I was recently coaching a leader who asked me, “Is it OK for me to tell someone on my team that they can’t cry at work?” Normally, as a coach, I would respond to her question with a question of my own:
“What makes you ask that?”
“What about crying feels like it shouldn’t happen at work?”
“What might the impact be of telling them that they can’t cry at work?”
But instead of taking a coaching approach, I responded instinctively and firmly, “No.”
