💪 The Strength of Vunerability

Yann Quenet and his Baluchon of 16 feet long !
The smallest boat ever to complete a circumnavigation. What a clever guy, Yann.

A few days ago, I organised my first seminar with ZOMIA

(Yes, yes, that's it! 🥳 ZOMIA is on its way! 🚀 A session in sunny La Rochelle, rich in learning!)

Led by a coach who has been with the team for some time (Hi George! 👋), the session began with a sharing of personal stories. Participants were asked to reveal their vulnerability through these stories. And many of them found themselves uncomfortable with the idea...For some, the word vulnerability wasn't even part of their vocabulary. It was unthinkable for them to consider themselves vulnerable, let alone share it with their colleagues.

Yet accepting our share of vulnerability actually allows us to reveal our greatest strength and, by sharing it with our team, build a complementary and solid collective to face obstacles.

Let's take a closer look 🔍

We all have weaknesses, we're not perfect, that's a reality. When we were younger, mockery (from classmates, close friends or strangers) made us believe that we weren't quite this, or too much that... and that we were outside the norm. Were they really weaknesses? That's not the point. But these remarks created vulnerabilities in us by attacking us on precise points. We focused on them, convinced they were flaws, and tried to cover them up. It became an obsession, and we developed new character traits.

But this attitude of overcoming our "weaknesses" demands a lot of energy, and we often become irritable and tired as soon as they are mentioned.

« Chassez le naturel, il revient au galop 🐎 », When it's difficult to fight against what we are...

But sometimes, when other people's backs are turned, we reconsider what we've been hiding for a long time. To relax our demands on our "flaws", to take a breather, and to accept these "weaknesses". Surprisingly, at that moment, we start to feel good, comfortable, sincere, completely ourselves. We become aware of the qualities that our "weaknesses" have enabled us to develop over the years.
For one, it's a highly-developed sense of listening that enables us to grasp real problems; for another, an uncanny ability to adapt to any situation; for the next, unfailing mental strength, and so on.

Our vulnerabilities are in fact the seeds of our greatest strengths. To consider our "weaknesses" is to consider the particularities that make up our personalities. Accepting them allows us to strengthen them and become stronger ourselves.

By opening up to our team members, we don't put ourselves at odds with each other. By revealing ourselves, we reveal the strengths we have built up and reinforced through our experiences, and which we can put to good use for the benefit of the team. We also reveal the areas in which we feel uncomfortable, and in which our colleagues can support us.

There's always someone who loves to do what we hate to do ourselves

a friend reminded me a few days ago.

I'm not less competent because I don't like doing it. The other is not strange because he enjoys what I hate. We all are different and complementary.

By becoming aware of our strengths and weaknesses, we can reorganize our collective so that it performs well on all fronts.

Sharing personal stories also shows our peers that we're not perfect. We are human, endowed with empathy, and together we can build a genuine relationship based on trust.

To explore this notion further, I recommend my article: "Trusting: The Essential Prerequisite for Transcending Our Individualities."