3 Essential Tools to Foster Psychological Safety in The Workplace: Secure Your Leadership Oxygen Mask First

Part 1: The Cultural Dimensions of Emotional Intelligence in Leadership

ISSUE FIRST PUBLISHED ON LINKED - JOIN THE DISCUSSION ON LINKED IN THE COMMENTS

Many leaders start the year by creating new goals for productivity and performance. They often overlook the cultural dimensions of emotional intelligence in leadership and how it impacts their capacity for fostering psychological safety in the workplace and beyond.

As Emotional Intelligence Coaches who view emotions through a neuro-cultural lens, we guide our clients to start by mapping their cultural assumptions and recognizing communication preferences. These insights are powerful tools, empowering leaders to become more inclusive and effective. They are the key components of their Leadership Oxygen Mask, a pre-requisite for their Psychological Safety Toolkit.

Just as flight attendants instruct passengers to "secure your oxygen mask before helping others," leaders must prioritize the development of their psychological toolkit. This responsibility is crucial for creating culturally safe team spaces. An often overlooked inclusive practice is the performance of their Leadership Oxygen Mask, specifically their Psychological Safety "Oxygen" Toolkit. This commitment is essential for effective leadership.

Part #1 of 3: The Cultural Dimensions of Emotional Intelligence in Leadership: Understanding Your Cultural "Oxygen" Mask

Leaders often underestimate the significance of mapping their cultural assumptions and communication preferences. These two factors are not just indicators, but crucial elements in the journey towards becoming an advanced inclusive leader. The existing organizational culture often overlooks these needs, where leaders' psychological safety is either forgotten or not actively rewarded.

 Understanding your cultural 'oxygen' mask begins with acknowledging the role of leadership cultural conditioning. This conditioning plays a significant role in navigating our micro-moments of cognitive and emotional trust. Leaders must create conditions that support them in increasing their applied understanding of their leadership SPEC and social and cultural conditioning before effectively navigating their teams and peers' psychological well-being.

It's important for leaders to consider how their cultural conditioning might be influencing their emotional intelligence and their ability to consistently create micro-moments of belonging. This reflection can lead to a deeper understanding of their own practices and how they can improve.

We've been helping leaders and workplaces increase micro-moments of belonging through our KDPM Self-Teams-Systems Innovation Transformation Model. Here, I share more, from a self-leadership perspective, about how culture influences emotions and how leaders can increase their effectiveness in creating psychological safety for others by better understanding how their level of safety correlates with their psychological preparedness.

Watch the episode here(6:09)

https://www.cityline.tv/video/4-professional-tips-to-tap-in-to-your-core-emotions/

In this episode, I share:

• How culture impacts the creation of emotions
• How to process emotions using the acronym W.A.V.E.
• How feeling what you're feeling fully can increase self-confidence and self-awareness (pre-requisites for building emotional trust)

Here's what we will cover in parts two and three:

1. Part 1 of 3: The Cultural Dimensions of Emotional Intelligence in Leadership: Understanding Your Cultural "Oxygen" Mask
2. Part 2 of 3: Understanding Your Leadership Paradigm: Going Beyond Emotional Intelligence to Emotional Capacity Building
3. Part 3 of 3: Creating Micro-Moments of Belonging - The WAVE Method For Teams

Let me know if you want me to cover any specific areas or questions for the upcoming parts.