Navigating Safe Spaces: A Guide for Clinical Leaders and Healthcare Managers (#015)
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[00:00:00] Welcome to Safe Space Made Simple, a practical podcast that guides clinical leaders and healthcare managers to create trust and support with their teams. I'm your host, Trace Hobson. Join me for weekly interviews, practical tools, and inspiring transformational stories of bringing people together in healthcare.
[00:00:21] Now let's dive in. Welcome to Safe Space Made Simple. This is the podcast that's committed to giving the support that's needed for clinical leaders, educators, and teams to be able to create a safe space in the middle of really chaotic, challenging circumstances in healthcare right now. I'm your host, Trace Hobson, and in today's episode, we're going to talk about four simple steps that you can take as a clinical educator or nurse leader.
[00:00:48] That is trying to generate a safe space. And in the last step, we'll talk about how to tap into a reservoir of energy that will serve you if you're feeling [00:01:00] overwhelmed, tired, or like, it's really difficult to continue on in your role right now. Now this is based on a systemic coaching and leadership tool that I created.
[00:01:08] Called the four channels of awareness or the four channels of systemic awareness. And it is a tool that's used to begin to tap into something that's deeper than just listening with one part of who you are now, safe space, systemic team coaching, and individual coaching is based on three fundamental practices, presence.
[00:01:32] Listening and powerful systemic dialogues. A couple of episodes ago, we talked about how to create a safe space container. When you create that kind of container, it makes it possible for people to slow down to the speed of their presence and be present with each other and also begin to talk about things that are not being talked about.
[00:01:54] But that are in the space of team development and teamwork. Now that first [00:02:00] fundamental practice of presence is what we know about psychological health and safety, as well as neurobiological safety and relates to the ability to be able to slow down, to be present with each other and really talk about what we want and need and.
[00:02:15] How we're going to create and generate a safe space for one another. That's what that safe space container is all about. And if you haven't heard that episode, that might be helpful to go back and listen to that. In today's episode, we're going to move into the other fundamental practice of listening.
[00:02:34] Now, if you're in healthcare and you're listening to this podcast, you've probably taken some kind of training on listening before, whether that's reflective listening or just listening that Asks you to pay attention to listen with your ears in what we're going to do today in these four channels of systemic awareness or listening our four channels of awareness, we're going to actually learn how to listen with our whole bodies.
[00:02:58] And this begins with the first [00:03:00] channel of systemic awareness, which is. You. When you listen on channel one, it isn't about what's going on outside of you. It really is about what's going on inside of you. This is especially true when you're in very busy, chaotic environments. And it might feel difficult to do at first because We have to tap into a skill set that is probably a bit underdeveloped for many of us, which is multidimensional listening.
[00:03:29] So when you're working hard and trying to get things done and you're on in your shift or with your team and you're focused on operations, that's one level. But then you can also listen on another dimension, which is what's going on inside of you. And that's channel one. When you're listening like this, it's about what's going on in your gut, in your, in your heart, in your intellect, in your whole body.
[00:03:52] It's noticing the thoughts, the feelings, the emotions that are going on inside of you as well. And it's not about [00:04:00] changing any of those. It really is about awareness. When you listen on channel one of the first channel of systemic awareness, it's slowing down to listen to the information that's going on below your neck.
[00:04:14] Most of us have been very well trained to listen to what's going on in our intellects. This talks about something deeper. It's about going into what you hear within your own neurobiological system. This taps into the concept of neuroception and polyvagal theory, which was developed by Dr. Stephen Porges.
[00:04:37] Neuroception is the idea that there's a onboard technology that is on constant alert for signals of threat. Or signals of safety and that there's a nervous system response or a neurobiological response to either of those that is below our conscious awareness most of the time. Now, this is really important because if we [00:05:00] sense threat, our brains are going to cut themselves off from the normal.
[00:05:07] Areas of prefrontal cortex resource or executive function, whether that's collaboration or creativity or social connection and go very much into reaction, fight, flight, freeze, and be in that kind of a state. Now, of course, in complex problems or situations or in operations that are very demanding, the last thing that we want is to be cut off from our own resources.
