James complained that his boss, Susan, regularly invited team members to share ideas and feedback on team projects. You might wonder why this was a problem.
Well, it turned out, that Susan would later use whatever her team members had shared with her, against them. She would use it to paint them in a bad light at meetings they were not privileged to attend and to victimize them. Naturally, they clammed up. They stopped talking. They did not feel safe. They were not safe.
What Susan was doing is counter to what psychological safety is all about.
According to Dr. Amy Edmondson, who coined the term and is author of ‘The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth’, psychological safety is a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes. It leads to people feeling safe and confident that they can take risks around their managers and colleagues, and still be accepted and not punished even if what they put forward falls flat.
Benefits of psychological safety to organizations
Psychological safety in the workplace produces many benefits for team members, and for the organizations, they work for. The advantages take many forms.
Since early highlighting of mistakes is encouraged, problems are captured and addressed before they snowball into bigger problems. Team members are encouraged to explore more and take risks, which leads to better solutions, market breakthroughs, and a culture of innovation. Further, employees feel safe among their peers. This improves morale, social well-being, and a higher level of employee engagement and productivity. According to a Google project called ‘Project Aristotle’, psychological safety is the secret behind high-performing teams.
Once the conditions for an emotionally secure workplace are present, employee engagement and positive workplace culture will follow.
Ways to increase psychological safety in the workplace
As more people are working remotely or virtually than did before the pandemic happened, the need for psychological safety is even greater. This is because team members are distanced – either physically, emotionally, or intellectually – and therefore have a greater need for assurance There are many things you can do to increase psychological safety in the workplace. Below are some ideas.
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Ask, rather than blame.
Ask questions and then listen to understand. This shows employees that you are interested in what they have to say, and encourages them to speak out. When they do speak out and tell you about mistakes they have made or things that are not working well, don’t blame them. If you do, they will get defensive and shy away from speaking in the future.
1. Accommodate divergent views and healthy conflict.
Psychological safety does not mean that there will be harmony at all times. It does mean, however, that even when there is conflict and employees do not see eye to eye with their managers, they will still be treated with respect and dignity. They will not be castigated for harboring views that go against the norm. When you encourage your team members to share ideas that go against what is accepted as standard practice, it will promote broader thinking and perhaps, novel problem-solving approaches which have not been tried before. This will lead to better solutions and breakthroughs.
2. Encourage risk-taking.
Develop a culture that promotes curiosity and exploration, by making it safe for employees to challenge the status quo. This will promote a culture of trying new and different ways of doing things, increase learning and development, and lead to breakthroughs in systems and processes, and product development, and service delivery.
3. Be open to feedback.
Make it safe for your team members to give feedback, both good and bad. This does not mean that you pledge to implement whatever they share, but that you give them a hearing ear and their suggestions and ideas due consideration.
4. Encourage participation.
Give your employees a voice by welcoming their contributions. Rather than you being the source of all decisions and solutions, you allow them to make valuable contributions to the growth of the organization.
5. Deal with negativity.
Do not tolerate negativity on the team, otherwise, it will become contagious and spread to others. Any employee who speaks negatively about colleagues should be notified that negativity will not be tolerated. Should they persist, discipline them accordingly.
6. Measure psychological safety.
Laura Delizonna, in a Harvard Business Review article titled ‘High-Performing Teams Need Psychological Safety. Here’s How To Create It’, shares the idea of routine team surveys on psychological surveys and other team dynamics. This will help the team leader keep tabs on how the team is doing in this area, and uncover areas of improvement.
Conclusion
Psychological safety starts with the leader. You, therefore, need to take the lead in creating an environment where your employees feel safe to be themselves, and to speak out. When the team leader promotes it, both the team members and the organization they belong to benefit. There are higher levels of engagement, increased teamwork, and better performance.
