Workplaces are subject to negativity and toxicity. While it’s one thing to try and cope with the negatives, they can eventually take a toll on someone’s psyche. For example, they can manifest as:
- Stress
- Isolation
- Burnout
- Sadness
- Depression
- Perfectionism
As a result, employees affected by negativity can’t do their best at their jobs. So, how can your company solve this problem? Through what’s called emotional vulnerability.
What Is Emotional Vulnerability?
“Emotional vulnerability is when you take people’s feelings into account when it comes to your company or organization,” says Olivia Hemlington, an arts blogger at State of Writing and UK Writings. “While vulnerability sounds like a negative, it’s natural for people to have feelings, including negative ones. From personal mistakes to weaknesses, vulnerability can take on any form. However, when acknowledged in the workplace, employees won’t need to ‘hide’ their emotions or cope with negative triggers.”So, when emotional vulnerability is presented properly, you’ll see these results in the workplace:
- People apologizing for their mistakes.
- Employees coming to work despite a negative atmosphere.
- People taking part in uncomfortable conversations for the sake of workplace discussion.
- Coworkers confiding in each other.
- Mutual respect among employees.
- Teams learning from their mistakes and embracing ways to improve and grow.
- Employees being comfortable with asking for a break every so often.
- Employees asking for help whenever they feel that they can’t solve a problem.
In addition, when companies embrace vulnerability, they can relate to your customers. In other words, consumers will see that your company is human-centered, rather than an uninviting entity.
Why Emotional Vulnerability?
Believe it or not, emotional vulnerability is essential to a company because it allows for workplace success. Everyone in the company should be able to have feelings, rather than force themselves to be robotic or emotionless. Emotional vulnerability allows for:- Authenticity toward consumers
- Strong connections with coworkers and supervisors
- A sense of empowerment and freedom in one’s work
Let’s take a closer look at the positive impact of emotional vulnerability:
1. Builds trust.
First, consumers must be able to trust a company before they buy something. So, when authenticity is vibrant in a company, people won’t see you as a faceless entity. Rather, consumers will be more trusting in a company if they can interact with you like they interact with friends or family.
Trust is what thrives in the workplace. When people can trust their coworkers and manager with their feelings, a strong bond is created between coworkers and between the employee and supervisors.
In general, trust allows people to:
- Set healthy boundaries for the sake of creating mutual respect.
- Apologize for their mistakes and take responsibility for their actions.
- Work in a judgment-free environment.
- Rely on each other and be reliable to others.
2. Emphasizes business values.
“Having values is essential to any business,” says Reggie Carlisle, a lifestyle writer at Australian Reviewer and Write My Australia. “Business values remind employees why they’re working at the company to begin with. But with emotional vulnerability, business values can be emphasized to where employees understand the importance of working, while the company acknowledges the fact that no one is perfect. These values should only ask that employees work hard and never give up.”
So, when looking at your business values as is, think about how you can add emotional vulnerability into the mix. How can you ensure an understanding workplace?
3. Promotes great teamwork.
Finally, teamwork is a productive part of a company. Rather than having to be robotic in your contribution to a team, emotional vulnerability is needed for employees to be comfortable in contributing to discussions, projects, and other work-related tasks.
Here’s how emotional vulnerability can work on a team:
- No one is condemned or silenced for speaking their peace or contributing to a project.
- People agree to disagree, while having helpful discussions.
- Team members can be honest in their communications.
- Employees’ diverse backgrounds are always respected.
- Team members can rule out inadequate solutions in favor of more efficient ones.
- Employees are comfortable overall with working on the team.
Conclusion
Ultimately, emotional vulnerability can be a godsend for companies that are looking to make their workplaces more employee-friendly. When employees can express their feelings and ask for help, they’re able to do their work with little to no problems.Plus, emotional vulnerability allows supervisors to better understand their employees. When employees can trust supervisors with their feelings, employees will then be comfortable with expressing their concerns whenever something like burnout or frustration comes up.
Overall, vulnerability not only applies to personal relationships and development in a person, but also offers a crucial aspect of professional work etiquette. So, when you invite emotional vulnerability into your company, you’re opening doors to innovation, creativity, and productivity.