My wife works with homeless families in a nonprofit that provides transitional housing, mentoring, and other support services. Many clients have experienced the worst kind of trauma, from childhood abuse to domestic violence as adults. A number are homeless because they are fleeing abusive situations. Because of that, figuring out ways to break through the barriers her clients put up so they can help themselves requires a deft touch and a careful approach.
Her nonprofit and other social services dealing with marginalized populations use a methodology that has evolved over the last couple of decades into a more formalized system now known as “trauma-informed care.” It begins simply with changing the question asked of people from “What is wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?”
“I’ve spent enough time on job sites, and seen enough anger and confrontation over simple issues that I’m convinced that people in our industry are more likely to have been traumatized than the general population, not less likely.”
I find this approach fascinating for two reasons. One is that it is actually the same communication strategy a practiced manager would use to get the most out of their employees. A bit on that in a moment.
The second reason this caught my attention is that I’m convinced that many of the people who end up on construction sites have been changed because of some trauma. The Center for Disease Control statistics show that one in four children has experienced some kind of abuse—physical, sexual, or emotional. Given this prevalence, it only makes sense that some percentage of our workers has been traumatized. I’ve spent enough time on job sites, and seen enough anger and confrontation over simple issues that I’m convinced that people in our industry are more likely to have been traumatized than the general population, not less likely.
Now, I don’t recommend supervisors begin treating workers with trauma-informed care methodology. That should be left to trained professionals.
I do, though, recommend that supervisors learn about the tenets of trauma-informed care, because they are the same tenets of good personnel management. The acronym experts use is STCCE, and the cool kids pronounce it “sticky.” It stands for safety, trust, collaboration, choice and empowerment. Supervisors need to
- Create a Safe environment that is predictable and respectful.
- Earn Trust over time by themselves being trustworthy.
- Establish Collaborative environments where employees feel that their judgement and ideas are valued and important to the success of the operation.
- Encourage Choice. You want workers who can think for itself and take initiative.
- Empower staff to take control of their daily lives and be responsible for those decisions.
I especially like that safety comes first in this list. In the construction industry, it is our highest priority. Every worker should make it back to his or her family, and we can only do that by creating safe environments.
That also extends beyond just physical safety. Nobody should dread coming to work because they fear they’re going to be hazed or yelled at. Nobody should quit after just one day because the job site is too unfriendly, too threatening.
Although it isn’t nearly as common now as days past, too often the culture in our industry is one of near bullying. Supervisors yell at employees and belittle them. Other, more experienced workers, haze young workers because they themselves were hazed. Usually, that’s seemingly harmless. Asking a newbie to get a skyhook or sending him back down three stories because half the nails he brought up have their heads on the wrong end sound like fun pranks. What it really does, though, is reinforce that the work environment isn’t necessarily safe. And it certainly doesn’t build trust, encourage choice, or empower.
Many of your employees may have experienced trauma. A hard worker who belittles others may have been emotionally abused when growing up. An office staff member may be experiencing domestic violence that she hides from everyone. No matter what the issues individuals are struggling with, all of your staff would benefit from a culture that is sticky. And remember, the question is “What happened to you?” not “What’s wrong with you?”
Paul Deffenbaugh 