Can vulnerable leadership actually improve team performance?

In my case, it helped me double my team’s output in less than a year. Watch the video below for the full story.

Why Vulnerable Leadership Builds Trust

When I took over a national TV department, the team was struggling. Output was dropping, quality was slipping, and morale was not where it needed to be. The bigger problem was that no one really understood why.

At the same time, I was dealing with my own challenge. I had chronic health conditions that affected my energy, caused pain, and occasionally landed me in the hospital.

At our first national meeting, I decided to address it directly. I did not overshare or make it emotional. I simply explained what I was dealing with, how it might occasionally affect my schedule, and how we would handle it if something came up.

What I did not expect was what happened next.

Over the following weeks, several employees privately shared their own invisible disabilities, mental health struggles, and neurodivergent challenges. Suddenly, some of the performance issues made much more sense.

Once those conversations started, the solutions became clearer. We identified barriers, improved communication, added some flexibility where possible, and focused on helping people do their best work.

The impact was significant. Within a year, productivity doubled. For the first time in the department’s history, we were also winning national and international journalism awards.

I do not think that happened because I gave some inspiring speech. I think it happened because one awkward moment made honesty feel safer.

What Vulnerability Actually Changed

It made honesty safer.
When leaders are honest in a practical way, employees are often more willing to share what is actually getting in the way of good work.

It revealed the real barriers to performance.
You cannot solve problems you do not understand. Trust opened the door to better conversations and better solutions.

It turned trust into action.
Once we understood what people needed, small adjustments in communication and flexibility had a surprisingly large impact on team performance.

Vulnerable leadership is not about oversharing or turning every conversation into therapy.

Sometimes it is simply about being honest, being human, and creating enough trust that people feel safe telling the truth.

For more information on how vulnerability and productivity are connected, check out my Awkward Leadership framework article.