Does your team feel safe to grow? The Colonel said, “One of the most important things you can provide to your team is safety—physical safety, emotional safety, intellectual safety. They need to know you are their net.”
As a kid, I was a climber. Trees, rock formations, towers I built out of sundry garage items—if it was going up, I would climb it. The problem with that was – I never quite reasoned how I would get back down until I was already at the top. When we were stationed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, there was a sprawling oak tree in a field across from our house. I was always in that tree, and Dad and I had a running bet as to how high I could climb. One day he came home from work to find me in the tree. I’d been sitting there for about an hour waiting for him to get home. I told him that I wanted him to see how high I had gone, but the reality was I had no idea how I was going to get back down!
Dad said, “I bet you could get to that next branch up there if you really tried.”
“I don’t know… what if I fall?”
“Then I’ll catch you. Go ahead, give it a try. I’ve got ya.”
Of course, I made it to that higher branch, and then The Colonel stood at the foot of the tree and spotted me for about 30 minutes as I navigated my way back to the ground. Afterward, we talked through the routes I tried that had failed initially, in comparison to the route that finally got me to the ground. I would never have reached that higher branch or felt willing to try to get down from my precarious perch had I not known he was there to catch me.
As a complement to believing in others first, it’s important to let them know that they’re in a space where it’s safe to fail. Your team needs to know there won’t be negative consequences if they try and fail; otherwise, they will never try. Pushing past what you know you are capable of requires the assurance of a secure cushion to catch you when you fall short. Your team needs to have the security of knowing you’ve created a safe environment in order for them to push beyond their own preconceived limitations. They need to know you are their safety net.
Read Lauren’s Whitepaper on The Nine Essentials of Significant Leadership.
