Why we should make love at work

By Kerryn Vaughan

18th January 2024

I have just come back from a trip to Cambodia, where I was blessed to run an abridged version of my Confident Leaders Program with the charity, ‘Heartprint’. 

5 sessions of full-on immersion and dang it was SO hot over there!

The thing that struck me the most was how good this organisation was regarding psychological safety. They were sitting at a 3.5 out of 4 (the 0.5 meaning sometimes they challenged), so I suggested they push the boundaries and make it a 4.

Here are the 4 stages I'm talking about (as described in Timothy Clark's book 'The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety’) :

1 - Inclusion (I feel welcomed and accepted)

2 - Learner safety (I feel comfortable to ask questions and make mistakes to help me learn)

3 - Contributor safety (I feel safe to demonstrate my expertise and have freedom to work autonomously)

4 - Challenger safety (I feel safe to pitch new ideas, disagree, and challenge the status quo)

I proposed that reaching the full 4 was something they could work on over time, but it actually happened in the moment and over the following couple of days. Everybody started suggesting new ideas and challenging existing systems etc. All with zero fear and full confidence. They were truly surprised to learn that this is not the norm in most organisations.

I've been pondering this a lot and while I haven't yet come to a solid conclusion (and I may never), I'm leaning toward the dominant contributing factor being that they bring their hearts and love into the workplace. They genuinely deeply care for one another, and deliberately find ways to create more ‘love’ opportunities at work. 

Now I'm not saying that all of Cambodia is like that, it's not. 

BUT, Heartprint has put the time into growing a kind, compassionate, growth mindset culture, and the rewards are obvious and massive.

I truly believe that if we all intentionally bring more moments of kindness, warmth, compassion and love into our day and into our workplace, the personal and professional benefits will be astounding. Not to mention the positive impact on our health.

I hope you join me in creating a kinder world through teeny tiny daily moments.

Kerryn Vaughan is the author of ‘Magnificent Kids!’ and ‘Get Off The Bench!’, founder of One Planet Classrooms, co-founder of Girls With Hammers, and host of Get Off The Bench Podcast.

Kerryn is also a Leadership facilitator, as well as an accredited DISC ADVANCED® consultant, and a Certified WORKING GENIUS facilitator.