Authenticity and Psychological Safety – How to be ‘Tuturu’

The concept of psychological safety has gained prominence over the last few years as conscientious employers look to foster healthy and productive relationships in their workplaces.

This could be down to a shift as a result of Covid – some managers took more of an avid interest in the pastoral care of their employees in the face of a pandemic that killed at least 3 million people internationally (according to the WHO), or it could be as simple as the pragmatic knowledge that happy and healthy people are more likely to produce results.

At the heart of psychological safety is the ability to be truly authentically ourselves and embrace all that makes us who we have become up until this point and who we continue to evolve to be.

In New Zealand (my homeland), there’s a Māori term that encompasses this idea of authenticity better than any other – Tuturu.

As with a lot of Māori words it has several literal meanings including to be fixed, permanent, real, true, actual, authentic, original.

The nature of the work that I do means that I spend a lot of time with people beginning their careers or trying to re-define what they want from their careers. The phrase that comes up more often than not is – “I want to be thought of as professional”, but when I ask them to define what they mean by ‘professional’ some have no real idea and others list attributes like competent.

How inspiring would it be to hear people say “I want to be me – all of my strengths, all of my failings, all of my lessons learnt, and yet to be learnt. I want to be tuturu to myself and those around me!”

I believe that all of the ‘ills’ that befall us in our workplaces – fatigue, poor mental health, judgement, fear of reprisals, exclusion and suspicion – all stem from trying to be something we are not and either think we should be, or others demand we be.

When we can truly be tuturu to ourselves, we can build a workplace environment that rewards authenticity, cultivates trust and embraces inclusivity!

Written by Dan Symonds – Coach and Facilitator