Sorry I didn’t mean to hit you so hard.
Fencing has a unique culture. You’re physically hitting each other with a sword, often and I mean often, screaming in each other’s face when you make a touch. And then after, ‘Where are we going for dinner?’
Like any team culture, it took some time to figure out. But sometimes, personal conflicts and mistakes happened as the desire to win could cloud your judgment.
Apologizing was key! Being vulnerable and owning your actions was essential. Hiding errors or mistakes lead to bigger problems later.
Daniel Coyle, described this in his book ‘Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups’
Coyle suggests that conflict and highly charged events or mistakes create better trust by allowing vulnerability a chance to show up and develop it.
The common idea in many Western cultures, especially in the business world, is that trust is necessary before you can be vulnerable with others. But Coyle contest that vulnerability is necessary first and admitting that you’re nowhere near perfect, is the key to encouraging trust to grow within a group and relationship.
If leadership can demonstrate this first, it builds ‘psychologically safety’ within the team and signals that we value truth and integrity
Being vulnerable and admitting our mistakes is like doing sit ups, you don’t always like doing them but they do make you stronger.
