Psychological Safety in the Workplace - Part 2
What Psychological Safety Does For Your Organization
Just to review a few key highlights from Part 1, it’s important to remember when you make psychological safety a non-negotiable imperative in your organization it:
Enhances Employee Engagement: When team members feel safe at work, it’s easier for them to engage with peers, on a team, while solving problems and with customers. It is easier to communication and fosters and environment where people feel heard, seen, and valued
Fosters an Inclusive Workplace Culture: It’s more important than ever to make all team members feel included. Safe workspaces welcome diverse teams and all team members to flourish regardless of gender, color, race, background, or political preferences.
It Encourages Creativity and Innovation: In order for creativity and ideas to flow organically, team members must feel safe expressing themselves. Imagine how many inspired ideas were never shared because a team member didn't feel safe sharing.
Improved Employee Well-being: Mental health highly contributes to overall well-being. When employees are mentally healthy, it's easier for them to perform at an optimal level and avoid stressors that keep them from doing their best.
It Creates Brand Ambassadors: Creating a psychologically safe workplace is one of the best ways to inspire team members to constantly brag about you. Team members can’t help but gush about how wonderful work is when they’re being treated right.
Reduces Employee Turnover: A recent study reported that team members who feel psychologically safe at work are less likely to leave. In the end, why leave a company that treats you with respect and makes you feel safe and valued? There are horrendous costs that come with interviewing, hiring, and training team members (among other costs). High employee turnover isn’t sustainable for successful businesses.
The 6 Skills and Actions Team Leaders Need to Develop to Foster Psychological Safety
Leadership development plays a key role in developing psychological safety in the workplace. To strengthen psychological safety and become a truly inclusive organization, managers and leaders throughout your organization need to focus on these key areas [Summarized from The Fearless Organization, A. Edmonson, 2018):
Communication Skills: Practice active listening and curiosity. Ask team members to weigh in with their thoughts and expertise. This is especially critical to practice this skill when opinions may differ or challenge your thinking. Ask questions and get feedback from your team members. Don’t assume team members are wrong just because you disagree. Remember, curiosity combines active listening and validation together for a much more open line of communication.
Conflict Resolution Skills: Promote respect. When a team member engages in undermining, shaming, or any behavior that discourages others from speaking up, don’t condone it. Take an active role in intervening and be clear about how this behavior can impede innovation and the free flow of ideas.
Accountability Measures: Lead by example. Anyone in a position of power should set an example by modeling the behaviors you desire to reinforce. These modeled behaviors then can become the standard and will be normalized across the organization. It is important to acknowledge your mistakes and apologize.
Vulnerability: Embrace the uncomfortable. According to Edmondson, leaders owning their vulnerability and fallibility is a mark of true strength. It shows a willingness to improve and encourages open and honest feedback. When leaders acknowledge their own fallibility, it allows the team and the organization to learn and improve.
Empathy: Foster an open conversation and a growth mindset. Pay attention to how your teams operate. Is everyone given an opportunity to speak up? Are some more silent than others? Work to foster equal speaking time for everyone. Develop group facilitation skills to support cohesion and sensitivity to all team members, not just the boldest and loudest voices.
Self-reflection: Empower others from your place of privilege. If you’re someone who isn’t underrepresented in your community, make efforts to leverage your privilege to empower and challenge affinity bias.
How team members can promote psychological safety during everyday meetings
Team leaders can try simple exercises like these to foster psychological safety everyday:
Pose a check-in question. Make a practice of taking 2-3 minutes at the beginning of meetings to pose a non-work-related, check-in question. This brings an element of each members humanity, not just the role they play at work.
Share your Stories. Employees follow the standards set by their leaders. When a manager shares a mistakes or struggle, the team has a model for how to share and be supportive of one another. As Brene Brown says, "being vulnerable isn't the same as not having a filter." Be clear about what your intention is in sharing your story. It should be to build trust and deepen your relationship with the team, not to unburden yourself.
Vulnerability at work can take many different forms
If vulnerability isn’t the unburdening of self, keep in mind these suggestions from Brene Brown for how to make it work in the workplace and on your team:
Admitting publicly that the project you championed failed and offering lessons learned
Speaking up in a meeting to propose a risky or untested idea
Disagreeing with your boss or offering a different way forward
Sticking up for a teammate in the face of adversity
Willingly giving up time or resources to help out someone on your team
Showing emotions when you're under pressure
Volunteering to do something you have no idea how to do
Dive Deeper
I highly recommend both The Fearless Organization by Amy Edmonson and Dare to Lead by Brene Brown to explore both psychological safety and the role of vulnerability in leadership. The Prepared Leader by James and Wooten is also an excellent and poignant resource for today’s leaders.