Work Roles as Masks We Can Take Off

Work Roles as Masks We Can Take Off

At work, we often put on familiar masks: encouraging, criticizing, or rescuing. This blog explores how to recognize them and protect your energy.

The optimist’s mask brightens a difficult day, the critic’s guards quality, and the rescuer’s makes sure nothing goes unnoticed. But none of these masks needs to stay on all the time. When we recognize when we’re putting one on, it becomes easier to notice our own needs and see where change is possible. This blog offers prompts for reflection and conversations with your team, as well as practical activities to help prevent burnout.

Interested in this topic? Read more: Emotional roles at work: Why is the optimist, the critic, and the rescuer of the team on the road to burnout? Want to find out where you stand personally? Take a short test at the end of the page and gain a better understanding.

How does this apply to you? Choose the answers that describe you best:

Imagine that your team has just failed in an important project. What image comes to your mind first?

Choose the answer that best describes you.

If you were an animal during a team crisis, which one would it be?

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Which image best represents your role when there is chaos?

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Your colleague failed in front of the client. How do you feel about it inside?

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When you have to go with the team to an unknown project, what guides you?

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What type of voice do you most often hear within yourself when things get complicated?

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If you had to describe your role in the team as an archetype of a character from a movie, who would you be?

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Imagine that your team has received great praise. How do you react?

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If you had to choose an element that represents you in the team, which one would it be?

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Which sentence describes you the most during a conflict in the team?

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Emotional roles at work: Why is one person always an optimist, another a critic, and someone always saves the team?

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