There's a lot of interest in the concept of psychological safety these days, as we need to drive change, innovation and results faster than ever before. According to Katrine Bastian, business psychologist and lead consultant at Lead, research suggests that psychological safety is central to a work culture where employees work together to create extraordinary results. But what can you as a leader do to develop and maintain psychological safety?
But couldn't we just get a grip? We're not schoolchildren anymore, but adults who need to be able to treat each other properly. It's just not that easy, says Katrine Bastian.
"When we're in a group, there's a group dynamic that kicks in, no matter how grown up we are. And in a performance culture, which is risky, horses will bite each other. There's not so much looking out for each other and leaving room for mistakes, no matter how grown up you are."
As a leader, you play a key role in creating and cultivating a culture of high psychological safety.
"When you're a leader, there are always many sets of eyes on you. No matter what you do, someone will be looking at you, at your behavior, at what you give attention and recognition, at what you allow and what you crack down on. You are therefore helping to shape the culture and must show through your behavior what psychological safety is in practice."
Katrine Bastian says that managers often ask her if they can create psychological safety in their department or for a small team, independent of the rest of the company.
"My answer is always YES. Even if you are part of a zero defect culture. If you decide that you want a good and healthy culture in your team, start there. Obviously, it will be easier to create psychological safety if it is also prioritized higher up in the management layers, but as a manager, you can do a lot yourself."
What is psychological safety in the workplace - briefly:
In most contexts, the concept of psychological safety is directly linked to Amy Edmondson, a professor at Harvard Business School. It was she who introduced 'psychological safety' in 1999 as a result of a research project focusing on medication errors in the healthcare sector.
Here, Amy Edmondson discovered that the teams that functioned and performed the best were also the ones with the most reported errors. The studies showed that these teams didn't necessarily fail more than average - but that they were characterized by a high level of mutual trust and respect, which made team members comfortable speaking up about the mistakes they made.
When psychological safety is high, teams are better able to build on each other's ideas and work more efficiently. According to Amy Edmondson, psychological safety is never the end in itself - it's the method to achieve high performance.
Psychological safety is also often referred to as psychological security.
What provides psychological safety in the workplace?
This is obvious when it comes to our children. Of course, they must learn to give space, not laugh at their classmates in class and always be prepared to raise their hand and answer questions from the teacher - even in difficult subjects at the risk of failing in prime time.
We have a deep desire to instill in children a fundamental belief that we as human beings have each other's best interests at heart, and that you won't be punished or humiliated for speaking your mind, sharing an idea or making mistakes. This is the definition of a psychologically safe collaborative culture.
Psychological safety is thus attempted to be established at an early stage, but that doesn't mean it can be taken for granted for the rest of our lives. Psychological safety is not something we automatically master in every context 'just because we are adults'. It's something that needs to be cultivated, trained and maintained if you want to create the right conditions for high-performing teams and innovative employees.
"Psychological safety is a culture that is present in a group, organization or department where there is a shared understanding that it is desirable to speak up and offer ideas or say if something is difficult. It's a climate where you feel supported and where you know that management has your back, even when you feel challenged," says Katrine Bastian, business psychologist and lead consultant at Lead.
High psychological safety in the workplace creates both higher performance and better well-being
The link between psychological safety and high performance is supported by a study conducted by Google in 2012. The study is known as "The Aristotele Project", a reference to Aristotle's famous phrase that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
In the study, Google wanted to examine its teams to find out what it takes to create effective and high-performing teams. Before the study began, the hypothesis was that the right skills and mix of personality types was a crucial factor.
"The study showed that personality types and competencies are important in creating what you could call a superteam. But it also became clear that the teams that had the highest performance, i.e. those that created something greater together than you might expect, had something more than that. Namely, a high degree of psychological safety," says Katrine Bastian.
"Psychological safety proved to be conducive to good collaboration and high performance. We simply get better ideas and come up with better solutions when we dare to talk about the mistakes we make and learn from them. It's about creating a collaborative climate with a focus on learning together"
The article continues in the next section.
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Psychological safety in the workplace prevents stress
According to Katrine Bastian, there is also a lot of evidence to suggest that there is a direct link between psychological safety and stress prevention. This is partly because we dare to relax and be ourselves in a psychologically safe environment.
