A dance teacher of mine describes learning environments that are “safe enough”. It’s a great metaphor for the way we relate at work.

The dance practice I do, called Contact Improvisation, is very physical and very technical yet, as the name suggests, completely improvised. The practice includes falling together – we support each other to fall down and to fall up. You share balance with another person, so you are always slightly off your own centre. This is kind of what happens in good communication.

To be in a conversation in a way that means you relate to others and learn something new requires getting a little off your own balance. “Safe enough” and “falling together” are good metaphors for the conditions that enable this sort of meaningful communication.

In Contact Improvisation, no one is one hundred per cent completely safe. For example, being off your own balance could mean flying on a partner’s shoulder. This is why we don’t talk about creating “safe” environments for dance practice. The wording is important: “safe enough” means we have to pay attention.

Completely safe limits the dance – it’s boring. Being reckless also limits the dance because people feel scared. “Safe enough” on the dance floor allows us to test, to try and to recognise an edge. We are responsible for checking what we need to learn to make it “safe enough” to go a little further.

Being completely safe in communication means we never hurt anyone, or put ourselves at risk of ridicule. Being reckless might mean saying things impulsively that makes someone feel uncomfortable or affects the relationship. “Safe enough” in a conversation allows us to test, to try, and to recognise an edge – and to tell how we can use that edge to move things forward in discovery.

Rachael West is a coach, movement educator and strategic speaker coach. She has been supporting clients to communicate complex topics in a way that helps ideas ripple for nearly 20 years. Get in touch to find out about individual coaching and in-house workshops.