psychological safety is not silence.

I just went on a rant, and I think it’s something that isn’t said enough in the world of “development” – personal, leadership, business, etc.

Yes, psychological safety means saying kind things to yourself and others, getting clear on your natural boundaries and communicating them with respect, trusting your genuine, truthful self-expression, holding space for people to feel heard, seen and appreciated.

*And* it means so much more than that.

Psychological safely cannot exist where harmful patterns are not surfaced and given attention.

That’s a full stop, folks, not a comma.

No exceptions, ‘but’s, or sudden need to go to the bathroom.

We need to face it.

This is what I said:

“This is the whole point of decolonization. This is the whole point of the work that I do.

Yes, I wanna help people to create what they want. I want to help people to align with things that actually support life instead of damage or destroy it.

We already assume that everyone has good intent and that at their core, everyone is a good person. That is the assumption that we make at global village campus. So that's not even coming into question.

But we have to name harm. We have to say it boldly, unapologetically, and without hesitation.

Otherwise, we continue to perpetuate it. That's how slavery happens. That's how human trafficking happens. That's how the Epstein files happen.

It’s because people were not speaking up, naming the harmful patterns, and bringing them to light. That's how those atrocities happen.

So please, let us focus on naming harmful patterns just as powerfully as we name supportive patterns. And it's okay to disagree.”

I leave you with this question as I sit with it myself:

‘Where have I been avoiding the naming of harmful patterns?‘

1 comment

psychological safety is not silence.