"When we are part of groups with high psychological safety, we don't need to practice impression management. That is, we don't have to take care of our image and make sure people think of us in a certain way. We simply relax more and dare to be ourselves, to be fallible, to say if something is difficult and to give feedback. And we're more concerned with learning rather than looking after our reputation and reputation."
Conversely, employees who find themselves in environments with low levels of psychological safety will be more anxious. These environments are often characterized by a zero-fault culture based on fear and what Katrine Bastian calls the "blame game" and "shaming".
"It's a culture where people look out for each other. Employees are on edge about looking out for themselves, less likely to speak up and less concerned about helping and recognizing each other. This type of behavior will have consequences for how effective and innovative employees can be, which in turn will be reflected in the bottom line," says Katrine Bastian, adding that it will typically also have a knock-on effect on the tone of the company, the atmosphere, the environment and the culture.
"I've seen companies with low levels of psychological safety where people say things like, "it was a good meeting today; no one argued" or "it was nice that no one cried". These are extreme examples, but the point is that the norm of acceptable behavior risks being pushed in psychologically unsafe environments. It becomes a more cynical and hurtful environment where the individual is closest to themselves and where, at worst, anxiety and stress, bullying and exclusion arise."
The manager plays a key role in employees' psychological safety
But couldn't we just get a grip? We're not schoolchildren anymore, but adults who need to be able to treat each other properly. It's just not that easy, says Katrine Bastian.
"When we're in a group, there's a group dynamic that kicks in, no matter how grown up we are. And in a performance culture, which is risky, horses will bite each other. There's not so much looking out for each other and leaving room for mistakes, no matter how grown up you are."
As a leader, you play a key role in creating and cultivating a culture of high psychological safety.
"When you're a leader, there are always many sets of eyes on you. No matter what you do, someone will be looking at you, at your behavior, at what you give attention and recognition, at what you allow and what you crack down on. You are therefore helping to shape the culture and must show through your behavior what psychological safety is in practice."
Katrine Bastian says that managers often ask her if they can create psychological safety in their department or for a small team, independent of the rest of the company.
"My answer is always YES. Even if you are part of a zero defect culture. If you decide that you want a good and healthy culture in your team, start there. Obviously, it will be easier to create psychological safety if it is also prioritized higher up in the management layers, but as a manager, you can do a lot yourself."
How to create psychological safety? - 3 leadership tips for psychological safety
Turn up the curiosity.
You need to get to know the phenomenon of psychological safety better. This means reading about it, talking about it, attending lectures and listening to podcasts on the subject. Reflect on what it would mean for your employees to work consciously with psychological safety and what results you would measure yourself.
Take small steps and be patient.
You can't change culture overnight.
It has to be done step by step - and you need patience.
That's why you need to start small and pay attention to your own behavior and management practices.
Show it, don't tell it.
Psychological safety starts with you as a leader by daring to be fallible.
You do this by shedding light on mistakes and things that are difficult without placing blame.
Instead, show that it's something you can talk about without it being shameful or risky, but rather an opportunity to learn and grow - both individually and together.
How do you work with psychological safety as a manager in practice?
Psychological safety can be addressed in a number of different ways. Here are some suggestions for what you can do as an individual manager or as a joint management team:
Build trust: It's important to create a sense of trust within the team or group. This can be done by creating an open and welcoming atmosphere where everyone feels comfortable sharing their thoughts and feelings.
Be responsive: It's important to pay attention to what others are saying and show interest in their views. This can be done by asking questions and giving feedback in a constructive way.
Create an environment of positive feedback: It's important to give positive feedback when someone does something well. This can help boost confidence and create a sense of trust and collaboration within the team or group.
Accept mistakes and shortcomings: It's important to accept that everyone can make mistakes and have shortcomings. It's important to be open to learning from mistakes and shortcomings - and finding ways to improve.
Create shared goals and visions: It's important to create shared goals and visions for the team or group. This can help create a sense of community and a common direction that everyone is working towards.
The above are just a few suggestions for working with psychological safety. It's important to remember that there is no universal recipe for creating psychological safety, as it can vary depending on the situation, team or group.
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