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To help people who help people, the organization needs to be healthy and have practices in place that consider the trauma of those they serve. Lauren Spigelmyer and Jessica Doering have helped thousands of people who help people all over the world. Each week they'll explore tools, insights, and stories to help you lead and live with more clarity, calm, and connection. If you’re looking for support as you grow your organization’s capacity for caring for staff and the community, we would love to be part of that journey.
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Why Accountability Feels Threatening
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Lauren begins a new series on maintaining authority without escalation, focusing on why accountability can feel threatening in high-stress or trauma-exposed systems. When teams are already carrying chronic stress, even small moments of correction can activate the nervous system and trigger defensiveness, avoidance, or shutdown.
Rather than avoiding hard conversations, Lauren encourages leaders to understand these reactions as stress responses and approach accountability with clarity and compassion. When done well, accountability reduces ambiguity, strengthens trust, and supports healthier, more sustainable teams.
Sign up for the University of Pennsylvania Behavior Breakthrough Accredited Course
Learn about the Staff Sustainability System a proven system to reduce burnout at the root
Other related resources from Five Ives:
Blog Post:
- Why Traditional Employee Wellness Programs Fail (And What Works Instead)
- Survive Mode: Recognizing When Your Organization is in Crisis
- What are the Five Ives?
Podcast:
- How Regulated Leaders Make Better Decisions in High-Stress Systems
- Leading Through Conflict Without Escalation
- A Fresh Look at the Five Ives Framework in the Workplace
- Boundaries as Leadership Infrastructure
- Clarity as a Safety Cue
- When Leaders Become the Stressor
- Episode 2: Authority Without Fear
- Episode 1: What Stress Does to Decision Making
- The Pause Between Now and Next
- Leading From a Regulated Core
- When Culture Dysregulates
- Growth & Feedback Without Fear
- Onboarding as Co-Regulation
- The Regulated Organization: What it Means to be a Regulated Organization
Our Online Programs:
- Behavior Breakthrough
- Policing Under Pressure
- Board Governance Training
- University of Pennsylvania Behavior Breakthrough Accredited Course
Subscribe to our mailing list and find out more about Stress, Trauma, Behavior and the Brain!
- Check out our Facebook Group – Five Ives!
- Five Ives Website
- The Behavior Hub blog
If you’re looking for support as you grow your organization’s capacity for caring for staff and the community, we would love to be part of that journey.
Schedule a free discovery call and let us be your guide
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