also to create an environment where people feel safe and can reach their maximum potential.

As author and speaker John Maxwell says “leaders know the way, show the way, and go the way” not drive the way.  You are the one responsible in creating the environment in which people feel that they trust you enough to follow you someplace they’ve never been before.  You are responsible for being the rock on which they feel secure enough to take the next step.

Benefits

According to the American Psychological Association, the benefits of creating a psychologically safe work environment goes beyond impacting the employee (psychological safety at work).  Leaders who build these types of environments:

• Make people feel valued.
• Reduce anxiety in the individual and team.
• Encourage team members to to take calculated risks.
• Increase employee retention.
• Encourage clear and honest feedback.

How to!

Building a psychologically safe environment doesn’t happen by accident though.  Like a beautiful rose garden, these types of environments require constant effort and intention on the part of the gardener.  As a leader this requires you to:

• Check yourself!  It starts with you!
• Build effective orientation and training programs for new members.
• Intentionally build positive relationships (with the entire team).
• Operate in the open and don’t hide anything.
• Communicate constantly across multiple mediums.

You’re Responsible!

The creation of a psychologically safe environment isn’t something that happens by accident.  It requires intentional effort on your part, but being intentional doesn’t mean controlling.  You are the one responsible for creating the pathway forward, not them.  You are the one responsible for creating the environment in which they feel safe in taking the next step, not them.  Without you doing the critical part of ensuring an environment of psychological safety, they will be severely limited in reaching their maximum potential.

“Lacking a sense of psychological safety, people shut down, often without realizing it. They are less likely to seek or accept feedback and also less likely to experiment, to discuss errors, and to speak up about potential or actual problems.”– Christine Porath