[00:05:35] So it's not about. You know, whether or not this is going to happen, it's about noticing when it does and then being able to tap into that first channel of awareness to just be with what's going on. This is a very subtle and powerful way to put yourself at the top of your to do list as well, because when you slow down and notice what's going on in channel one, and let's say that you are [00:06:00] noticing that there's an activation going on and you're.
[00:06:03] Fight flight mechanism is being sort of triggered. There's an opportunity for you to give yourself what you need, whether that is to plant your feet and take a deep breath, or whether that is to take a moment to be by yourself and just give yourself the time and space that you need, even if you do this for a couple of.
[00:06:24] Seconds or minutes, it makes a huge difference to everything else that you're going to do. And what I notice in healthcare is that many people have not got this skill very well developed of putting themselves first. They usually put themselves last or try to get everything else done before they take care of themselves.
[00:06:44] So that's channel one. And that's the foundation that gives you access. It's sort of the gateway that gives you access to a different way of hearing the other three channels. Channel two of the systemic channels of awareness is. The [00:07:00] people, places, processes, and projects that are going on across the table from you, or out there in front of you.
[00:07:09] When you tap into channel one and you begin to listen more deeply through that channel, you're able to hear the people, the places, the processes. As well as the projects differently than when you just react to them, or you're not really hearing them at all. Listening on this level gives you access to curiosity so that you can begin to slow down and step back and listen from a different perspective and access more creativity, collaboration, social connection, as well as solutions that are going to serve in a different way than if you don't listen on channels one.
[00:07:46] And then channel two. And that takes us right into Channel 3. So you have Channel 1, which is you, and then you have Channel 2, which is everything and everyone else. And then you have this very powerful [00:08:00] space between, which is Channel 3. When you notice Channel 1, and that gives you access to a different level of curiosity for Channel 2, there's an automatic connection to the things that you can step into Channel 3 with.
[00:08:17] This space between is where you can create a different kind of conversation. Now, a very simple and powerful tool that I've embedded into the systemic channels of awareness is a tool that was created by the founder of the center for transformational presence, Alan seal. The tool is called the three questions.
[00:08:37] Question number one is, what wants to happen? Question number two is, who is that asking me to be? And question number three is, what is that asking me to do? Now, these are three simple, powerful questions that you can ask in each channel of awareness that will give you information as you slow down to the speed of your presence and [00:09:00] generate a safe space for yourself.
[00:09:03] So if we go back to the beginning with channel one, let's imagine that you're in the middle of a situation and you notice that there is some sort of activation that's going on inside of your body. Maybe something dysregulating has happened or you're trying to navigate something very overwhelming.
[00:09:19] Maybe it's just a challenge with the, the chronic. Understaffing that's going on or something that's happened in the operation that really has you activated. So if you notice that it's about slowing down to the speed of your praise presence and being able to regulate and ask yourself those three fundamental questions that I mentioned earlier.
[00:09:42] What is it that wants to happen right now is a question that is a bit counter intellectual in that we don't really ask a question like that very often. We usually want, uh, the answer to a how question, how do I do this? Or how do I do that? And what wants to happen? We [00:10:00] slow down and step back so that we can notice.
[00:10:03] What is going on inside of us and what is it that that is asking for? In other words, what will serve us right now in a higher way or in the highest and best good. And maybe in that situation that I just described, what wants to happen is just to slow down and take a step back. Maybe that is the answer to that.
[00:10:24] Now, every context or every situation is going to be a little different. That's why these questions are so powerful because they don't ask for sort of a. A tick box approach or a prescriptive approach, the questions actually tap into something systemic and deeper that's going on there. So when you ask that question, what wants to happen in the middle of an activation in this imagined scenario, let's just say that what wants to happen is for you to stop, slow down and take a deep breath.
[00:10:54] And so. Oftentimes that's a really difficult thing for people to allow themselves and give [00:11:00] themselves permission to do, or they disqualify themselves from even being able to do that. And so what wants to happen is for you to slow down in that situation to take a deep breath. Now, who is that asking you to be?
