The Human Impact of Transformational and Coercive Leadership
Strategies in Trauma Informed Leadership by Sarah O'Brien, LCSW
I’ve been reviewing the results of a comprehensive survey on the workforce in America. The results are really interesting. 2023 Work in America™ Survey shows workplaces as engines of psychological health and well-being. Basically, a workplace, in many ways, can make or break your mental health and well-being. Depending on the culture, the work itself, and the leadership, you may feel great at work or horrible at work. This survey cites “the changing landscape of workplaces has drawn heightened attention to the needs and expectations of workers across the nation when it comes to mental health support.” More and more folks are wanting PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY to exist at work.
Because if it doesn’t, then the impact on workers is certainly negative, if not debilitating. If people do not feel safe, both physically and mentally/emotionally at work, they won’t perform well. It’s as simple as that. And now we have the results of this study to prove it.
What makes for a POSITIVE & HEALTHY work environment?
Short answer: trauma informed leadership. I’ll go into specifics a little later but let’s first take a look at the juxtaposition between positive work environments vs. negative work environments in terms of the impact on the PEOPLE that work in those environments. A positive work environment can improve employee performance, commitment level, and achievement-striving ability, according to an article published in Frontiers in Public Health. It can also IMPROVE mental health and can be a source of support for those already struggling with poor mental health. Inclusion and conveyed value can boost self-esteem and contribute to positive outlook.
A negative work environment can cost time, money, productivity, and talent. When people are dissatisfied, or unsafe, they cannot do their jobs well, no matter what the job is. If leadership is the cause of the negative work environment, then job absence, illness, and turnover are extremely likely to occur, and to occur with regularity. A negative workplace WILL impact a person’s mental health. And if people’s mental health is of no consequence to the leadership at that workplace, well, then, you can’t expect them to care about, or promote, mental wellbeing for the workforce. According to this survey, 57% of the workforce in America is unsatisfied with the mental health and well-being support offered by their employer.
That’s over half of ALL workers in the U.S. More than HALF are dissatisfied with the support that exists at their workplace for their mental health. That is just sad to me. And alarming.
New generation means change is inevitable
If workplaces, and leaders, don’t start displaying a concern for the individuals that work for and under them, then pretty soon the entire workforce will be too ill to work. And everyone else will just refuse to work for any workplace that DOESN’T support mental health and well-being. Hello Gen Z, coming in to shift the expectations on this. The new generation is simply not going to tolerate toxic work environments that don’t care about their well-being. They just aren’t.
So, coercion, exclusion, favoritism, and tyrannical rule is likely not going to fly as we move into the future. And it’s quite shocking how much we’ve let it fly up to this point. I, for one, wasn’t really aware that the uncomfortable things happening at previous workplaces were actually toxic and demonstrations of coercive control. That’s one reason we’ve let it fly. However, now that I am AWARE of these tactics, and their negative impact, I can’t help myself but to speak out about it so least we can’t claim ignorance as a reason we allow this type of toxic workplace culture to continue. Another reason poor and coercive leadership has continued is that most people feel as though there is nothing they can do about it, even if they are aware of it.
In this short article, we can learn, and then do, a few things to help the overall landscape, no matter what position or role you hold at your workplace. First, we can become really clear on the traits and tactics that are HARMFUL to the workforce. And then we can become really clear on the traits and tactics that are SAFER for the workforce.
Harmful or Coercive Leadership
Hierarchal structures almost by design impose a negative workplace environment. These types of management structures have few at the top, many at the bottom, and the top makes the decisions, and the bottom carries them out. There tends to be little input from the bottom on what and how decisions should be made, and little concern from the top about what the bottom thinks. This seems real backwards to me. The folks on the ‘bottom’ are the producers, providers, movers and shakers of the business/company. The fact that they often have such little say in the work they do, provide, or produce doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Yet here we are.
There are some tell-tale signs that leadership is using coercion to get the workers to do the work. If you work in one of these environments, you’ll understand exactly what I mean. It is easily felt, in the body and the nervous system, when you are dealing with harmful leaders.
Coercive leadership has the following traits:
Top-Down Communication: This is how an organization carries out communication through a hierarchical structure. The senior establishes the objectives, projects, resources, and assignments. They communicate the same to the rest of the team themselves. Clear goals and expectations could be set if the leader has strong decision-making skills. In top-down communication, the leader controls the flow of information. However, critical points often get lost in translation. And there is no seeking out communication from those not in a leadership position.
Single Input Source: There is just one source from where the ideas stem. The top boss makes all the decisions and gives all the orders. Others’ opinions and ideas are not taken under coercive leadership.
Use of Threats: Since coercive power is authoritative, threats are a common feature. These can be either direct or implied. Employees have to face negative consequences if they do not work according to their leader’s demands, even if those demands are unrealistic and unreasonable.
Dictatorial Control: Those who brandish coercive power prefer to solely dictate the terms. The company revolves around the leader here. They draw up the work processes and allocate the appropriate personnel to each project. Authoritarian leadership can turn into a toxic management style pretty easily, and often does.
Cast Iron Structure: The manager lays down specific paths, work structures, and methodologies to be followed. Workers must pay heavily if they deviate from the designed course of action. Moreover, employees cannot function effectively in a siloed environment with little room for flexibility and independence. Cast iron structures do not allow for consent and choice; therefore, needs, preferences, or abilities of the workers are inconsequential to the specific path already laid by the leader.
