Series Introduction
We want better leaders and we want to become better leaders. Unfortunately, commonly referenced statistics suggest that the majority of leaders are falling significantly below expectations.
Improving our leadership and that of others should be a priority.
In this series I am going to make a bold claim that I believe is key to transformationally elevating our leadership effectiveness. The claim is:
Leadership ineffectiveness is rooted in leaders’ trauma
If this is true, it has a very powerful implication:
In order to help leaders significantly transform, we need to help them heal from their past trauma
I invite you to join me over the next set of articles to explore this claim, its implications, and ultimately learn how we can help ourselves and other leaders heal to unlock the full potential in our leadership effectiveness.
This week, I’ll start laying the groundwork by exploring: What is trauma?
What is Trauma?
To understand what trauma is and ultimately the negative effect that trauma has on leaders, we must start by talking about stress.
Stress is not bad. Our body and its nervous system are designed to help us experience stress and recover from stress. For example, if we find ourselves in a potentially dangerous situation, our nervous system will shoot adrenaline into our body, preparing us to unleash the Jason Bourne within us. Once we are out of this situation, our nervous system will work to help us regulate.
Unfortunately, our body and its nervous system cannot take on an unlimited stress load. In fact, everyone has a different stress bearing capacity.
When the stress that we experience exceeds our stress-bearing capacity, our body’s nervous system is pushed beyond its limits, and the consequences are quite severe and semi-permanent.
In the next couple of articles, I will dive deeper and more specifically into these consequences. But, to concisely summarize these consequences, trauma causes our stress response system, which includes the wiring in our brain, to be overly sensitive and inaccurate.
A healthy stress response system will accurately interpret dangerous situations as being dangerous and safe situations as being safe.
But, a trauma-affected stress response system will commonly interpret safe situations as dangerous (for example, we might interpret admitting that we are wrong as being dangerous) and dangerous situations as being safe (such as engaging in drug or alcohol abuse).
All this being said, trauma is not about what one experiences. For example, a fire at a school can be very traumatic for a teacher or student, but it may not be traumatic at all for the fire fighters attending to the fire. Instead, trauma is about experiencing significant and inhibiting changes to our stress response system.
Three Sources of Trauma
Research on trauma has found that there are three primary sources of trauma, or three primary causes of stress response system deficiencies. These are:
- Prenatal stress – This most commonly occurs when a pregnant mother engages in drug or alcohol use or experiences physical abuse
- Significant stress – These are single-situation experiences that are intensely stressful. Possible examples include experiencing physical or sexual abuse or seeing someone murdered or raped.
- Prolonged stress – This occurs when someone experiences prolonged stress (can range from low to high) that is uncontrollable and unpredictable. Possible examples include neglect or poor workplace culture.
Trauma Statistics
Research estimates suggest that 75% of people have experienced one of the three forms of trauma above. This means that most of us likely have stress response systems that are inhibited. And, most of the people around us do as well.
Knowing of these statistics, we should not be surprised that most leaders have stress response systems that are inhibited. And, what I am going to suggest through the rest of this series is that it is these faulty stress response systems that cause leaders to commonly operate in detrimental ways. I am personally learning this more and more as I awaken more fully to my trauma and role it currently plays in how I see and make meaning of my world.
While it is never fun to talk about trauma, there is something very beautiful about making this connection between trauma and leader ineffectiveness:
Leadership development becomes about helping people to heal
For that reason, I am excited to engage in this series with you.
If this is something that is resonating with you, please (1) let me know and/or (2) share this with others. If this is something that is not resonating with you, I would love any perspectives or information that might suggest to me that this line of reasoning is off-base.
8 Responses
I understand how major trauma can shape a person; many inspirational speakers have built their platforms on their stories of overcoming trauma, connecting it to resilience, and defining ways forward.
I think cumulative or relational trauma plays a much larger role in many leaders at all levels of industry. These subtle actions of exclusion on the playground, mocking in the classroom, and uninformed parenting invalidate acceptance of our selves and lead to maladaptive coping, such as an unhealthy need for attention or rejection of being wrong.
