More about our psychological safety training
What is psychological safety?
In 1999, Dr Amy Edmondson of Harvard Business School coined the term ‘psychological safety’. She states:
“Psychological safety is a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes.”
Seems simple enough, right? However, it is estimated that only one third of employees actually believe that their opinion counts in their workplace, and more than half of Australian workers view their work environment as psychologically unsafe.
Interestingly, this number differs greatly depending on the type of work. According to the Australian Workplace Psychological Safety Survey, only 23% of lower-income workers believed their workplace was psychologically safe. This number rose to 45% for workers with larger incomes.
Everyone has the right to feel safe in their workplace. To make this happen, it is crucial that leaders and those in a management role work towards establishing trust between their people and an open culture. Whether it is in an important meeting or during everyday interactions, every person in your organisation should be able to question, share an idea, and contribute.
Both leaders and the people in your organisation can benefit from a psychological safety training session, paving the way for greater levels of innovation and collaboration.
Book a psychological training program with us today at 1300 655 098.
The benefits of a psychologically safe workplace
‘Project Aristotle’, Google’s study into what makes effective teams, found that there were five factors that affected the dynamics of a team and their success:
- Psychological safety. Google found that teams that worked well felt safe to take risks without fear of punishment or embarrassment. This led to group members asking more questions and offering new ideas.
- Dependability. Teams could trust that members would complete their work in the time allotted and to the standard required.
- Structure and clarity. Individuals knew their role in a team, what was expected from them by their team and leader, and how they would accomplish their tasks. They were able to ask questions to clarify if needed and had the ability to find out any information that they needed.
- Meaning. Teams found a sense of purpose in their work or in the outcome.
- Impact. Team members felt that their contribution mattered to the team and the organisation as a whole.
Psychological safety was identified by the researchers as the most important of these factors — a prerequisite for discussion, collaboration and innovation that sets great teams apart from the good.
From this, it is clear that a culture where people feel safe enough for risk taking is key. If your employees fear that a single mistake will jeopardise their job or that expressing their idea will result in backlash, nothing will get done. The curiosity and creativity that drives effective problem solving simply won’t emerge.
If an employee is focused on self protection, it is likely that they aren’t living up to their potential. They aren’t able to rely on each other and build on teammates’ thoughts to drive innovation and better decision making. In the end, both organisations and their people suffer the consequences.
Even in workplaces with low psychological safety, people make mistakes — it’s just a part of life. In these environments, however, someone is less likely to report making a mistake, meaning that it may go undetected for longer and cause a bigger issue down the road.
It is important to note that psychological safety does not mean that no one will ever have a disagreement; in fact, people should feel comfortable expressing their opinion to others. Understanding how to effectively implement psychological safety can be difficult, which is why it is so important to learn from a qualified trainer.
Ready to create a psychologically safe environment your employees can thrive in?
Get your free quote for our psychological safety training course today.