Building a vulnerability habit

Once when I was leaving a team, I told one of my direct reports that I’d always worried he didn’t get much value in our 1-1s. That led to a thoughtful and honest chat about our management relationship right at the moment where it didn’t matter anymore. Lesson learned.

Since then, I’ve tried to build a vulnerability habit. Here’s what it looks like:

• Trigger: I feel work related worry or stress
• Action: I tell that to the primary person involved

That’s it. I’m using bad feelings as a trigger to get vulnerable. And it’s been great!