If your statistics that 75% of the population is exposed to stress or trauma at any point, that means that it is an expected aspect of human existence—those 25% who live idyllic, untouched lives are the exception, rather than the norm. We don’t have 75% of the population behaving badly as leaders, either. I love the concept of positive deviance, so what are the leaders who have experienced trauma as you have defined it doing? We know where the rest of the 75% of the population needs to be: in therapy, or at least talking to someone who can listen without judgment, such as clergy or trained lay people.
What a great comment! Let me pull out a few things about it that stood out to and resonated with me. First, experiencing trauma is the norm, not the exception. Second, the consequences are not all-out debilitating for most people. Third, the place where we most commonly see the negative effects of trauma isn’t with extreme things like drug addiction, but with the little things like exclusion and mocking.
I think it is powerful to understand these things.
I might push back a little bit on your statement that 75% of the population isn’t behaving badly as leaders. There is a statistic that suggests that 75% of employees state that their manager is the most stressful part of their job. Also, 65% of employees state that they would rather have a new boss over more pay. These statistics are likely the result of some “big things,” but mainly “little things” like exclusion or mocking.
I wouldn’t necessarily go so far to say that 75% of leaders are bad leaders. But, I do feel comfortable saying that almost all leaders could use some refinement in their leadership that can likely be connected back to trauma (myself included).
Let me know if you have any other further thoughts about this, Mary.
Ryan,
I believe you are spot on, though I wish it were not true. As a nurse, I see a lot of extremes. People coping exceptionally well with horrible situations and others completely melting down because their food tray was not perfect. I know the food tray is not the issue, it is something else. We have a term called Trauma-Informed-Care or TIC, which recognizes and works to respect the past, lived lives of all individuals. We have all experienced some trauma. Some extreme, some less so. Some cope well, some just maintain socially appropriate behavior and some are unable to control their behavior and act out.
When I saw your statistic, I was not surprised but saddened. And agree, it is less often the extreme behavior, rather the insidious behaviors – the put-downs, the targeting of others (esp. those less able to defend themselves), the ‘righteous’ anger to shut down any civil discourse or any dissenting ideas. From what I am seeing, in the hospital, in our society and the world at large – trauma is being manifested more and more by anger. The results are not pretty and far from what all major religions or ethicists would teach.
I look forward to your ongoing series. To being challenged and more importantly, to finding actionable solutions to help respond with firm kindness and open a worldwide dialogue focused on healing and empathy. This is far harder than throwing more stones. Thank you for taking on this work!
Well said, Deanna! I appreciate you sharing your experience.
I was struck by your comment that trauma commonly manifests as “‘righteous’ anger to shut down any civil discourse or any dissenting ideas.”
That rings true to me. Shutting down discourse and ideas is a protection mechanism that is commonly a byproduct of past trauma- or stress-related experiences.
I love this statement: “Leadership development becomes about helping people to heal.”
That is a very different angle from what other leadership gurus usually teach.
I’d love to learn more about this, Ryan.
Thanks!
I am glad you feel this way. I clearly do as well 🙂
Keep up with the series, and let me know what you think as we get through it.
Thank you!
I find it refreshing and intriguing that you are focusing on trauma as it relates to leadership. I have been diving into trauma as it relates to racism, racialized trauma, and healing within oneself so that we can better interact with others in a healthy way with compassion and curiosity. The same goes for any of our identities. Trauma is carried with us at a cellular level, can harm us physically even though we are not experiencing it directly anymore. I am learning ways to notice and identify it and then work through it so that it can pass through and out so that I do not carry it. How many of us in leadership positions have been trained to do the heavy emotional lifting of self-awareness, reflection, and work to get better and to recognize our impact on others? Those are the leaders I want to work for!
This is good work- to bring it into the realm of leadership…let’s get it into business and leadership curriculum!
Thank you! I am in agreement with you, trauma impacts our ability to function effectively across any relationships, include those we don’t know and that may be different than us.
I appreciate being on your team in helping others become more trauma-informed.