Psychological Safety – the Big Mistakes
Feeling psychologically safe has so many benefits for us all – individuals, teams, organisations and communities. So why does feeling psychologically safe seem so rare within organisations?
Professor Amy Edmondson defines psychological safety as the ‘belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes’.
I first remember being silent in my early teens having moved to a different part of the country, school, curriculum and feeling uncomfortable in my new environment. In work it is common for people to hold back ideas, be reluctant to ask questions, or shy away from disagreeing with their manager and wider team. Perhaps we are concerned that we won’t be taken seriously, without criticism, that speaking up – and getting it wrong – might be held against us, so staying silent may feel the path of least resistance.
The Big Mistakes
A lack of trust directs workers away from uniting towards a common goal. It prevents risk taking, reduces innovative thinking, encourages internal competition, lack of sharing information which leads to an increased feeling of insecurity and lack of connection between individuals and teams.
Unable to show vulnerabilities leads to employees not feeling comfortable showing how they really feel, hide errors, and even fake expertise rather than ask for help. In unsafe environments problems are often ignored, hidden instead of being addressed.
Poor communication and working relationships between individuals and across teams increases the likelihood of key information being missed or misinterpreted. Poor listening skills include incorrect reading of body language whether in person, virtually or via phone.
Lack of accountability at work is often a result of recurrent underlying issues such as a lack of clarity of roles, objectives, responsibilities, strategy and limited resources. This can lead to destabilisation within an organisation with reduced outcomes.
Perhaps the biggest mistake is to do nothing. In 2010 BP suffered its largest oil spill in history on the Gulf Coast when employees had warned officials that their plan to expand the well increased the risk of leaks. Executives had not delivered a culture where it was safe to discuss such ideas and they didn’t listen. Later in 2022 Volkswagen were fined for their abuse of fuel efficiency test to the tune of £193m. Staff had been afraid to speak up although they knew the test results were falsified. And in a shocking case with which most of us are familiar, the psychologically unsafe atmosphere at NASA in 1986 meant the engineers’ misgivings about system failure were ignored and the 7 crew of Challenger died as a result. Psychological safety is more than just about feeling comfortable at work, it is actually also to do with using the intelligence and free expression of the workforce to guide organisational direction and avoid disaster.
So what’s to be done. Leaders can build psychologically safe environments. Leaders of teams can influence what happens; individuals can change relationships with those with whom they work. All this takes time, commitment, and sometimes an acceptance that we need to act differently and spend time better managing the risks of culture change rather than avoiding culture change at all costs!
Written by Julia Brown- As a Chief Executive in the voluntary sector, and with extensive Directorial experience, Julia is well placed to outline key elements of delivering Psychological Safety for our organisations.