Rules and Policies: A coercive leader will enforce compliance through policies and procedures. These ensure adherence to company best standards and practices. The incumbent may also create his own rules to show his authority. Often company best standards and practices are about the WORK produced rather than considering standards and practices for the WORKERS doing the work.
Trauma-Informed or Safer Leadership
Management via mentorship almost doesn’t exist anywhere, in any workplace. This would be much less of a hierarchal structure and more of a flat, or even structure. This type of management structure allows input from everyone and communication flows both ways. This structure discourages one person making all the decisions and expecting everyone else to follow. Instead, this promotes collaboration, creativity, comradery, and, yes, you guessed, it BETTER mental health for all involved.
There are also tell-tale signs that leadership values those doing the work, and by supporting and caring about the people doing the work, they end up producing better outcomes. A workplace environment that discourages coercion likely displays opposite traits, which are also felt in the body, and the nervous system.
Trauma-Informed leadership has the following traits:
Transparency: When information flows freely, coercion has nowhere to hide. This means that management is transparent about decisions to be made, impact on the workers, as well as, being open to hearing responses and reactions FROM the workers. Fostering transparency on both sides is apparent, and practiced.
Feedback and Accountability: Regular, constructive feedback leaves no room for fear-based tactics. Management remains open to feedback, takes it seriously, and aims to improve or make changes based on that feedback. Feedback goes nowhere if the leader/manager receiving it is not held accountable for addressing the feedback and employing actual changes to respond to the feedback given. Feedback is synonymous with action.
Collaboration Over Competition: When teamwork makes the dreamwork, coercion isn’t necessary. This means for leaders with followers, between leaders, and between followers (or workers). Management will demonstrate value in collaborating with their team to make decisions, to meet deadlines, to come up with new ideas. Managers will also encourage collaboration over competition among workers. Rewarding collaboration and actively discouraging competition.
Inclusive Interpersonal/Communication skills: This combines language, communication (verbal & non-verbal), & cultivation of trust. Learning how to use non-biased, non-aggressive language allows for more open, transparent, real conversations to take place, when we can do that (comfortably) trust can develop. Use of threats may get results hot and fast, but they won’t get sustained efforts or results. Talking to people like they are people, and not minions who do your bidding, is actually more effective in enticing motivation, and motivation to do better work.
Employ Empathy & Equity: Being empathetic towards everyone, despite differences, differences in background and personal attributes, as well as, differences in positions, tasks, and roles. This means being understanding when mistakes happen or someone drops the ball, even if it’s the manager or leader who drops the ball, and demonstrates compassion and empathy towards themselves for simply being an imperfect human. This will elevate a workplace from harmful to safer almost immediately.
Leadership by Example: When the big cheeses lead with kindness and respect, it sets the tone for the whole organization. We can throw in compassion, understanding, effective communication, and seeking input/feedback—if a manager can embody these things, model them, then it’s more likely their team will follow suit. Being a dictator that operates from a “do as I say, not as I do” standpoint is less effective in motivating folks to do those things than a leader who models what they want to see from their team, first.
How to create a positive work environment
The health, both mental and physical, and well-being of the workforce needs to be important to the organization as a whole, and by leadership, for the workforce to remain healthy. And only a healthy workforce will be effective in producing in all the ways we need them to. If this is not prioritized, in every industry, in the near the future, I wonder what the workplace landscape may look like. As people understand mental health, the impact of trauma, and psychological safety more and more, these are quickly becoming non-negotiables for the workforce. I mean, if physical safety is taken seriously in work environments, why isn’t psychological safety taken just as seriously? It certainly should. If you want to contribute to a healthy workplace consider the following:
Implement a feedback system: Regular check-ins mean issues get addressed before they become CEO-sized problems. This means from management to worker, from worker to management, and peer-to-peer. Formalized evaluations are good, as long as everyone gets them. Informal ways of giving and receiving feedback might be more natural and authentic for folks, so consider ways to include informal feedback systems, as well.
Provide Leadership Training: Teach managers the art of motivation without manipulation. And do ongoing assessment of leadership skills, and application of leadership skills. Motivating without manipulating requires emotional intelligence, and this would be at the heart of leadership training. Too many managers and leaders are promoted without ever having to actually demonstrate good, or effective, leadership skills. Change this.
Foster a Speak-up Culture: Encourage employees to voice concerns without fear. Modeling this as the leader is key in getting others to feel comfortable speaking up. It has to be clear that punishment and retaliation will not be tolerated for anyone who speaks up. Communication freely flows both ways, this is modeled, encouraged, and celebrated.
Recognize and Reward Positive Leadership: Give shout-outs to the good guys. Make examples of the managers doing the right thing, and leading with integrity. Do the same with workers who exemplify these traits and foster teamwork. Positive reinforcement is not only the path of least resistance, it’s the most effective motivator. This will encourage positive behavior.
Finally, a comprehensive employee wellbeing program can be a powerful antidote to coercive leadership practices. By focusing on holistic wellness, organizations can create a culture of trust and mutual respect. This is critical, as over nine of 10 employees think it’s important for their workplace to care about their wellbeing, according to the American Psychological Association. In fact, the Survey reports 95% of employees want to feel as though they MATTER at work. Employing practices that emphasize that the people who work for you BELONG, MATTER and have VALUE will improve just about everything at the workplace.
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