Psychological safety in the workplace

Psychological safety may sound complex, but it is just a fancy way of saying that your employees feel safe to be vulnerable, to take risks in front of their teammates and that they won’t be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes.

Gone are the days where you have the person in charge who is in complete control, while the employees follow obediently and silently along. Modern workplaces have realised the benefits of promoting a psychologically safe environment. In these workplaces, employees:

How can you promote Psychological Safety in your workplace?

Lead by Example

• Set the stage and lead by example
• Be willing to share failures and share what you have learnt
• Demonstrate desired behaviours
• Engage with your team with authenticity

Encourage Learning & Growth

• Encourage the team to be self-aware for example:
  • ask them how they like to communicate
  • ask them about their working style
  • ask them how they like to learn
  • get them to undertake personality type quizzes
• Encourage curiosity in your team and invite viewpoints
• Provide learning opportunities
• Avoid blaming and focusing on the solution for example, asking how something can be done differently next time.

Communicate & Listen

• Encourage communication
  • highlight contributions and acknowledge ideas
  • be open to feedback and ask for input
• Demonstrate active listening
  • make eye contact
  • use open body language like leaning forward or nodding your head
  • asks questions and recap what has been said
  • show you are engaged and avoid looking at computers or devices during discussions
  • Listen to thoughts and opinions
  • Use a positive tone of voice

Create the right environment and culture

Trust in your team and be genuine and supportive

• Encourage immersive and engaging experiences
• Invite your team to challenge your perspective and push back
• Make processes simple and provide clear vision and goals 
• Empower the team to share their unique perspectives
• Build a team culture based on people, not skills for example hire and evaluate people on their ability to play on a team and fit the company culture and vision
• Refrain from judgement 
• Allow the team to come to their conclusions in their own time
• Create a sense of belonging
• Stop negativity from spreading and promote above the line behaviours
• Encourage a culture where mistakes are okay and acknowledge that mistakes are essential for growth

To stay ahead of your competition, you need to use all your resources and your employees are one of your greatest assets. Even if you implement some of these suggestions, you will be on the right path to creating a psychologically safe workplace and your business will improve as a result.

The Money Edge | Kerri Schulz | Bundaberg