Como directora ejecutiva de Stories, una plataforma de narración digital y coaching, el trabajo de Lubna apoya el crecimiento interno y externo de líderes organizacionales. También es Practicante Certificada en Compassionate Inquiry y Coach PCC acreditada por la ICF, y ha trabajado con la realeza, altos ejecutivos y gigantes de la lista Fortune 500. Ha ocupado cargos directivos en Coca-Cola, PNUD, BNP Paribas, y ha asesorado a startups de múltiples sectores, desde desarrollo humano hasta comercio electrónico.
Este artículo es un extracto breve y editado de la descripción de Lubna sobre cómo alinear los mundos internos y externos de los líderes apoya la sincronía de sus organizaciones. Puedes escuchar su entrevista completa en el podcast The Gifts of Trauma.
Many of us wear masks every day, especially in the corporate workplace. When our external story doesn’t match our internal story, we feel uncomfortable, depressed, stressed, or burned out. So I help people match their inner and outer stories.
On LinkedIn I see people share certain things.There’s a new promotion and they’re so excited… But when I look at what that person is commenting on or liking or Instagram, their two stories are very different. In a Compassionate Inquiry session, they say one thing, but behind their digital screen, they’re sharing something completely different. This mismatch reflects a lack of authenticity and a need for attachment. So whenever possible, it’s important for us to be the same person at work and at home.
When leaders have different inside and outside stories, their mismatch can manifest toxic workplaces, lower productivity, or burnt out employees. (The cost of burnout today is $322 billion.) Their mismatch also shows up as a lack of workplace engagement. Their employees are showing up because they need their paychecks. They aren’t stepping into their authentic power or purpose. And no, I’m not suggesting people start their own businesses and leave the corporate workplace. We can have workplaces that are very compassionate, that are very authentic. But to do that really starts with the leader, who I see as the organization’s nervous system.
When Leaders run their businesses, they’re not just managing their profit centres, they’re managing the nervous systems of their people. When you walk into a room you can sense whether the energy is completely off or fully in sync. The state of the people an organization employs is largely dependent on the leader’s nervous system, so it’s important for leaders to work on themselves. When they do, their healing it’s contagious, their employees heal too. This shows was they become more comfortable and start operating at peak productivity.
I was asked, “If someone running a multinational organization that’s making millions of dollars a year, at home, their family life is off the rails, what would you do with them?” My answer was, “I will meet them where they’re at.” That’s where we start with everyone, including leaders in the corporate space.
My business has two sides. One focuses on digital storytelling, which is mainly in the external world. The other is digital coaching, which is mainly the internal world. Leaders tend to come to us through digital storytelling. So we meet them where they’re at, we look at what’s happening in their lives and we ask them what they want to work on. They;ll often say things like, “I want to grow my business, but I’m not able to grow my revenue, I’m not able to grow my team, etc.”
From there we go into their internal world. “Why are you not able to grow?” If they’re so focused on their work that their family life is a mess, we deal with that. What they want to focus on is up to them, but most people come to us because something’s not working in their company, or with their team. They’re more comfortable being vulnerable talking about their company or their work. We often find that the issues in their company are reflections of their inner worlds. And when we focus on how they operate in their corporate space, we see a lot less being and a lot more doing. So early on, we do our best to shift people from doing to being, or at least to doing intentionally.
And just to be clear, I define a doing leader as someone who’s always busy, on-the-go, with a long To Do list. They’re always achieving, striving for something bigger and better, nothing is ever enough. They rarely pause, step back, or reflect: ‘Do I really need to be doing this? Is this aligned with my purpose, with my organization’s purpose? Is everyone going in the same direction?”
And that can be a problem as they’re not always going in the same direction. Doing employees have lower productivity because, like the doing leader, they are running around with long To Do lists, rather than working in intentional ways. This also shows up as low engagement, as they’re doing what they’re doing for a paycheck, not because they believe in it, or are aligned with it.
On the other hand, a being leader is grounded, they take care of themselves and their nervous systems. They rest when they need rest and achieve with intention. They enjoy taking regular pauses to ensure that everyone is aligned. They genuinely care about the needs of their employees.
But at the end of the day, both types of leaders’ organizations have targets, both need to profit. But are they doing so in ways that align with their own and their corporate purpose? Are their whys, hows and whats aligned? When our why, how and what are not aligned, disconnection and burnout follow.
There’s another even more important element. Dr Gabor Maté observed that when we walk into a corporate workplace, we walk in with trauma. And once we’re in the workspace, we get triggered, which opens space for even more conflict, which creates stress. And so the more we work on ourselves, the better it is for everybody.
Through the Compassionate Inquiry lens, the person I described as a doing leader, could be described as someone who’s acting, or reacting, from trauma. Some of the leaders I’ve worked with have difficulty connecting with their bodies, so they have a hard time with Compassionate Inquiry.
There are serious potential consequences for leaders who dare to open their trauma wounds and embrace their authenticity. They may lose investors, board members, shareholders, or employees. But despite these risks, I encourage them to be authentic, because yes, they’ll lose some people, but they’ll gain others. Being more aligned means they’ll start attracting more of the right investors, the right clients, the right shareholders, and the right employees. They’ll operate in ways that reflect their shared purpose. Because when an organization is fully aligned with its purpose, it will flourish.
The Gifts of Trauma is a weekly podcast that features personal stories of trauma, transformation, healing, and the gifts revealed on the path to authenticity. Listen to the interview, and if you like it, please subscribe and share.
