How does the lack of psychological safety show up at work and what can leaders do to improve it?

The term psychological safety was first coined by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson. She defined 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”. Seldom is this safe environment achieved overnight but is something that is built up over time and is part of the team’s culture through day-to-day interactions, actions and decisions.

So how does the lack of psychological safety show up in the workplace? Here are some examples in varying degrees:

• Jonathan who is working remotely is afraid to share with his team that he is picking up his kids in the middle of the day, in fear of being perceived as not working hard enough.
• Susie feels guarded to disclose that she is taking care of her sick mom, not asking other team members for help.
• All team members are afraid to disagree with the team leader’s favorite employee, in fear that they will be perceived as not a team player.
• Ben’s team took a risk on a project that did not do as well as they hoped. He got a poor performance rating and no bonus for year end.
• Tom gives feedback to his manager and a month later was let go from the company for performance issues.
• Danielle has a migraine and accidentally makes a mistake in an email to a client. She was let go from work a few days later.
• Andrew receives feedback from another team member and felt like he was singled out to participate in a 360.
• A new hire shared some suggestions for improvement on current work processes and was given the feedback that he is not adjusting well to the company culture.
• Katie pointed out reasons why a change initiative may not work and made suggestions for improvement, she was labeled as not buying into the change.
• Matthew is afraid to take his full paternity leave in fear that it will affect how his performance will be viewed and jeopardize future promotional opportunities.
• Romita does not share her ideas in the team meeting as she doesn’t think her ideas will be listened to.

When it comes to psychological safety, actions speak louder than words:

Let’s face it, the workplace can sometimes be a harsh environment. Let’s not pay lip service to psychological safety. We can launch as many employee task forces as possible on psychological safety or give out cute teddy bears with T-shirts saying “speak up” to all our employees, and it still won’t move the needle towards psychological safety. Actions speak louder than words and it is in the day-to-day actions and decisions on talent that signals how safe it is to speak up. Employees are listening and watching, taking cues from leadership on how to act.

A lack of psychological safety can either be localized within a specific team, a leader, a department or it can be a problem across the whole company. Regardless, it is very important for leaders to make performance and talent decisions thoughtfully and carefully. Second, it is imperative that leaders role model the behaviors that support psychological safety so team members will follow suit.

So, what are the behaviors that support psychological safety?

• Value ideas and implement them (if not, explain why)
• Ask more open questions
• Listen first and do more of it
• Ask for help
• Give everyone a chance to speak
• Bring an opposite viewpoint and encourage constructive debate
• Call out the elephant in the room
• Praise others for speaking up
• Allow failure and encourage resiliency and how to move forward
• Admit to making mistakes
• Bring your whole self to work
• Be vulnerable and authentic

Let’s change the conversation. Reward learning rather than flawless execution:

Most workplaces have a perfectionist culture as it is likely that we have been consistently rewarded for getting the answers right since grade school. The workplace typically does not reward risk taking. Instead of rewarding flawless execution, maybe we should think of measuring success differently. What if success was measured by how well you learn and your thought leadership at work? Let’s change the conversation. We all know you need to make mistakes in order to learn and grow. How many meetings at work do you have honest real conversations about how to improve your product versus showcasing success to each other, further reinforcing the perfectionist culture?

Psychological safety, although very hard to implement, is probably the closest we can get to a magic bullet for creating high-performing teams. Equipped with this knowledge, let’s begin!

Looking to improve psychological safety in your team? Check out our Whole Self Workshop at www.leadershipwow.com