How to increase psychological safety in your team!

When working, how confident are you that you won’t receive retaliation or criticism if you admit an error, highlight a problem, or make a mistake?

It’s a tough challenge for most organisations. And one that often comes down to psychological safety - the belief that you won’t be punished when you make a mistake or speak up about a problem.

Studies show that psychological safety allows for moderate risk-taking and gives space to highlight and discuss issues without being punished in some way.

In other words, the types of behaviour that lead to a workplace feeling challenging but not threatening. A positive work environment with team success and innovation.

So how can you increase psychological safety in your team?

◽Empower your team with challenging work and the assumption that there could be some failure along the way.

◽Adopt a learning mindset, where you’re truly curious to hear the other person’s point of view.

◽Practice empathy. Simply said, put yourself into the shoes of other people. By anticipating their likely reaction and recognizing their deeper needs – such as the desire for respect and trust – you will naturally influence your own language and behaviour.

◽Linked to the above is avoiding language or behaviour that would deliberately demean, belittle, or alienate others.

◽Invite teams to challenge perspectives and push back. While this may be uncomfortable at first, it gets easier and will lead to better decisions and accountability.

◽And as a leader - the single most important thing you can do is role model the desired behaviours. This includes sharing failures.

◽And don’t forget to ask for feedback to highlight your own blind spots.

By creating a sense of psychological safety in your team, you can expect higher levels of engagement, increased motivation to tackle difficult problems, and better performance.

And it can be an equalizing force that leads to a culturally flatter organization in the midst of hierarchy and positional power.