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How to be vulnerable at work
Without spilling every thing By Brené Brown
How
open
should
you
be
with
your
coworkers? These days many workplaces are encouraging their employees to be vulnerable and authentic, but opening up at work can feel precarious. If we open up the wrong way, it can sometimes backfire but vulnerability can also bring us closer to other people and make teams stronger. The key, according to author, podcast host and vulnerability researcher Brené
Vulnerability minus boundaries is not vulnerability. Brené Brown: So I would say you’ll never succeed in a performative culture if you don’t have some of the things that really are vulnerable, like curiosity. If you pretend like you know everything and you’re not a learner, that house of cards is going to collapse at some point. What I think people are asking is: “How much is too much to share about my feelings?” And that always leads me to this very simple sentence:
Brown, is establishing boundaries.
Vulnerability minus boundaries is not vulnerability.
On a special episode of the TED podcast WorkLife,
Are you sharing your emotions and your experiences to
Brené and organizational psychologist Adam Grant talk about what vulnerability in the workplace really means. Here’s an excerpt from their perspective-shifting con-
move your work, connection or relationship forward? Or are you working your s—t out with somebody? Work is not a place to do that.
versation:
I’ll give you an example. I was working with a group of
Adam Grant: One of the fears that a lot of people carry
came up to me and said, ”I’m going to be vulnerable.
around is that if they’re vulnerable at the wrong time or with the wrong person, especially if they’re in a more performance-oriented culture at work that they might not be seen as competent. How do I figure out what the appropriate amount of vulnerability is?
newly funded CEOs from Silicon Valley. One of them
I’m going to tell my investors and my employees, ‘We’re in over our head. I don’t know what I’m doing, and we’re bleeding money.”
