4 Ways to create psychological safety in your workplace…
What is psychological safety?
The term psychological safety was coined by Harvard Business School professor Amy C. Edmondson. She defines it as “a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes, and that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking”. Psychological safety is about showing up to work as your authentic self, with your own unique perspective, and being welcomed to engage in a genuine and collaborative way. It allows for full participation, regardless of any and all aspects of your identity.
According to Edmondson, you can gauge the level of psychological safety in a group by measuring the extent to which:
Mistakes are not held against you
Team members are encouraged to raise problems
People are not rejected for being different, and uniqueness is valued
People are willing to propose and take risks
People feel comfortable asking for help
People do not undermine each other
Want to take a deeper dive? Check out my article What is psychological safety?
According to a 2021 survey by Workhuman, during the pandemic women experienced less psychological safety at work than men, and working parents had lower levels of psychological safety compared to those who aren’t parents. Looking at race and ethnicity, it was also unsurprising that white employees experienced the highest levels of psychological safety compared to employees of other racial identities. The fact that the barriers of the pandemic are subsiding, doesn’t automatically fix the hardships workers have been experiencing over the past year. When people are burned out, stressed and lonely, it’s difficult to bring their full selves to work.
And, in her book Leading Below the Surface, LaTonya Wilkins, summarises that true psychological safety “is an uncommon feeling to experience in the workplace”, especially if you belong to a marginalised community. She states that according to a Gallup survey only 30% of people feel their opinions count at work. That means if there are 10 people in your team, only 3 of them might actually feel their opinions count! 3! This is not good at all.
Here are 4 ways you can foster psychological safety in your workplace today:
1 Practice active listening and curiosity
Actively ask team members to contribute their thoughts and expertise. This is especially important to practice at times in which their opinions may challenge your own thinking. Get curious, ask questions, and ask for feedback. Don’t assume that people are wrong just because you disagree. Seek to understand and engage your learning muscles.
You can demonstrate your listening skills by repeating back what you have heard, in their words, staying present in the moment by leaving your phone out of reach, and asking follow-up questions to cement your understanding. And, if you know you have people who are less vocal in meetings, actively invite their opinion and thank them for their contributions.
Remember, you can't expect people to get on board with a new way of working if you don't lead by example. This means apologising when you make a mistake, demonstrating considerate communication, showing empathy, and asking for help when you need it too.
2 Promote respect
If you witness someone engaging in undermining, minimising, or shaming behaviour, or any behaviour that goes against the culture you are trying to create, don’t condone it and don’t ignore it. Intervene and educate them of why this is no longer something you do and help them understand what you expect from them going forward.
3 Encourage feedback
I know, the dreaded “F” word!
But honestly, if we are to break free of the judgement of others, it’s important to cultivate an open mindset, and feedback is a great way to open a two-way dialog of growth. A word of caution here, as humans, we’re generally pretty terrible at both giving and receiving feedback (even the positive kind!).
So, if you are seeking to create a culture of feedback be sure to think carefully about how you will communicate what this looks and feels like for your organisation, and you give support, training and clear boundaries around how this will be practiced. And please, make sure your leadership teams are leading by example, culture is everyone – including you!
Feedback is about growth, learning and connection, helping each other to be the best that we can, and to learn to consider things from multiple perspectives. Failure to properly set the conditions for engagement can result in a culture of “one-upping”, criticism and defensiveness.
Encourage everyone to be open in sharing feedback with one another.
Help them learn how to provide useful, constructive, and specific examples, and to respond with gratitude.
Encourage them to see feedback as a way to strengthen their performance and their relationships.
4 Consider your privilege
If you’re someone who belongs to one or more dominant identity groups in your organisation, make conscious, specific and sustained efforts to leverage your privilege to empower your underrepresented colleagues. Examples of this may be highlighting team members’ accomplishments and recommending them for high visibility projects or key work assignments.
If you hold a senior level position, volunteer to sponsor an employee resource group, and prioritise time to attend events hosted by these groups, regardless of whether you are a sponsor or not. This will demonstrate your authentic interest and appreciation for their work, that can help build trust.
Even if you don’t have seniority in your organisation, but you would like to start creating a psychologically safe culture within your own team, there are still steps you can take. Be sure to have open and transparent conversations with your team prior to taking any action. This will be the first step for establishing trust and gaining the commitment of your team to experiment with you.
Get to know each other as people: Make a practice of taking 3 minutes at the beginning of team meetings to pose a non-work-related, check-in question to participants. This allows people to see each other from a different angle and as whole people rather than just a role within the group.
Allow space for individual thinking and welcome it. Introduce intentional silent individual reflection time and writing down ideas prior to having a group discussions or idea sessions. This allows people to participate equally, as everyone will be given a chance to share their thoughts. It also works against the "piling on" that happens when an initial idea is shared, or a powerful voice moves in one direction and suddenly everyone else agrees. It also helps reduce the biases that might be at play within the group too, as well as having conversations being dominated by particularly vocal people.
Invite challenge. Encourage a healthy level of constructive challenge, creative thinking and differing perspectives. Show gratitude and support to those that do so, signalling that it is safe to take discussions in different or deeper directions.
Role model vulnerability. Employees will follow the example set by leaders. When a manager shares their mistakes or struggles, the team has a model for how to share and be supportive with each other. You should be clear about what your intent is when sharing a story, it should be to build trust and deepen your relationship with the team, not simply to unburden yourself. Remember "being vulnerable isn't the same as not having a filter” - Brene Brown.
Practice and role model active listening. Give your people space to think and talk by resisting the urge to fill every silence. Repeat back what you are hearing and ask thought provoking and open-ended questions to gain a deeper understanding of their position, perspective or idea.
Remember, psychological safety doesn't just come from the top. Team members need to take responsibility for creating a better environment for each other.
This is the reason why contracting is always a fundamental and important part of all the workshops I run. Sharing basic ground rules around confidentiality, participating and respect for all participants to agree upon is key to making sure people can build trusting and safe spaces for learning. As is allowing all participants to add additional ground rules that are important to them, and are agreed by the group, further deepening their commitment to the learning environment and to each other.