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Psychological Safety |
Psychological Safety
Discussion in recent times has often focussed on leadership strength and strategy and creating environments that foster trust, acceptance and respect. Psychological safety is loosely defined as the ability for a team member to display self-image, status and approach lines of questioning without being judged, gaslit or belittled.
Positive benefits associated with a psychologically safe environment include the following:
The Big Three
The three components of psychological safety are:
Several key themes emerge as we begin to analyse how to create such an environment within the workplace. Active listening, a crucial aspect of leadership, allows for dialogue to be opened in a mutually beneficial way; research has shown that team members whose leadership is open to discussion create increased performance, boost morale, and increase confidence and cohesion.
Trust
Trust is a critical component of building and maintaining psychological safety in a team context. Whilst the two are closely aligned, trust is simply a component of. Breaking trust will always damage the team's psychological safety; therefore, leaders must focus on the maintenance of trust continually.
Understanding the difference between trust and psychological safety is critical to creating a conducive space to creating moderated risk. Edmonson of HBS defines trust as being" Will you give others the benefit of the doubt when you take a risk?" And that of safety being "Will others give you the benefit of the doubt when you take a risk".
Simply put, the alignment of two areas, group numbers and high benevolent conviction. When group numbers are low, this becomes trust; as group numbers increase, this moves into the psychological safety space. Low benevolent conviction results in guarded relationships between team members and a toxic work environment.
Trust consists of two distinct elements - cognitive and affective.
Discussion in recent times has often focussed on leadership strength and strategy and creating environments that foster trust, acceptance and respect. Psychological safety is loosely defined as the ability for a team member to display self-image, status and approach lines of questioning without being judged, gaslit or belittled.
Positive benefits associated with a psychologically safe environment include the following:
- An increase in moderated risk-taking
- Reinforced openness
- Increased morale
- Nurtured continuous development and learning
- Improved innovation and creative thinking
The Big Three
The three components of psychological safety are:
- Communication
- Trust
- Conformity
Several key themes emerge as we begin to analyse how to create such an environment within the workplace. Active listening, a crucial aspect of leadership, allows for dialogue to be opened in a mutually beneficial way; research has shown that team members whose leadership is open to discussion create increased performance, boost morale, and increase confidence and cohesion.
Trust
Trust is a critical component of building and maintaining psychological safety in a team context. Whilst the two are closely aligned, trust is simply a component of. Breaking trust will always damage the team's psychological safety; therefore, leaders must focus on the maintenance of trust continually.
Understanding the difference between trust and psychological safety is critical to creating a conducive space to creating moderated risk. Edmonson of HBS defines trust as being" Will you give others the benefit of the doubt when you take a risk?" And that of safety being "Will others give you the benefit of the doubt when you take a risk".
Simply put, the alignment of two areas, group numbers and high benevolent conviction. When group numbers are low, this becomes trust; as group numbers increase, this moves into the psychological safety space. Low benevolent conviction results in guarded relationships between team members and a toxic work environment.
Trust consists of two distinct elements - cognitive and affective.
Conformity
Group norms, social standards and beliefs are areas where teamwork is built. What it means to be a part of the team; the intangible and unmeasurable definitions that ensure the team excels and consistently delivers is challenging to monitor; therefore, developing and sustaining the measurable standards will either transform the team culture into one that generates high-performance or supports an already high-performing team.
How to Create the Environment
Seven critical rules for creating Psychological Safety:
Group norms, social standards and beliefs are areas where teamwork is built. What it means to be a part of the team; the intangible and unmeasurable definitions that ensure the team excels and consistently delivers is challenging to monitor; therefore, developing and sustaining the measurable standards will either transform the team culture into one that generates high-performance or supports an already high-performing team.
How to Create the Environment
Seven critical rules for creating Psychological Safety:
- Provide feedback and advice - also invite input from your team.
- Hold regular after-action reviews and post-delivery inquiries.
- Make the team involved in your decision-making process.
- Define values, standards and expectations.
- Treat others how they want to be treated.
- Be firm with negative actions and behaviour.
- Admit mistakes.