How to create psychological safety
It takes courage
Dear reader,
recently I facilitated a leadership team. During the check-in round one team member explained how she would like to contribute more to the goals of the organization but that she could not because of her family and other commitments. Tears were flowing. She felt truly sorry for her limitations. It was an honest and courageous way to tell the team. She made herself very vulnerable.
The team reacted kindly. We discussed how we could support her by taking over some of her tasks. We also discussed how the team was committed to slow down the whole plan in order to not to lose her as a full team member.
It was humbling to see such reaction. No blame, no cynicism, no stupid jokes.
This is trust building and creates psychological safety.
Also today I received a new book in my postbox: Creating Psychological Safety at Work - The Essential Guide to Boosting Team Performance, written by Mehmet Baha. In the addendum he quotes from Amy Edmondson’s book The Fearless Organisation by listing seven questions of hers, which you can use to check your team’s level of psychological safety. These questions are:
If you make a mistake it is not held against you.
Team members are able to bring up problems and tough issues.
Team members are accepting others for being different.
It is safe to take a risk on this team.
It is not difficult to ask for help.
No one will deliberately undermine my efforts.
My unique skills and talents are valued and utilized.
How is your team doing, considering these questions? You can check is for yourself if you rate each questions from 1 to 10 (10 being 100% true).
It often sounds so easy to create trust and psychological safety within your team. But in reality it is very difficult and takes a lot of time and attention. And once achieved to a certain degree it can also easily be destroyed again.
Sometimes a shadow creeps in between two people and no one of the two actually know why. And if they do not speak about it - in most cases - a conflict will arise.
Speaking the truth, having the courage to do so, is so key and sometimes so difficult.
Have you experienced such a shadow arrive in some of your working relationships?
Warm greetings,
Alexander