You don’t lie about who you are; you turn down the volume on part of yourself—and quietly burn out.
Never mentioning your children at work, smoothing out your accent, staying vague about your weekend: almost everyone hides part of themselves without even naming it. Asked by the King of England to wear Western clothes, Gandhi refused: “the feeling would be false.” This module helps you spot what fear makes you cut out, and build a climate around you where everyone dares to be themselves.
~20 min at your own paceKey skill: Inclusion at WorkAvailable in FR + ENNo prerequisites
What you’ll take away
- the question to ask yourself when you feel pressure to fit the mold
- three actions any colleague can take to reduce covering across a team
- the right not to tell all: being yourself doesn’t mean sharing all
Who it’s for
Anyone who wants to be themselves at work, and managers who want a climate where everyone dares to.
Learning objectives
- Recognize covering: toning down part of yourself (background, health, age, personal life) to blend in better.
- Distinguish chosen adaptation, a legitimate social contract, from covering driven by fear of judgment.
- Assess what covering costs: exhaustion, falling commitment, and a cycle that pushes the next colleague to cover too.
- Act at three levels: name the pressure you feel, lead by example when you manage, and take the three actions as a colleague.
How does this module work?
The steps of the Adaptive module.
- Self-assessmentOn nine dimensions, to gauge current habits and guide the practice.
- Expert videoA ~10 min video with three pauses for reflection.
- Practice scenariosThe first two scenarios chosen from the self-assessment, then sixteen more, optional. Every answer gets feedback: what it leads to, and one way to improve.
- Dated commitmentOne action to try, written by the learner or chosen from the suggestions.
- Memo to downloadKey takeaways, questions, commitment, personal notes, and checklists.
Duration: ~20 min. Excluding bonus practice scenarios and optional in-depth content.
