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When There Is No Circle of Safety

In Leaders East Last, Simon Sinek provides reference to a Circle of Safety. 
Our biology hasn’t changed in fifty thousand years, but our environment certainly has. Today’s workplaces tend to be full of cynicism, paranoia and self-interest. But the best organizations foster trust and cooperation because their leaders build what Sinek calls a Circle of Safety that separates the security inside the team from the challenges outside.

The Circle of Safety leads to stable, adaptive, confident teams, where everyone feels they belong and all energies are devoted to facing the common enemy and seizing big opportunities. - Amazon Summary
In the past couple of organizations that I have worked in, there has been no circle of safety -- only a ring of fire. 

How do you know when there is no circle of safety? 

  1. You can't speak to leaders with candor without instigating defensiveness. 
  2. Leaders are more concerned with the impression they give rather than invoking the action that makes sense. 
  3. Employees walk around not being their true selves complimented with doses of self-servitude.

I've also worked in organizations where there are circles of safety. Those are the environments that I can hang my career growth and experiences on.  
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