How Does Developmental Trauma Influence Behaviour at Work?
While the effects of developmental trauma are often discussed in the context of personal relationships and mental health, they also significantly influence behaviour and performance in the workplace, so why do we not talk about developmental trauma at work?
What is developmental trauma?
Developmental trauma (also known as complex trauma) is the emotional and psychological damage that occurs when we experience trauma in childhood. Because young brains are still developing, when this trauma occurs for a child, it can have a pervasive influence on their identity, on the way they interpret the world and on their ability to regulate their emotions.
We often to associate the word trauma with a one-off significant event such as natural disasters, accidents, experiencing war, etc. This is what is known as ‘shock trauma’,, and often results in what we know as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Developmental trauma arises from a range of things that are typically experienced over time, including maltreatment, family violence, living in a chaotic/unpredictable environment or a disruption in the child’s ability to attach to their primary caregiver. Significant events such as complications during birth, or early medical interventions where the child is separated from the parent can also be defined as developmental trauma experiences.
Developmental trauma occurs when a child’s basic needs for safety, stability, and nurturing are not met. It is my belief that most of us experience some degree of childhood trauma – where our needs were not met by our caregivers. We therefore learned to adapt and develop coping mechanisms – meaning we behaved in particular ways to ensure that they continued to love and take care of us. We then carry these behaviours and beliefs (such as ‘I need to be perfect’ or ‘I am unlovable’) into adulthood – these are known as our learned or adaptive behaviours. Examples include being always striving for perfection, or putting others’ needs before their own.
What is developmental trauma at work?
The adaptive behaviours mentioned above often impact an individual’s performance, relationships with colleagues, and overall job satisfaction. Some common ways developmental trauma may show up include:
- Over focus on achievement and competence – This can often result in difficulty trusting colleagues to do things the ‘right’ way, with a pride in independence and not needing help from others. In an independent contributor role these might be a benefit (as long as they don’t result in burnout), but in roles which require delegation, collaboration and inter-dependence with others this behaviour can be unhelpful.
- A feeling of being on the outside – isolated and disconnected from colleagues – People with this adaptive behaviour find it difficult to build the relationships that allow them to do their jobs effectively. They don’t easily trust their colleagues and tend not to realise that they may be pushing others away.
- Tendency to overly focus on the needs of others and a strong desire to help, even if it is not their responsibility – These individuals take great pride in being helpful and core members of the team. They often find it hard to connect to and articulate their own needs, which can lead to outbursts of frustration at being taken advantage of and burnout.
- A need to be constantly alert, hyper-vigilant and on the look out for something to go wrong – These people can find it difficult to relax and may be perceived as risk averse or naysayers because they tend to focus on what could go wrong rather than what could go right.
- Tendency to focus on what others are thinking and feeling – to be a people-pleaser – By trying to please everyone and putting others’ feelings above their own, these individuals may struggle to express their thoughts or opinions if they fear they might upset someone. They are likely to struggle with saying no, and establishing boundaries, which can result in overwork and burnout.
Striving for a level of perfection in everything they do – These individuals drive hard to perform at high levels, but are driven by a feeling that nothing they do is good enough. They have a tendency to be highly sensitive to judgement or criticism, and may procrastinate because they are afraid of not doing something to a high enough standard.
Its not hard to see that there are positives to all of these adaptive behaviours and that they are often the very things that have made the individuals successful in the first place. However, over time they either become such strongly ingrained habits that they are difficult to control, or the individual is in a role where those behaviours are no longer as important or helpful. They can often be the underlying reason why someone has got stuck at a certain level, or is completely derailed from the career path they were on. Often they can lead to stress, uncharacteristic emotional outbursts and burnout.
The key to reducing the impact of our adaptive behaviours is not to try and stamp them out or remove them – they are only part of the complex make-up of an individual, and as we have mentioned above, there are elements of the behaviours that have been helpful in the past. Our ‘Being Free’ approach is to help heal the old wounds and unfinished business that caused the adaptive behaviours in the first place.
What can organisations do to help?
From an organisational perspective, awareness and understanding of how developmental trauma shows up at work is the first step toward creating a supportive environment for employees. Employers can take several steps to help mitigate the impact of developmental trauma in the workplace:
- Foster a Supportive Environment: Encourage open communication and provide support systems, such as employee assistance programs, mental health resources, and access to coaching or therapy. Traditional, problem-solving based coaching may help with some of the symptoms, but for long-standing adaptive behaviours to loosen their grip seeing a trauma informed coach or therapist will be required.
- Training and Education: Offer training for managers and staff on trauma-informed practices to help them understand and respond sensitively to trauma-related behaviours.
- Flexible Work Policies: Provide flexible work arrangements and accommodations that consider the unique needs of employees who may struggle with the effects of developmental trauma.
- Promote Work-Life Balance: Encourage a healthy work-life balance to prevent burnout and support mental well-being.
- Encourage Professional Development: Provide opportunities for development and career growth that go beyond traditional skill building programmes. Offer opportunities for employees to work at a deeper level to identify where their adaptive behaviours are no longer serving them.
How do I find out how developmental trauma has affected me?
We have classified these adaptive or learned behaviours into six self-saboteurs (see image below) and have developed a diagnostic survey to use with our clients to help them explore their own self-saboteurs. If you are curious and want to find out more, you can take a shorter version – our mini-diagnostic – to give you an indication of yours.
Interested in learning more?
If you are interested in learning more about our ‘Being Free’ approach where we help our clients understand and overcome their self-saboteurs – you can find out more here.
