Creating Authentic High-Impact Organizations
What do business owners and organizational leaders avoid the most when striving to create an authentic high-impact organization? Is it a failure? No. Every successful business owner has faced failures before achieving success. Then is it conflict? That would also be a no. Conflict is natural in teamwork and operations. Is it a competition? Again, no. Leaders often embrace it as a driver for growth. So, what do leaders avoid the most? Being vulnerable and being open to vulnerability in others. How to create high-impact organizations by leaning into and accepting one’s vulnerability in a professional space? Let’s find out.
What is Vulnerability?
Chrissie Pinney has very accurately said the following: “There is strength in vulnerability—in facing your demons and knowing that kindness is more important in spite of them. To be vulnerable is to be brave.”
Vulnerability is the bridge between doing and being, the bridge between rejuvenation and execution. It transforms superhumans back into humans. In many organizations, there’s an unspoken pressure to be “superhuman”—always productive, always energetic, always in control. This culture creates unrealistic expectations, both for leaders and teams. Vulnerability is a reminder that we are human. That we have limitations, too and we deserve to be treated with kindness and compassion for being human. That our emotional well-being is too important to be ignored in the pursuit of performance. Ignoring emotional well-being can lead to fatigue and eventual burnout. So how to create high-impact organizations even as we learn to accept vulnerabilities in ourselves and our colleagues?
The Upside of Being Vulnerable
Let’s understand why taking stock of oneself and hitting pause on constantly pushing teams is important with an example. We were coaching a sales team whose head had been recently promoted. The head of sales wanted to work on the team’s sales performance which was too low in his opinion and that the team managers were not taking enough responsibility in the market. In essence, he was dissatisfied with the team. On the other hand, we sensed extreme tiredness in the team because the sales head was pushing his team way too hard.
Coaching revealed that his need for validation was driving this—he wanted to prove himself worthy of his recent promotion. This need made him blind to the team’s fatigue.
We encouraged him to speak to his boss. This was a moment of vulnerability; he shared with his boss his fear of not being able to live up to expectation and his need for validation. His reporting boss assured him that he was promoted because of his good work and now they expected him to pay more attention to team building first. That answer brought a shift in the sales head as he now understood he had to learn team-building skills. This, he did and that improved team collaboration and results.
Why Discomfort is a Good Thing
Vulnerability allows us to face our internal conditioning, such as, “If I am strong, I should not have needs,” or “What will people think if I admit this?” Facing this discomfort helps us reconnect with our humanness.
Had the leader continued to push, it would only worsen the team’s exhaustion, leading to:
- Procrastination
- High attrition
- Low engagement and productivity
To break this cycle, leaders and teams must pause, reflect, give and receive feedback, and reorganize work patterns. However, this disrupts comfort zones, which means discomfort and, consequently, vulnerability. That’s why many leaders prefer to run a marathon with broken bones rather than sit still and acknowledge their vulnerability. As a business coach, my goal is to help leaders and teams become competently vulnerable.
What is Competent Vulnerability?
The key to how to create high-impact organizations is to leverage competent vulnerability.
Competently vulnerable leaders are:
- Authentic
- Self-aware
- Safe to express opinions and emotions
- Committed to the well-being of self, team, and organization
Unless people open authentically, organizations never learn what’s really happening. But most employees fear vulnerability. And they are not the only ones. Coaches also fear being vulnerable.
Facing Vulnerability as a Coach
As a coach, I, too, face such moments which invite me to be vulnerable. We were working with two department heads regarding coordination between their departments. One head was engaged and enthusiastic about the coaching sessions. The other repeatedly cancelled coaching sessions at the last minute.
Finally, after a couple of cancellations, we met one morning for a full-day session. Before beginning, I asked to speak to the two heads without their teams. We had the following conversation with the head who was uninterested in the coaching process:
Me: “I noticed you seem disinterested in coaching. Do you want to have this session?”
Department Head: “We must, right?”
Me: “That doesn’t answer my question. Do you want to?”
Department Head: “We will do it.”
Me: “I’m happy to hear that—but again, do you want to?”
We continued to engage him, inviting him to be open and give his input even if he thought that our coaching sessions were not worth the effort. Eventually, the department head admitted he thought the issues his team had were “small” and manageable. We asked: “Are you open to checking whether others also see them as ‘small’?”
He agreed to be open to feedback. Finally, feedback from the two teams helped him recognize deeper issues, and he began engaging more meaningfully.
This simple, honest dialogue was a demonstration of competent vulnerability from us as coaches because there was a chance he could have said that the coaching sessions were not worth it. We addressed this discomfort with authenticity. The answer to how to create high-impact organizations then lies in an honest, transparent dialogue, even between coaches and team leaders
Being Authentic
In another instance, I was in a meeting with a business owner and the HR head to finalize a coaching contract. The business owner said to his HR head: “You and Geethan can discuss what kind of leadership is needed in this organization.”
It caught me off guard. It was my first meeting, and I knew little about their needs. I felt confused and vulnerable. I responded honestly, telling the HR head: “I think you need to ask your leader what kind of leadership the organization needs. Once that’s clear, I’ll be in a better position to observe and support.”
This honest moment encouraged the business owner to open up about deeper business challenges with me, laying the foundation for a successful two-year coaching journey. This give-and-take again demonstrates that being open and honest is how to create high-impact organizations or take steps towards it.
How Can Individuals Become Competently Vulnerable?
We all have desires—to succeed, prove ourselves, and get promoted. But we often ignore the intentions beneath those desires. Facing them can feel vulnerable, but it’s essential for authentic leadership. That is the code behind how to create high-impact organizations. From my coaching experience, here are some key questions that can help anyone to be competently vulnerable:
Ask yourself:
- What is my intention behind this desire or fear?
- How is this intention impacting me?
- How is it impacting others?
- What might I be blind to?
Vulnerability in Teams
Teams are, after all, collective human capacities. Therefore, if individuals are vulnerable, teams will feel it too.
In one coaching session with a VP and eight team managers, team morale was extremely low. The reason: the management had proposed a new scheme. The team felt it would hurt the organization, but management was adamant and had given an ultimatum to the team—do what we tell you or lose your job. The team members all had a similar response: “We all feel like resigning. But we stay because of our EMIs and family responsibilities. We’re doing something we don’t believe in.”
They were deeply vulnerable, the pain was evident, and for the first time ever, they were able to share their darkest fears.
I asked the team: “What’s the worst that could happen if you implement the scheme?”
They feared drops in supply and a competitive advantage over rivals. I encouraged them to share these concerns with management while still implementing the plan—to avoid appearing resistant. The team agreed, regained some energy and implemented the scheme. It was implemented well but had a negative impact on the organization, leading the management to roll it back. However, holding space for vulnerability led to a breakthrough for the team.
Helping Teams Embrace Vulnerability
I propose four simple reflection prompts for team projects:
- What are we enthusiastic about?
- What are we hesitant about?
- Where do we feel like protesting?
- Where do we feel like supporting?
Facilitating such conversations helps teams embrace their full mental landscape, including vulnerability. When a team operates in all four dimensions, it becomes authentic—and authenticity leads to real growth. And that’s central to the question of how to create high-impact organizations.
When leaders nourish and create space for:
- Seeking help
- Giving help
- Collaboration and
- Conservation of energy
Teams begin to feel accomplished yet energized, capable of executing tasks, and rejuvenated. Teams feel more human rather than feeling like they’re robots or a faceless cog in the wheel.
And it is through that humanness that we build truly authentic, high-impact organizations.
NOTE: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Emeritus.
