
Have you ever been told to ‘bring your full self to work’?
It’s a phrase organisations trot out to encourage employees to be themselves so they can thrive.
In theory, it’s a great idea. But in practice, it’s often just lip service.
Many friends, clients and colleagues I speak to in the corporate world still don’t feel they can be fully themselves at work.
It’s more like ‘Be yourself, but not like that.’
They might have started in their roles being their authentic selves, but are soon told:
‘You’re a bit much – can you tone it down?’
‘You’re too quiet – you need to speak up’
‘Can’t you be a bit more, you know…[like me]’
(And that’s before we’ve touched on the additional challenges people from marginalised backgrounds face. As one friend said to me ‘I feel like I always need to be a bit less gay at work.’)
So it’s no wonder that over email we tend to convey a formal, sanitised, professional version of ourselves. It’s a version we feel no-one can object to.
(It’s like your mum’s posh telephone voice: ‘Well hair-lo Sandra!’)
But eventually the disconnect between our email persona and our real self begins to grate.
So if you’ve had your fingers burnt by being yourself, how can you dip your toe back in the water of authenticity?
Well, you can start by flexing your approach depending on your recipient.
You might want to stay safe and buttoned up with the old school C-suite in your organisation.
But you could crack open an exclamation mark or an emoji with a fun colleague or client, if that’s your thing.
Maybe you roll out a one-line anecdote about your walk to work instead of ‘I hope you’re well.’
Or perhaps you reach out to a colleague who’s going through a hard time.
And this time you don’t just write ‘Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help’, but you share a personal story of your own to empathise with their situation.
How would that feel?
So tell me – can you be your full self at work?
Or will you try some of these baby steps? I’d love to know.
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