Why Psychological Safety Matters If Success Is Your Ultimate Goal

Imagine being cornered in your office by your new team!

When I was a young leader, I was tasked to hire a team focused on managing training offerings across a larger segment of our company.

Suddenly I went from wet behind the ears to leading a team of five high-level training coordinators who managed leadership development programs across the globe.

One cold rainy morning they came into my office one by one, closed the door, and said,

“We have to talk!”

What I came to learn in each of these “interventions” would change the trajectory of my career. I was failing at the most important part of my role as a leader—enabling a culture of psychological safety.

When The Status Quo Isn’t Up To Par

Previously, managing these programs was a one-person job, and I was the star performer.

One leadership principal instilled by my boss was to hire the smartest people to do the job, which I gladly did. I had great respect for all of them, but I also had a solid operational playbook that I expected them to follow to get the work done.

While they felt welcome and included on the team and were able to make mistakes and learn, I was not open to hearing their ideas and allowing them to challenge the processes I had established.

What is Psychological Safety?

Psychological safety allows a team member to bring their full self to work. To be rewarded for their knowledge, contributions, and ideas.

It combines respect for the team’s ideas and expertise, with permission to use those ideas to help the team to make better decisions and innovate.

Without psychological safety it is difficult for teams to stay aligned to the culture, collaborate effectively, or achieve goals collectively.

The term “psychological safety” was first coined in 1965. Since then there’s been research into how psychological safety aligns to behaviors and outcomes.

However, there’s been no clear framework to understand or enable it within a team or organization...Until now!

The Four Stages of Psychological Safety

Thanks to Dr. Timothy Clark and his company Leader Factor, we now have a clear and actionable model to understand and enable psychological safety in teams and organizations.

The Four Stages of Psychological Safety ensure that employees are:

1. included

2. allowed to learn and make mistakes

3. able to contribute and make a difference

4. encouraged to challenge the status quo and make things better

When these four stages are present, there’s no limit to team innovations or successes.

What I Was Doing Wrong?

Remember I said I was barricaded in my office?

While my new team felt included and able to make mistakes and learn, I was not enabling them to contribute their best ideas and make a difference.

Necessarily I was also not hearing their ideas to make things better.

Ultimately, my behavior caused massive frustration for them, and left them feeling like worker bees solely going through the motions.

The team’s message to me was simply this.

“You hired us because we are smart and can do the job; you don’t need to do this job. Let us do the job and you focus on bigger things!”

It was a valuable lesson I needed to internalize, and fast. And I’m grateful it came early on in my career.

I was lucky that my team had courage and a strong desire to challenge the status quo despite my hovering management style.

Many times, teams don’t have that courage, and leaders are faced with a quiet and compliant team.

They get the job done, but at what cost?

Learn How To Apply The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety

If you’ve reached an inflection point with your team and your leadership, and wish to change the direction to achieve passion, joy, and innovation, in your workplace, I have an invitation for you.

Join me on Friday February 19, 2021 for a live virtual training on applying the stages of psychological safety to your business.

I’ll hold a 2-hour sessions at 9 AM CST.

Next week, I’ll write in more detail about the most important stage of psychological safety to master to foster collaborative success.

Contact me for more details about my upcoming Psychological Safety class and to enroll.