Cultivating conditions for post-traumatic growth
In the past few years, it’s been hard to escape the impact of sudden layoffs, working in a hostile environment, feeling like AI may displace you, or burnout…to name only a few triggers we all face in the workplace. As I coach leaders who are navigating these challenging times, I’m discovering how some have figured out how to guide their teams forward. What are they doing differently?
I can’t help but think of the little ones I spend so much time with every day. When I missed spending time with them one afternoon last week, here’s what one of them asked me the next day.
“Nana, how are you feeling today?”
No blame. No assumption I didn’t want to be with them. Simply curious.
Trauma‑informed leadership isn’t a certification, per se, or an additional job title. It’s a way of leading that expects people are carrying more than they might reveal. An understanding that your words, decisions, and behaviors can either worsen the situation or help create conditions for healing and growth.
Shifting to curiosity rather than blame
The shift I’m witnessing is in how leaders relate to their teams. In a conversation with a senior director this month, she shared how a member of her team hadn’t shown up for a key launch.
“I knew this wasn’t like him, so after we got our product off the ground, I set up a 1:1 with him. It turns out his wife had just been diagnosed with a serious medical condition and he was distraught. I only got this information because I told him he was missed and wondered how he was doing.”
She chose to come alongside this developer and ask open ended questions, instead of assigning blame. Her leadership paved the way for him to return to his role in the critical work they’re doing.
For the record, this doesn’t mean leaders go around excusing harmful behavior or avoiding difficult performance conversations. This leader showed me she had to hold two truths at once. People are responsible for their actions, and those actions are shaped by stories and experiences, some of which involve real harm. Leaders who stay curious and respond in ways that lower threat instead of raising it have the chance to see whether post‑traumatic growth can happen in real time.
Looking into practices from trauma-informed principles like safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration and empowerment, I’d like to share three scenarios. These might be ways for you, as a leader, to have better communication, understanding and forward movement with your team.
Trauma-informed reminders to support your team
- Safety
Do your people feel safe in your presence, on your team and in the org?
Here’s how to make sure you’re creating this place.
- Be clear about expectations and changes.
This mean your people aren’t continually guessing about what’s going to happen, causing unnecessary stress.
- Share what you know, even if it’s not much at this moment.
Updates matter, it signals to your team that you’re sharing what you’re able to share and not intentionally causing them undue harm.
- Keep the cadence of your 1:1s.
By sticking to your regular meetings, your people know that the work you all must accomplish remains on track.
- Observe with clear communication
Read the room: how are your people showing up with the hard news, difficult situations, uncertainty they’re facing?
Here are two approaches I’ve found to be helpful to start a conversation.
- “We made this decision as a result of….and I know it’s been painful and destabilizing for many of you.”
- “We moved fast and didn’t communicate well. This has clearly cost us the trust of some of you. I am sorry.”
- Connect with your team to restore their participation
Trauma often involves a loss of control. Leaders who partner with their teams can restore their ability to make decisions. This, in turn, helps people find a way to regain agency during the uncertainty.
Consider bringing your team into the decision-making process.
- Offer options, where you have flexibility.
“Here are two ways we could approach this, what are your thoughts?”
- Involve the team in designing new initiatives.
“Given what we’ve been through, what needs to change in how we work?”
- Allow people to choose their pace with the changes.
Even if the change itself is non-negotiable.
These reminders might already be elements in your leadership style. And as you might gather, they aren’t designed to cover up what’s causing the trauma. They’re designed to help your team avoid reliving how powerless they are feeling.
Cultivating post-traumatic growth
When you lead with consistent and trustworthy behavior, your team figures out that you’re truly working with them. How? Well, you’re most likely preparing for your 1:1s, following through on your commitments and returning to the challenging issues, instead of sweeping them under the rug.
To do this well, leaders must recognize when their team is functioning in protection mode. Then they can choose to lead in ways that reduces threat and increases safety/trust, paving the way for clear communication.
These conditions are what allow people to grow in how they see themselves and the work they do together, even after facing significant workplace trauma.
Stay curious.
I have a question for you: when you see people on your team living in protection mode, what are you doing to lower the threat and increase safety?
