Do you really want to bring your whole self to work?

Photo by Rodrigo Borges de Jesus on Unsplash

Although the world of work has changed for many, as large swathes of the working population are now working remotely and digitally, the concept of bringing your whole self to work still rares its head in motivational and other leadership work. But what does that even mean? How do you bring your whole self to work and is that actually doable?

The thing is we all have a number of identities which we adapt according to the circumstances. Many shaped by cultural mores or other contexts which allow us to be chameleons depending on the situation. When we show up for work, it is probably our work persona that shows up, not our whole self.

Let’s unpack this notion of the whole self. Advocates say it is about showing up authentically, being vulnerable and presenting ourselves and unashamedly. Being present the same way we are at work as we are elsewhere.

This is problematic in that it ignores a few things.

Firstly the assumption that someone wants to bring their whole self when they are working. Professionals work in a number of different environments. Some which require very different behaviours to life outside of work. So there is no one size fits all because working environments are different by their nature. Coding is very different from construction, fisheries are different from financial services. What does the whole self mean, by the loose definition given from its advocates, to those specific working environments?

Secondly is the assumption that the workplace culture encourages such openness. As much as it is noble to see leaders pursuing goals that take teams to a glorious destination, a lot of that can be fraught with the motivations to get there and the conditions. Some environments are high stress and require direct leadership and safeguards, others may be less stressful but still remain toxic because they don’t give space for you to be yourself. Why would you want to bring your whole self if the environment does not accommodate for that?

Thirdly, what happens when you do bring your whole self and people can’t handle it? The whole self that doesn’t care about how people perceive their hairstyle, tone, that speaks their truth, that is confident in saying no to after work drinks, that laughs out loud or contrarily just wants to be left alone to get on with that and doesn’t do bonding team away days.

It becomes a lot more complex when you realise this whole self mantra, usually shaped by idealist authors and protagonists who have little experience of the workplace cultures 

Maybe the alternative way to look at this is, which self do I want to bring to work?

Lets look at this through the lens of values.
What are your personal values and what are the values of the organisation you work for? 
Where do those values have an alignment and which part of your self then has to show up for such alignment?
Which part of you do then want to bring to work?

Rather than your whole self maybe it’s ok to sit with the persona that is your work self and be OK with that, no matter how it shows up for you.