Episode 11: Here’s our 3 step guide to build trust

Good morning Driven people,

Having had the chance to help leaders within a specific context of group psychoeducation a glaring need emerged: the need to build a psychologically safe environment AND re-establish trust in an environment where moral injury has been running rampant during the pandemic. But I thought this would be also applicable to both my leadership clients and my cycling community (let’s be honest most endurance athletes work 9 to 5 jobs).

These last few months have been hard… and still are for a good number of people navigating leadership and sports. Confinement opened the door to outdoor activities and physical wellness (the bike industry has seen an enormous increase and this rings true for many of the wellness and outdoors industry). But now, many of us have “called back” to work and there’s a legitimate sense of “let’s go back to the way it was” (A quick search on LinkedIn shows that “hybrid work” offers are now “in-house”). In the YouTube and podcast circles, I can see there’s a definite drop in the frequency of new episodes compared to the active part of the confinement. The “new normal” is replaced by the “old normal” slowly and a dose of denial seems to play an active role in asking our teams to keep generating output in a way that isn’t sustainable. In the groups, I am helping burnout is a topic we cover and help people better identify the symptoms in order to ask for help from their health care provider.

Where trust used to exist, now suspiciousness and wounds have taken place. In my opinion, we minimize the impact of burnout and how it can be mislabeled as “I need a vacation” to realize that we’re back at the same spot our first back after said “vacation”. Good leadership will model and address directly such issues in a manner that is open, understanding and without blame.

Unfortunately, few are those who have raised their hands in my groups recognizing that experience… a vast majority have named that they haven’t felt heard and seen as human beings. So I thought it would help to start the conversation on trying to build(or rebuild) trust in the social context of leadership and cycling. As soon as there is human interaction, trust is a key issue that can arise out of conflict. Btw I am of the opinion that conflict isn’t to be avoided but rather a necessary step to progress and, once resolved, is essential to a great culture on your team.

So in this episode, Vicki has the tough task of keeping me on track while discussing something I am passionate about such as the topic of trust within a team context.

Stay driven and vulnerable,

LP Landry, registered psychotherapist and cyclist.