[00:11:13] Well, maybe with those kinds of challenges, it's asking you to be somebody who is willing to take care of yourself in that moment. Maybe it's asking you to be responsible or assertive. Maybe it's asking you to just be gentle for a moment. There's many different characteristics it could be asking for from you in that moment.
[00:11:35] But who is it asking you to be is the second question to ask. Now, if the first answer is that it's asking you to slow down and take a deep breath and who it's asking you to be is somebody who's willing to put yourself first for even a moment and be gentle and kind and give yourself that deep breath.
[00:11:55] Then the third question, what does that ask you to do in one action step might just [00:12:00] be as simple as Going to the washroom and closing the door and taking a moment to take a deep breath So that gives you access to channel one in a different way which moves you into channel two to look at the world of People, places, processes, projects in a different way.
[00:12:20] And then in the space between you can begin to move into stepping into that space between in a different way as well, because you can ask those same three questions. And let's say in our situation, you've taken that moment. You come back out to your, your world to start to navigate what's going on there.
[00:12:39] And there's some sort of an operational. thing that's going on, or there's a person that is, you know, making your life difficult in some way, or there's a process that is really draining you. So as you come back to that and you look at that in channel three, between what's that space between you and that person place project or [00:13:00] process, what is that space asking for?
[00:13:03] In other words, what wants to happen in the space between you and whatever that thing is? Who is that asking you to be and what is that asking you to do in one simple step? Now, as you're working with these first three channels, there's another channel that has all kinds of information as well. And that's channel four, which is this high frequency systemic information that's around us and inside us all of the time.
[00:13:32] Channel four is that constant conversation that has no words that's around us. When we take a walk in the forest. Or we go to the ocean and notice the water or a waterfall, or we notice the stars and the solar system around our planet. All of these systems have this constant energy and information that is feeding back to us [00:14:00] and feeding within us all the time.
[00:14:03] In Channel 4, we began to listen to those natural systems within us and around us to ask them, you know, what is it that you want to see here? Who's that asking me to be in this situation? And what is that asking me to do in this situation? This is another reservoir of information for us as we're working with these four channels of awareness that will help us to navigate in situations that seem impossible, chaotic, or really difficult.
[00:14:33] Now, as I've been describing these, I'm describing them in a way that isn't, it's kind of linear, but they're really non linear in essence. The four channels of systemic awareness and listening to the four channels of systemic awareness so that they give us the information we need to show up and work in a different way are intertwined with one another and non local, they're, they're intertwined in a way that they [00:15:00] work together, but they're not really linear.
[00:15:03] That said, you're always invited back to channel one, which is of course your body, your awareness and where you live and the vehicle with which you've been given to travel through this world. So it does come back to channel one over and over and over again in sort of a feedback loop practice that gives you access to channels two, three and four.
[00:15:28] When you work with the four channels of systemic awareness, one of the byproducts of that is that you begin to notice the areas very quickly where you're out of alignment with yourself, your values, and what it is that you really want and need. The reason why this is important is because of what I shared at the beginning of our time together, which is that there's access to a reservoir of energy and information here that will help you if you're tired.
[00:15:56] Whenever we're out of alignment with ourselves or our values, that [00:16:00] becomes an incredibly draining experience. So when you're listening to the four channels of awareness and you start to take the invitations and take action with what those invitations are, you slowly but surely come back into congruence and alignment with who you are, why you're here.
[00:16:19] And what really is most important to you when that happens, it's like having wind thrown into your sails and you have energy to do the work that you're here to do. And even more importantly, to live your life in the way that you want to live it. Now, this was an incredibly brief introduction to the four channels of systemic awareness, as well as the three questions that comes from transformational presence coaching.
[00:16:46] If you'd like more information on this, I'm going to give some more resources in the show notes that you can access and do some more reading on. As always, if you have any questions that comes up for you in this episode, please reach out to me on [00:17:00] LinkedIn and direct message me with those questions so that we can have a conversation.
[00:17:04] I trust that this serves you and supports you in creating a safe space for yourself and for the people around you. And I look forward to meeting you in person or online. And until then, until the next time, be a safe space.
