Assessments can also be used to build psychological safety in the workplace. High-performing companies administer behavioral assessments to help employees build self-awareness. Encourage your team members to do the same. Build self-awareness on your team by sharing how you work best, how you like to communicate, and how you like to be recognized. People bring their whole self to work-their unique personalities, preferences, and work styles. Be self-aware-and demand the same from your team. Instead of “ What happened and why?” ask “ How can we make sure this goes better next time? Notice the focus on the collaborative language: How can we make sure this goes smoothly next time? We statements turn the responsibility into a group effort, rather than singling out an individual for a mistake. But, to build and maintain psychological safety in the workplace, focus on solutions. It’s easy when something goes awry to look for someone to blame. While you might not mean anything by it, employees may internalize the message you’re sending with your face: I don’t like this idea. If you look tired, bored, or unhappy, your employees will notice. Nod your head during discussions to acknowledge what an employee is saying. You can also show understanding with body language. It also gives your team members an opportunity to clarify if you misunderstood something they said. Is that correct?” This shows you want to understand their perspective. Use language like, “What I heard you say is _. When your people know you care enough to understand and consider their point of view they experience psychological safety.ĭemonstrate understanding by recapping what’s been said. If you seek to innovate or bring new products to market quickly, teams must feel safe to take interpersonal risks without fear of being punished or ridiculed. Talent optimization tip: Psychological safety in the workplace is especially important if your company has a producing culture. By actively engaging, you create an environment where people feel it’s only OK to speak up in fact, it’s encouraged and accepted. Ask questions to make sure you understand the other person’s ideas or opinions. It’s easy to get distracted by emails, text messages, or Slack during a meeting-but these small acts of disengagement can negatively impact your team’s psychological safety.Įngagement also means listening to what others have to say. This includes making eye contact and shutting your laptop. If your employees feel that you don’t pay attention when they speak, or that you don’t value their thoughts and opinions, they’ll shut down.ĭemonstrate engagement by being present during meetings. Psychological safety is critical to preventing all of the above, and ensuring your workplace is happy and engaged. Left to fester, fear creates a toxic work environment where one person’s decisions overpower all others. Trust breaks down, creativity falters, and “groupthink” settles in. Employees who are afraid to share their ideas won’t share those ideas. When fear is present in the workplace, it tends to be pervasive. In her later works, Edmondson came to describe psychological safety as the “absence of interpersonal fear.” Psychological safety was first coined in a 1999 article by Harvard professor Dr. If you find that you need to create a more safe environment in the workplace, read on. Not sure if your employees feel psychologically safe? Start by measuring psychological safety in the workplace. Like any major initiative, it needs to start at the top with executive buy-in. If you want to keep great people, ensure psychological safety across the whole company. These risks include speaking up when there’s a problem with the team dynamics and sharing creative ideas, among others.Īccording to the 2022 State of Talent Optimization Report, one in four companies say psychological safety is the top driver of employee retention. In the workplace, psychological safety is the shared belief that it’s safe to take interpersonal risks as a group. What’s the secret behind high-performing teams? It’s psychological safety, according to a Google study called Project Aristotle.
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