INTHEBLACK March 2025 - Magazine - Page 55
“Being yourself at work is how you’re going to get job
satisfaction. If you can’t be comfortable in your own skin or
play to your strengths, then it could be a case of the wrong fit.”
DR AMANDA FERGUSON
Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead and The Five
Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
as starting points, then “pull the threads”.
“Get your leadership team in a room
and ask: ‘Where are you putting up the veil?
Where are you posturing and bolstering
and not bringing all of you? Where are
you judging?’”
While cultural change is always a
challenging undertaking, it’s in a business’s
best interest to foster psychological safety
in the workplace. “It’s up to business leaders
to create a culture that fosters vulnerability
and the ability to have true real-time
feedback,” Green says. “You cannot have full
creativity and peak performance without
a culture of psychological safety.”
THE WRONG FIT
Organisational psychologist Dr Amanda
Ferguson believes a work persona can serve
a valuable purpose in certain circumstances.
She says it’s customary to adopt more
formal behaviour in the workplace, to signify
professionalism and respect for authority.
“Behaving in a professional manner shows that
an employee is taking their role seriously.”
However, Ferguson, who is the host of the
Psych for Life podcast, says someone who feels
incapable of being their true self at work might
be in the wrong role. “Being yourself at work is
how you’re going to get job satisfaction. If you
can’t be comfortable in your own skin or play
to your strengths, then it could be a case of
the wrong fit.” ■
READ
an article on the
power of vulnerability
at work
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to this story
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