Workplace Trauma and Trauma-Informed Leadership

by Dayna Lee-Baggley, Bill Howatt, and Ronald Pizzo

There are different types of trauma.

Trauma, as defined in the DSM-5, requires “actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence” (APA, 2013). This is sometimes referred to as “Big-T trauma.” But there is also what could be referred to as “small-t trauma.” Small-t trauma includes experiences or events that involve actual or threatened physical or emotional harm to oneself or others and leaves a mark on the person who experienced it. (Harris, 2021; Conti 2021). These traumas are important to recognize and address because they cause suffering even if they might not meet the clinical definition of trauma, and there are non-clinical means of addressing them.

These small-t traumas can happen in any setting, including the workplace. For example, psychological harm can be threatened in workplace conflicts, bullying, and harassment. Toxic workplaces can cause trauma. Unfairness, unrelenting criticism, unrealistic job demands or expectations, constant threats of job loss, or other forms of unpredictability in leadership or co-workers can also cause feelings of trauma.

Workplace traumas can shake people to their core. Work is important to us. It is essential to our identity, self-worth, and emotional well-being. Work means economic survival. We perceive an inability to thrive at work or keep a job as a failure to provide for our loved ones or our own well-being.

The paradox is that when we are in the grip of trauma, we become less able to do those things which could help us move past the suffering to become more productive and more secure in our work. In a recent McKinsey & Company report, “Fear Factor: Overcoming Human Barriers to Innovation,” over 85 percent of CEOs identified the fear of failure and criticism as killers to innovation and growth.

Trauma hurts organizations. Gallup’s 2022 report on the state of the global workforce found workplace stress at an all-time high. Risks to people from exhaustion, burnout, and deteriorating mental health are among the greatest challenges to organizational well-being and profitability.

Trauma-informed leadership is a practice based on respect that motivates people to overcome the barriers that hold them back from achieving. A trauma-informed leader is one who knows how to use compassion and understanding to minimize the occurrence of trauma in their workplace and support rather than re-trigger traumatic responses in the people she leads without sacrificing productivity and organizational goals.

Trauma-informed leaders help their people become more resilient and create conditions in which their workers can thrive and grow. It is a leadership process that benefits everyone.

Ronald E. Pizzo is a labor and employment lawyer, certified facilitator, mediator, and coach. Bill Howatt is the founder and CEO of Howatt HR. He has 30 years of experience in workplace mental health.