When I landed my first management position, I led a team of ten event producers, coordinating a program for thousands of people. We brought teachers and students from all over the world to discuss and learn about the benefits of meditation and how to integrate it into daily life.

Meditation is rooted in selflessness and service to others, which is ironic because I was taking my new promotion to mean I had graduated into a special tier of existence. I thought I had finally been accepted into a superior territory, with access to more resources, easier work and power over others.

I was lucky that it didn’t take long for me to start getting feedback from colleagues, who were kind enough to point out that I had let my new position go to my head. I had been treating my direct reports, and others, as though they had less intrinsic value than myself. I would say things like "I don't need your input. I know what I'm doing,” or, “I'm the one in charge here,” when someone offered a different point of view.

I see this mistake across all industries in varying degrees of subtlety, in newly-minted managers as well as long-time CEOs. There is an underlying contextual assumption that leaders are somehow separate from their employees, which may not even express itself in any overt way, but comes out in the subtext of one’s management style.

The main outcome of this mindset is a culture of unhealthy competition and territoriality. Having developed a sense of separation, we intentionally carve out our own separate space. Then, in order to claim that space as our own, we set up barriers against possible attacks from others. Any sense of openness is eaten up by our fear of losing what we have gained as a leader. As a result, our colleagues and direct reports, in following our example, cultivate their own territories which they attempt to use to defend themselves and hide out in. As a result, this inward-facing territorial leadership style (ahem, my previous leadership style) can potentially create an entire organization of people solely prioritizing themselves and their own positions over what is best for the company.

This may seem like an extreme description. But if you truly reflect on your own identity in your career, you may find little examples of this mindset and associated behaviors creeping in. A way to know if you or your boss have created this type of environment is that you may see people acting out of fear of losing their job, fear of being out-performed by a coworker or fear of “looking bad” in front of the boss. It is the feeling that you have to protect your own territory or it might get taken away at any time.

Create a Culture of Equality with Self-awareness

The way to counteract a company culture of territoriality is to:

• Proactively develop a sense of self-reflection. Take the time to investigate your own assumptions and approach to being a leader. Be honest with yourself about how you think of yourself and others in relation to the positions you hold at your company.

• Communicate to your colleagues and direct reports from a place of vulnerability. One way to do this is to let them know what you really think and bring them in on your thoughts and plans for the future.

• Be on the lookout for territorial thinking and behavior. Coach those who are nervous about their position, guiding them towards relaxing their boundaries.

• Show your teams that it is ok to make mistakes and promote a culture of continuous learning. You can do this by meeting with your team to articulate what mistakes you made on your last project and how you plan to improve in the future.

• Evangelize collaboration and team wins over individual performance. Reward and share team achievements to promote team thinking and shared identity.

By proactively engaging in creating a culture of fundamental equality, you give everyone permission to trust each other and trust the entire work situation. The whole thing could become quite workable and creative. Instead of rejecting others and feeling imprisoned by their careers in a struggle of fight, loss and gain, you find that people start to actually open up. They become willing to relax and fully apply their intelligence to their work.

Leadership is about being on the tip of the spear, so to speak. You are the first one to recognize the possibility or potential of your team, department or company. But you are also willing to look realistically at what is going on, investigating whether you are shutting yourself and others down or treating the situation around you as open and workable. Remember that whatever you do as a leader will be seen and likely emulated by those around you.

So the first step is to be curious and take a look at what you are cultivating.