Safe Identity Workspaces: Supporting Transitions To A Bigger Role

An identity workspace is a space or environment that allows an individual to develop their personality and work style that best suits their character and leadership potential. When these personal traits are aligned with the values, goals, and culture in an organization, its employees thrive and can develop their leadership potential to their own as well as their organization’s benefit. In this context, a safe identity workspace translates into a space where an employee not only feels safe but has the freedom to express their thoughts and ideas to further the vision and mission of the company, ultimately leading to the individual’s as well as the company’s growth and success.

The corporate workspace is changing at an unprecedented speed. Organizations are leaving behind traditional beliefs and are moving towards a work culture that is open and accepting to all its employees. Diversity, inclusiveness and equal opportunities are the buzzwords in the current HR community.

Creating a safe identity workspace for employees, thus, become a necessity rather than an added advantage. Irrespective of gender, it is quite essential for an employee to have a workplace that is safe for their ideas and plans for growth. This idea of safety includes their ability to share their thoughts with their leaders and team members without any apprehensions as well as actual physical safety.

While safety in the workplace includes a harassment-free environment, a safe-identity workspace, on the other hand, is one where every individual is considered to be an equal to their colleagues in terms of their professional and personal capabilities and is given equal opportunities irrespective of their gender, race, religion, lifestyle choices and political beliefs. This is a space where they are able to exchange ideas freely and scale heights in terms of their career path.

A simple example would be performance feedback which is a key step in the growth and development of all employees. Comprehensive feedback on the individual’s work as well as their personal relationships and attitudes towards colleagues helps them deepen their understanding of themselves as well as the impact of their leadership on others.

Therefore, creating an environment that is conducive for developing leadership is essential. A safe identity workspace setting ensures that messages that are critical to a person’s leadership identity are interpreted correctly. It gives them the necessary space to discuss their feedback, compare notes, vent out their emotions and take risks related to the critical assessment that they receive. Honest valuations of the cultural, organizational, and individual aspects shaping them allow budding leaders to construct coherent narratives about who they are and who they want to become.

Despite there being several organizations that provide world-class facilities to its female employees, a firm truly stands out when it gives them a work environment that offers intellectual stimulation and a powerful sense of ownership and belonging, which ultimately benefits both the organization as well as the individual. Workspaces which have an open-door policy and where hierarchies are merely a formality, allow each individual their space to work on their roles and responsibilities without cumbersome bureaucratic constraints or restrictions imposed on them.

In an organization led by a strong leader, the lack of hierarchy ensures that every individual has their own space to function without being burdened by expectations. While work will always have its mundane aspects such as timelines, meetings and reports, the entrepreneurial freedom and approach to work make the routine worth it.

Hence, in today’s world, every organization irrespective of the industry they belong to must build a culture of mutual respect, constructive feedback and peer-motivated growth. This will, in turn, ensure that every employee can express their identity and ideas safely within the company and ultimately thrive to contribute to the larger value system.