What a broken leg can teach us about high performance and teams

In all the ups and downs that come with any job (particularly in the precarious world of social enterprises) it is kindness, connection and joy that has been my anchor point at Kaleidoscope. Particularly now I’m sofa-bound by a pesky injury.

In our high performing teams model we often talk about dependability and psychological safety. Why? Because organisations operate better when these things exist. More importantly is that there are also better outcomes for patients.

Now I am nursing a broken ankle, I cannot help but notice the link between dependability and safety with our ability to be open to kindness, connection and joy.

I am lucky enough to have wonderful colleagues and neighbours – many of whom have reached out with offers of help. From collecting parcels to walking the dogs. They are showing themselves to be incredibly dependable and kind.

But they can only do that because I have made some deliberate choices in life.

I choose to be connected.

Over the years of living in south east London I have been the person who smiled, said hello, and hit pause on my day to meet new people. Granted- dog walking helps with that. But it is still a choice to be curious, interested and make time for others. For me it feels like the kind thing to do.

The unexpected benefit is that now I have a list the length of my arm of people offering to help me now that I am incapacitated.

I choose to be vulnerable. 

This is all about being open to others. It is about a connection beneath the surface. Over the years as I have built trust with the people around me I have been able to choose vulnerability in my friendships. Allowing conversations to move from a transactional space into something more meaningful. Answering ‘how are you’ with honesty.

Which means that today I have colleagues and friends who intuitively know the things I am worrying about now I have come up against a bump in the road (or, more specifically, a pothole in the park).

I embrace humility.

I will be honest, this one is tough. Our world values competency. It is deeply humbling to sit on the sofa whilst a friend does your washing up or helps you get your shoes on. But humility requires me to say ‘I need help’, ‘I can’t do this on my own’, ‘I am finding this difficult’.

I cannot help but notice the link between dependability and safety with our ability to be open to kindness, connection and joy.

It is an invitation for people to reach into your world and give you the support you need. So while it is humbling, it is joyful and important to know people really want to help.

So what does kindness, connection and joy have to do with a broken bone or a high performing team? When I work with teams across the NHS I am often asked ‘how do we increase dependability and psychological safety?’ It is a difficult question to answer.  know how to frame it now; it starts with you.

It starts with kindness, (real) connection and joy. We cannot demand of others to give us psychological safety or dependability, but we can choose how we want to live, the kind of team member we want to be, and the role model we want to be.