Strategize To Succeed
PC408 – Psychological Safety At Work

       Welcome to the next episode of Strategize To Succeed™. Selectively applying the strategies which we discuss each week will help you as you progress from conditions to opportunities to successes.

       In today’s episode, we are focused on psychological safety and the importance of having it in the workplace.

      Have you ever experienced the feeling of an “aha moment” where you have come up with an idea which you believe would solve a rather thorny issue at work, but you are apprehensive about sharing it?

      Whether you are in a conference room with your team, or in a shop with your co-workers, you just don’t feel comfortable about sharing your thoughts with other people. And it’s not because you doubt the worth of your idea. It’s about how you believe that you will be received when you share your idea. Perhaps you think that you will be disrespected, made fun of, or perhaps even harassed. But the conclusion is that you feel that you are prevented from sharing your ideas and thoughts because the result could be harmful to your well-being and, as a result, not worth your effort.

      Before we proceed further, Your Mentor would first like to reassure you that if you are having these feelings, it is likely that so are others around you. It is not directed at you, instead it is the nature of your workplace and an environment cultivated by your leaders. So, this is not the time to walk on eggshells and try to be invisible at work. If you took that approach, you would be depriving the business of your terrific ideas, and that would be unfortunate. Instead, let’s try to identify the problem and help you to more effectively work with it.

      The term “psychological safety” was coined just over 20 years ago by a Harvard researcher, Dr. Amy Edmonson who wrote a paper on the subject of team and member dynamics. In an article by the Leading Effectively Staff at the Center for Creative Leadership entitled, “What Is Psychological Safety at Work? How Leaders Can Build Psychologically Safe Workplaces” (www.ccl.org, December 15, 2022), the term “psychological safety” was defined in depth. “Psychological safety is the belief that you won’t be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. At work, it’s a shared expectation held by members of a team that teammates will not embarrass, reject or punish them for sharing ideas, taking risks, or soliciting feedback.”

      The article continues to explain that “Psychological safety at work doesn’t mean that everybody is nice to each other all the time. It means that people feel free to ‘brainstorm out loud,’ voice half-finished thoughts, openly challenge the status quo, share feedback, and work through disagreements together – knowing that leaders value honesty, candor, and truth-telling, and that team members will have one another’s backs.”

       Essentially, psychological safety comes down to mutual respect for whatever anyone says. That doesn’t mean that the ideas will necessarily be applauded, but it does mean that they should be heard and that that everyone has a responsibility to listen to everyone else.

      As summarized in the article, “How Psychological Safety Actually Works” by Shane Snow (forbes.com, May 4, 2020), “In a team environment, what psychological safety actually means is that you know that things you say and do won’t be used against you . . . as long as you’re not being malicious . . . psychological safety actually is a commitment to treating each other charitably – in both directions . . . and if you want a group to have psychological safety, the #1 thing you need to do is to get people to care about each other.” 

      Psychological safety is often applied as an excuse to forgive someone when things go wrong. But that is not the point at all.

       Psychological safety is the mechanism which can be put in place to facilitate innovation and creative thinking and unify a team of colleagues, so that no one is isolated from the group or harmed by cruel comments.

      There are a few instances in which psychological safety may be misconstrued:

      Believing that a team leader is responsible for preventing harm, not just discomfort. Actually, discomfort can be a beneficial process because it can lead to motivated growth. The point is that within the sphere of psychology, pain and discomfort are not to be avoided. One needs to go through it gradually in order to conquer it

      Along these same lines, there is a difference between disagreement and danger; and there is a corresponding difference between ideas and violence. Psychological challenges are acceptable in the name of growth, however physical abuse is never permissible.

       Only certain types of risks are acceptable; that is, when such a risk helps the group. Conversely, certain risky behavior is deemed a potential harm to one’s psychological safety.

      And, as with every liberty which one can take, there are subtle limitations which exist. The ability to feel safe enough does not extend so far as to be able to hurt intentionally another member of the team. If such behavior were permitted, the result would, in fact, negate the existence of psychological safety.

       Conversely, there are constructive ways in which to increase the existence of psychological safety within the workplace. Outlined in the Harvard Business Review article entitled, “4 Steps to Boost Psychological Safety at Your Workplace,” by Amy C. Edmondson and Per Hugander (June 22, 2021), these approaches are as follows:

       First, focus on performance. Obviously, the workplace is not an appropriate setting for a therapy session. And, certainly, that would not be either encouraged or tolerated by team leaders. Instead, these subtle behavioral changes, particularly a willingness to listen, must be integrated into the emphasis on performance. 

       Second, the training cannot be limited to only a certain group of people. Executives, team leaders, and workers must all be given lessons on how to communicate and exchange ideas, along with how to listen to each other without rancor.

      Third, the importance of visualization when creating psychological safety. The purpose is to internalize new training techniques by writing down detailed descriptions of how to handle various situations. The result is that the communication lessons are reinforced and can be applied effectively.

      And, fourth, recognize that feeling vulnerable is acceptable in the work environment, and, in fact, can reduce the possible anxiety which may arise. Once the lesson is learned that being vulnerable and open when expressing one’s honest opinion did not result in harm, whether to oneself or to someone else, increasing amounts of risk can be assumed.

       This general guidance can be joined with eight somewhat more concrete tactics for leaders to incorporate with their teams, offered in the article by the Center for Creative Leadership:

1.       Make psychological safety an explicit priority.

2.       Facilitate everyone speaking up, showing curiosity and empathy.

3.       Establish norms for how failure is handled, mistakes are an opportunity for growth.

4.       Create space for new ideas (even wild ones), challenge but be supportive.

5.       Embrace productive conflict, incremental change by establishing team expectations.

6.       Pay close attention and look for patterns in the application of psychological safety.

7.       Make an intentional effort to promote dialog, feedback, ask open-ended questions, listen actively.

8.       Celebrate wins, share credit, offer encouragement, and express gratitude.

      Perhaps the question has crossed your mind of why bother to go through all of this? Isn’t it enough to just do the job and move on?

       Surprisingly, more effort is needed by everyone in business. Competition is increasing, more jobs are at risk, and the need to achieve excellence is an increasing challenge at every point in the job completion process.

      A significant way to improve the standard of quality within the business setting is to properly integrate psychological safety within the daily activities. By putting in the effort to accomplish this, the result can become “a valuable competitive advantage.” (HBR) 

      The utilization of this process opens up honest communication, participation, increases an exchange of ideas, spurs on motivation and improves creativity. If the training process is instituted and completed with an open mind, there really does not seem to be any downside to incorporating psychological safety within the workplace. Certainly, it would seem to be worthwhile to give it a chance.

       Thank you for sharing your time today. Remember, your application of strategic decision-making approaches can result in more beneficial outcomes for you, both professionally and personally. Why not turn that process into your opportunity?  

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