Creating a psychologically safe workplace

For several years now, at least the last 5 years, we have become aware of the impact of psychological safety has in any environment.

What we are seeing now is an increasing movement in the workforce to acknowledge it. A lot of workplaces now make it a part of their charter, especially professional places, like law firms, consulting firms, banks, governments, etc. In some instances these directives are even coming from Board levels but here is where we have a misalignment.

If indeed, psychological safety has been accepted as a necessary part of the company’s values, the directive usually goes to HR who will write a policy and, in many ways, tick a box.

Whilst all working environments need it, it is even more critical where we have already pre-existing stressors as part of the norm. Long hours, difficult case matters – whether it be emotional or complex subjects.

This means that in these working environments we need to have these processes in place and activated.  They need to form part of habits, how we engage, we communicate.

It should be noted that we will soon see ISO release a proposal for psychological safety to form part of every business’ charter. We will see this under ISO 45003 so I do hope that we will look at this as a practice to embrace and actively engage from the top down.

Making the change happen

When I have discussions with key people across industries, including CEOs, directors, and HR Directors, I hear similar patterns, I hear the misalignment repeat itself.  

Everyone acknowledges that the change needs to happen but everybody is too busy “doing” and dealing with the issues that are evident to avoid delving into the cause. 

In some ways, people are afraid to have the necessary discussions because they may inadvertently upset someone. So, nothing changes. 

Likewise, I then have seen people asking who is responsible for ensuring we are taking onboard the needs of our staff and create a psychologically safe workplace. HR indicates that it needs to come from the top, CEO’s and Directors look to HR and indicate that they need then to drive it. Others might say it needs to come from the leadership team.

The truth is: it needs everyone to be involved. It does not happen at one level but needs to be done as a collective. From the Board down, we are all accountable to one another and how we enact accountability. This means being ok with being pulled up no matter who we are.

Of course, the reality is that if the most senior staff are not prepared to be open-minded about the process and the value that it will bring to each individual’s wellbeing, let alone the increase in productivity, then the road forward will be difficult. If nobody voices their opinions and nothing changes, we will see deterioration in engagement, further staff turnover, mental health issues increase and productivity slide further.

Psychological safety is created everyday

Here are some key things that will make a difference when we become more aware of how we each contribute to psychological safety.

When we do things in “bite-sizes” they are achievable. So let’s look at how casual discussions can make an impact.

Let’s imagine a conversation where someone tells you about an idea a colleague submitted and how that was a silly idea. 

Let’s respond with: “I am not sure that it was a silly idea and to be honest no idea is silly.”

Call them out for putting someone down. We must ensure the conversation is the same outside of the room as it would be in the room with the person in it. Why? Because we start to develop trust.

Similarly, when someone suggests trying XYZ - and someone objects that it has been tried before and didn’t work, you need someone to pipe in and reframe the thought process by saying “Oh, great so you were around. That is brilliant let’s look at it again knowing the things that didn’t work so we can find new options.”

The dialogue that is important here is to ensure that we build trust and that people feel like they can say their piece and not be judged, or shamed. That despite having a different point of you – they will be heard. Genuinely. Your response verbally is not what is noted, it is what is not said. It is how you react, how you take a breath or look, it is if you make eye contact.

In order to develop high-performing teams, you need your people to trust you. Only in a psychologically safe environment will they be able to start thinking bigger, limitlessly even and to be fully part of the journey.