The importance of psychological safety in building your successful high-performance business culture
Psychological safety is defined by Harvard Business School’s, Amy Edmondson as “a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes”. In 2015, when Google studied its employees to determine “what makes a good team,” researchers found that psychological safety was the most important quality that determined a team’s success.
The highest performing, most successful businesses and teams feel psychologically safe within their workplace. Why? Because psychological safety empowers employees to explore moderate risk-taking, speak their mind and be more creative without the fear of getting it wrong. A workplace that exerts psychological safety automatically becomes a ‘safe place’ for an employee, providing a sense of comfort and protection that offers a source of inspiration to explore and take risks.
Studies on psychological safety point to wide-ranging benefits, including increased confidence, creativity, trust and productivity. A 2017 Gallup report found that if organisations increase psychological safety, it makes employees more engaged and creative in their work and can lead to a 12% increase in productivity.
As a business owner or leader how do you adopt psychological safety into your workplace?
Great business owners and leaders create the right culture to ensure their workplace feels safe for its employees to grow and prosper without fear of speaking their mind. To build psychological safety amongst teams, leaders should embody these qualities:
Lead by Example – acknowledge mistakes, be open to opinions, be approachable
Create a safe environment – build a community where employees are encouraged to accept and listen to all ideas, never judge or interrupt
Encourage active listening – encourage more sharing by staying engaged and asking more questions
Develop an open and growth mindset – approaching ideas from different angles can help bring a new perspective
How can the fear of ‘speaking up’ deteriorate a business?
In a climate in which speaking up is now expected as the norm, workplace environments that don’t encourage this culture can risk deteriorating the creativity and success of their business and teams. This culture is now more important than ever with many people adjusting to remote work and worrying about returning to the workplace.
Ultimately, if you want your own successful high-performance businesses and teams you must have the courage to have a culture that encourages people to speak freely, to be creative, to take risks and feel completely safe to do so, otherwise real success will be a long way away off for any company whether it be global conglomerate or a new start up business.
Waking Hours - Alan’s favourite quote that if you hold to be true will change your approach to leadership
We spend roughly a third (or more) of our waking hours in the context of a particular human organisation. We get paid, at most, once a week. Most of us receive formal reviews only once or twice a year. All the rest of the time - the huge majority of our working hours- we actively seek rewards and recognition in nonmonetary realms. We seek opportunities to be heard, and we seek evidence that the company values our contributions. We seek genuine involvement in the decision-making process and problem-solving process. We seek to know and understand what is going on. We seek a positive, total experience with our organisation- and this seems to be a fundamental piece of our human nature.
– Rich Teerlink – CEO Harley Davidson Motorcycles
The Alchemists Forum brings business owners and business leaders together to make greater decisions, inspire greater thinking and build businesses that endure.