Workplace culture and trauma

OK, the first thing is to remember that most of us have a vocabulary problem: we use the word “trauma” to describe experiences that don’t fit the definition. When something so overwhelms us that our reaction is to think we might die, be badly injured, or lose our minds, that’s trauma.

Any negative experience that is lesser isn’t. It might be upsetting, annoying, vexing, off-putting, or a lot of other words--but it’s not trauma.

In the workplace, we’re always balancing the behavior we choose to rent our employer with the way we want to do things. We think we can do them better, or we don’t like the process, or we are trying to avoid something.

All the Gens have different ways of working with others. Want to reduce the risk of contributing to a toxic culture that evokes past hurts and present insults?

Try civility. Even if a little more formal, or maybe not the etiquette of your time, try it. Please, thank you, and paying others compliments helps bless the culture and reduce friction. They also “buffer” against the impact of past trauma and present troubles.