Protect: Creating Safety and Security in Leadership

Apr 13

"Looking out for the best interest of others and providing a safe and predictable context for them." - Terry Cook

In Terry Cook's Trusted Leader Model, the fourth crucial element of demonstrable care is protecting - creating psychological safety and a predictable environment where people can take risks, make mistakes, and bring their authentic selves to work.

Why Protecting Matters

Protecting is essential to care for several fundamental reasons:

It Enables Risk-Taking: People only innovate and stretch when they feel safe to do so.
It Builds Trust: Knowing someone "has your back" creates profound trust.
It Reduces Anxiety: A safe, predictable environment allows people to focus on contribution rather than self-protection.
It Fosters Belonging: Protection signals that someone is part of the "in-group" rather than on their own.

The Protecting Challenge

Cook illustrates protection with a striking image:

"I saw a photo where a herd of water buffaloes were being menaced by some lions. The buffaloes took an amazing position. The four of them butted up against each other so that every direction was covered."

He also notes a concerning reality:

"As survey after survey illustrates, people don't leave jobs, they leave bosses. They don't feel that their boss has their best interest at heart or the boss doesn't create a safe and predictable environment."

These observations highlight several challenges:

Protection Requires Courage: Standing up for others often means taking risks or having difficult conversations.
Protection Isn't Always Visible: Unless explicitly demonstrated, people may not realize you're protecting them.
Consistency is Crucial: Protection must be reliable to create a sense of safety.

Practicing Protecting

Here are practical ways to strengthen the "protecting" element of care in your leadership:

Create Psychological Safety

Normalize Mistakes: Respond to errors with learning rather than blame.
Model Vulnerability: Admit your own mistakes and what you learned from them.
Encourage Dissent: Invite and seriously consider different perspectives.

Defend Team Members

Redirect Blame: When appropriate, take responsibility for team shortcomings.
Speak Up: Address unfair criticism or unreasonable demands on behalf of your team.
Private Correction, Public Praise: Address performance issues privately while celebrating successes publicly.

Establish Clear Expectations

Define Boundaries: Clarify what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior.
Create Predictability: Establish consistent processes and communication patterns.
Set Realistic Expectations: Protect the team from impossible demands or scope creep.

Buffer External Pressures

Filter Information: Shield the team from unnecessary organizational noise and politics.
Manage Upward: Address unreasonable demands from above rather than simply passing them down.
Create Space: Ensure team members have the time and space needed to do quality work.

Integrating All Four Elements

While each element—Know, Connect, Provide, and Protect—is important individually, the real power comes from their integration. Together, they create a comprehensive approach to care that meets people's fundamental needs.

These elements interact in important ways:

Knowing enables more effective connecting by revealing what matters to people.
Connecting creates the trust necessary for effective providing.
Providing demonstrates the commitment that makes protecting believable.
Protecting creates the safety that allows honest knowing.

When all four elements are present, people experience a rare and powerful sense of being truly cared for—not in an abstract, theoretical way, but in a tangible, felt way that builds trust and enables influence.

This post is the final installment in a series exploring Terry Cook's four elements of demonstrable care: Know, Connect, Provide, and Protect. Check out the previous posts to learn more about each element and how to implement them in your leadership practice.

Todd Cothran