Defining psychologically responsive leadership
We define psychologically responsive leadership as ‘drawing on current psychological theory and knowledge of humans as individuals and in groups, with a systemic perspective, to enhance the development and leadership of ourselves and others’. This helps us improve our wellbeing and performance as leaders, and that of our colleagues, which inevitably serves our clients too.
Psychologically responsive leaders have a fundamental interest in deepening their knowledge of human psychology and what helps to improve (or undermine) the performance and wellbeing of themselves and their team. They have an appetite for self-reflection and curiosity about other people’s perspectives, valuing diversity of thought and an understanding of how and when to adapt their leadership style to the context. This includes being attuned to the needs of their team so that they can respond in a helpful way, while also holding in mind the wider context and organizational pressures.
Being psychologically responsive also means recognizing that the dynamics of emotions and behaviour ripple between people and different levels of a system. They understand that what happens high up in an organization will impact those at other levels of the organization, and vice versa.
In the ever-changing world that we live and work within, with constantly shifting demands, pressures and opportunities, it is essential for leaders to take a systemic approach to their thinking. This means understanding the complex dynamics that occur both within a team and an organization, as well as dynamics from outside the organization (professional, cultural or political) that impact its functioning.
Although we might have specific goals that we are working towards, for our teams and services, every aspect of our work will be impacted by what is happening throughout the wider system: from relational dynamics playing out within our teams or organizations (see Chapter 4) to political or societal changes (see Chapter 3). As we discover within Chapter 3, it is essential, as leaders, to have a good systemic understanding to be able to continue to assess the ‘bigger picture’ and future plan for success.
Where leaders can draw on psychological knowledge to consider the interplays between systemic factors, this can help them to be empathic and understanding, forward-thinking, agile and responsive to their context. Within this book, we will provide you with different methods to help you develop your skills for thinking systemically and understanding systemic dynamics as a leader. In Chapter 4 we will support you as a leader to develop an awareness of psychological and therapeutic models of wellbeing and relational dynamics. A good knowledge of these models can help us to better understand what we and our team are experiencing. This enables us to lead and navigate our team through challenging experiences and events in a proactive and informed manner. When we apply psychological thinking to our own development, we enhance our self-knowledge and awareness of our leadership. We are able to consider how we might be perceived by others, and how we might be a positive, or unintentionally unhelpful, influence on our team. This enhanced self-awareness can help us to consider how we might utilize our strengths, be mindful of any emotional pulls or challenges we encounter, work closely with others who have complementary skills, and continue to develop our own knowledge and expertise throughout our leadership journey. Self-reflection is key, and we have provided many opportunities and prompts for reflection throughout the book.
Within this book, we aim to give you the means to develop your understanding and practice of these skills, drawing from organizational, social and clinical psychology theory and practice. A psychologically responsive leader knows that we never stop developing, continuing to reflect and learning more about ourselves and those we work with. The process is never complete, so we should always be active and striving.
We use the term ‘psychologically responsive’ rather than ‘trauma-informed’ as we are concerned that the term ‘trauma’ has become overused, which has the potential to diminish real traumatic experience. In fact, we are often talking about a range of experiences, some of which may be traumatic and some of which are stressful or uncomfortable. When taking a ‘psychologically responsive’ perspective, we are thinking about our psychobiological threat system (often known as our ‘fight, flight, freeze or flop’ response), which shapes our sense of safety, trust, openness and confidence. But we are also thinking about other aspects of human behaviour too, such as interpersonal and systemic dynamics and how human behaviour is shaped through our positive or aversive experiences. Holding all of this information in mind when thinking about leadership helps us to be truly psychologically responsive.
The Psychologically Responsive Leader: The EVOLVING framework for health, social care and education professionals is available now at JKP.com or wherever you buy books.