Psychological Safety at Work
More than a buzzword, it’s essential to building strong teams
When I attended the Thrive conference for HR professionals last month, I was struck by how often the term “psychological safety” came up during sessions. It’s a concept we’re all familiar with and we know it’s important for building a healthy culture with strong teams. But how does one actually create it? Let’s start with defining the term.
According to organizational behavioral scientist Amy Edmondson, psychological safety is “the shared belief that your environment is safe for interpersonal risk taking.” Let’s break that down:
Shared belief—everyone feels like they can freely share their ideas or disagree without fear of reprisal from colleagues or their manager.
Environment is safe—the organization culture makes clear to everyone that even if you make mistakes or offer alternative viewpoints, your company won’t punish or fire you.
Interpersonal risk taking—everyone on your team will be impacted by your behavior, but you still feel safe enough to share your thoughts or try something new that may be challenging for you.
According to 15Five, there are four ways to create psychological safety for your team:
1. Be vulnerable first and often
2. Admit your failures and make mistakes openly
3. Ensure role clarity and clear performance agreements (not expectations)
4. Curiously ask and actively listen
While these behaviors seem easy, they can actually be hard to implement. This is because no one wants to be seen as a failure, our ego doesn’t want to admit mistakes, clarity can be elusive, and the art of listening takes practice. Creating psychological safety can be difficult. But when it is achieved, a team can truly thrive and create amazing results.
If you want to create more psychological safety, use the following criteria from organizational psychologist Adam Grant to assess the current level of safety for your team:
After looking at this list, consider one thing you can do this week that will foster greater psychological safety for your organization and team. Maybe you can share a struggle you’re currently experiencing, or encourage a team member to take a risk.
Whatever step you take, you can start building greater trust and safety for your team. You’ll be amazed by the tangible ROI, and the intangible benefits of creating a place where people can reach their full potential with supportive colleagues.
“Psychological safety at work takes effort. It’s not the norm. But it’s worth the effort.” –Amy Edmondson
Work happy. Live happy. BE happy.
Meredith
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The way we work and build teams is rapidly changing. Leaders often feel unprepared to navigate the transition. As a conscious leadership coach, consultant and communicator, Meredith helps leaders and their teams create new ways of working and relating so they can prepare for the future by consciously co-creating it.
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