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Share your biggest failure of the month and get rewarded for it! Among the key factors that contribute to a thriving workplace is psychological safety – the shared belief among team members that they can express themselves freely, take risks without fear of retribution and ask questions without feeling judged.
Psychological safety is not just a buzzword; at LeadWise we believe it's the foundation of high-performing teams. When team members feel safe to share their ideas, concerns, and mistakes, it leads to increased collaboration, innovation, and problem-solving. Conversely, a lack of psychological safety can reduce creativity, hinder communication, and ultimately lead to organizational failure.
The Risks of Psychological Safety Failures
The consequences of a psychologically unsafe work environment can be far-reaching. Consider the example of Volkswagen's 'dieselgate'. In 2015, Volkswagen was caught using illegal software to cheat emissions tests. This scandal was rooted in a culture of secrecy and fear of repercussions, where employees were afraid to speak up about the company's wrongdoing. If employees had felt psychologically safe, they could have raised concerns about the emissions issues, potentially preventing the scandal altogether.
Shortly after the scandal was revealed, Volkswagen's former Chairman of the Works Council, Bernd Osterloh, wrote: "We must have a climate in the future where problems are not hidden but can be openly discussed with the superiors. We need a culture in which it is necessary and permissible to argue with your superior about the best course of action."
Even though it is an extreme one, this is just one of many examples that underscores the importance of psychological safety in preventing organizational disasters. By creating a culture where employees feel safe to voice their concerns, companies can identify potential problems early on and take corrective action. And psychological safety in your company starts with psychological safety in your team.
Assessing Psychological Safety in Your Team
Before implementing strategies to enhance psychological safety, it's crucial to assess the current level of psychological safety within your team. Probably the most powerful assessment is to ask yourself the question how often someone from your team has shared a mistake or failure with you. Is the answer less than a handful? There's work to be done!
In addition, several other methods can be employed to gauge your team's perception of psychological safety:
Run employee surveys
Another powerful tool is to conduct anonymous surveys that include questions about employee comfort levels, willingness to take risks, and perceived openness to feedback. You can use your company's employee survey for this, when applicable, or create an anonymous survey for your own team specifically.
Observe your team interactions
Pay attention to nonverbal cues, such as body language and tone of voice, during team meetings and interactions to identify potential indicators of psychological safety or its absence. You can also assess the participation of the different team members during a team meeting. Low participation rates may indicate a lower level of psychological safety.
One-on-one conversations
To gather more context and input you may engage in individual conversations with your team members to gain deeper understanding of their personal experiences and perceptions of psychological safety in your team. Be mindful, when individuals do not feel psychologically safe, they may not be open and honest to you about their concerns.
By gathering feedback from these various sources, you can gain a better understanding of the current state of psychological safety within your team and identify areas that require improvement.
Creating a Psychologically Safe Workplace
Once you assessed the level of psychological safety within your team, you can implement strategies to cultivate a more psychologically safe environment. Some of these include:
Establish clear norms and expectations
Set clear expectations for behavior and communication within the team, emphasizing mutual respect, open-mindedness, and active listening. Make sure to lead by example by demonstrating the behaviors you expect from others. Be open to feedback, admit your own mistakes, and encourage others to do the same.
Encourage open communication
Create enough opportunities for regular and open communication, both formal and informal. Encourage team members to share their ideas, concerns, and questions without fear of judgment or reprisals. During team meetings you could apply turn-taking to make sure that more quiet voices are also heard.
Actively listen and respond
When team members speak up, actively listen to their concerns and ideas. A simple rule that could be applied here is the "No interruptions rule", making sure people are not interrupting when someone is sharing their thoughts. Provide thoughtful feedback and demonstrate that their input is valued.
Normalize mistakes
Recognize that mistakes are part of the learning process. Encourage team members to learn from their mistakes without fear of punishment. In our team we have taken this a step further: every month everyone one of us shares our best learning (i.e. biggest failure) with the whole team and we nominate someone to win the "Best Learning Award" to thank them for their courage to share this and let everyone learn from it.
Celebrate successes
In addition to sharing failures it is of course also very important to acknowledge and celebrate team successes, both big and small. Again, we recommend to do this in a team setting, not only to shine a light on someone's success but also to be clear to others about what success for the team means. This reinforces a positive team culture and encourages continued effort.
Psychological safety is not a luxury; it's a necessity for your team's success. We hope that by implementing these strategies, you can create a culture of psychological safety where team members feel comfortable expressing themselves, taking risks, and collaborating effectively, in turn leading to a more successful, innovative and happier team.
Are you a new manager looking to improve your leadership skills? Or is your company lacking an effective and affordable training program for new managers? Our innovative, fully self-directed, Emerging Leaders Program may be your solution. Visit www.leadwise.app to learn more.
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