In a BANI world, how can trust become the glue that holds organizations together, fostering resilience and adaptability?
In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, characterized by its BANI nature—Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, and Incomprehensible—trust has emerged as a cornerstone for organizational success. The BANI framework highlights the fragility and unpredictability of modern environments, where traditional strategies often fall short. In such a world, how can trust become the glue that holds organizations together, fostering resilience and adaptability.
The Roots of Trust: Psychological Safety
At the heart of trust lies the concept of psychological safety, a term popularized by Harvard professor Amy Edmondson. Psychological safety refers to an environment where individuals feel safe to take risks, voice their opinions, and make mistakes without fear of retribution. This sense of safety is crucial for fostering trust within teams. When employees believe that their colleagues and leaders have their best interests at heart, they are more likely to engage fully, innovate, and collaborate effectively.
The cause-effect relationship between psychological safety and trust is clear: when people feel psychologically safe, they are more likely to trust their peers and leaders. This trust, in turn, leads to higher levels of engagement, creativity, and productivity. Organizations that prioritize psychological safety create a virtuous cycle where trust begets more trust, leading to a thriving workplace culture.
Psychological Safety and Brain Chemistry
To delve deeper into the science of trust, we can turn to the polyvagal theory, developed by neuroscientist Stephen Porges. This theory explains how our autonomic nervous system influences our ability to engage socially and form relationships. According to Porges, our nervous system has three states: ventral vagal, sympathetic, and dorsal vagal. Understanding these states is key to understanding how we build trust.
Ventral Vagal State: This is the state of social engagement and connection. When we feel safe, our ventral vagal system is activated, promoting calmness, relaxation, and social interaction. In this state, our heart rate is regulated, our breathing is steady, and we feel connected to others. This state is essential for building trust and forming authentic relationships.
Sympathetic State: This is the state of mobilization, often referred to as the fight-or-flight response. When we perceive a threat, our sympathetic nervous system kicks in, increasing our heart rate, blood pressure, and alertness. While this state is crucial for responding to immediate dangers, prolonged activation can lead to stress and anxiety, hindering our ability to trust and connect with others. Stress and anxiety are leading to individualistic behaviors, self-preservation strategies. It also shunts away our capacity to empathize with others, to think out of the box and to reinvent ourselves.
Dorsal Vagal State: This is the state of immobilization or shutdown. When we face extreme danger or feel overwhelmed, our dorsal vagal system takes over, slowing our heart rate and reducing our energy levels. This state can lead to feelings of dissociation, numbness, and helplessness. While it can be a protective mechanism in life-threatening situations, chronic activation can be detrimental to our mental health and social connections. This includes deep depression and burn out.
Psychological safety aligns with the ventral vagal state. When individuals feel safe, their nervous system is in a state that promotes social engagement and connection. This biological foundation underscores the importance of creating environments where people feel secure. In such environments, trust can flourish, leading to stronger, more authentic relationships within the organization.
Trust and Collective Intelligence: A Success Factor for Business Thrive Today
Trust is not just a feel-good factor; it is a critical driver of collective intelligence. Collective intelligence refers to the enhanced capacity that is created when people work together, leveraging their diverse skills and perspectives. In a BANI world, where challenges are complex and multifaceted, collective intelligence becomes a key differentiator for successful organizations.
When trust is present, teams are more likely to share information openly, collaborate effectively, and make better decisions. Trust reduces the friction that can impede communication and collaboration, allowing teams to harness their collective intelligence fully. This, in turn, leads to innovative solutions, higher performance, and a competitive edge in the marketplace.
Conclusion : Making Trust a priority ?
As business leaders, it is imperative that you prioritise trust within your organisation. By doing so, you will not only improve the performance of your team, but also build a resilient and adaptable organisation that can thrive in the face of uncertainty.
Trust is an enabler of what people do best: Reinventing themselves over and over again! Past and present show us that short-term "survival strategies" can cloud and stall a bright future.
Can we take the risk of sticking to these survival strategies? Or are we prepared to contribute to the evolution of humanity by reinventing the way we work?
How will we create workplaces where trust is the norm and watch our organisations flourish? There is no universal solution… There is somehow YOUR solution.. Are you interested in finding it ?
Further reading on Polyvagal Theory
Image: Pixabay - geralt
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