Key Messages
Psychological Safety: How To Create An Environment Where People Feel Comfortable To Take Risks, Collaborate And Be Innovative
Creating a workplace environment that motivates and inspires confidence is essential for any successful organization.
What’s important here is to create an atmosphere of psychological safety, where employees feel free to take risks, make mistakes and wherever possible learn from them.
Research and examples from prominent businesses have highlighted the types of open and supportive cultures which lead to success.
Leadership plays a key role in creating such cultures, offering encouragement and support instead of judgment or reprimand.
In order to achieve this degree of collaboration and innovation in the workplace, it takes more than just being smart or hard-working.
Leaders must nurture their team by implementing simple habits such as throwing parties to celebrate flops or encouraging a “clueless” mentality that allows experimentation – all with the goal of empowering employees to reach their full potential without fear.
By understanding what it takes to inspire confidence in the workplace, your team will benefit from having the freedom to express ideas and solutions – leading you towards business success!
Confronting Fear And Speaking Up At Work: How To Overcome The Need For Approval And Contribute Meaningful Ideas
We can all relate to the fear of speaking up in a strategy meeting, classroom, or even at the dinner table- we worry that others will think our contributions are no good and decide not to risk it.
As children, we start caring more and more about how our peers perceive us, avoiding saying or doing anything that could make us look weak or silly.
This habit of self-censorship follows us into adulthood, preventing us from talking up when we have valuable ideas, questions, or concerns at work.
A 2003 study into people speaking up in the workplace affirms this; 85% of participants felt unable to approach their bosses with any concerns out of fear of being judged negatively by them.
Even incredibly successful business innovator Nilofer Merchant experienced this; at Apple she would stay quiet about any issues she noticed due to her own anxieties about being wrong.
Our worries about how we’re perceived keeps us from doing our very best work- it prevents individuals from voicing their ideas and limits companies from creating new opportunities for innovation.
In an everchanging world where businesses must keep moving forward if they want to succeed, having a fearless organization is absolutely essential.
When There’S No Psychological Safety In The Workplace, Innovation And Collaboration Suffer
Psychological safety is a critical factor in workplace performance, both for individuals and teams.
Studies have consistently shown that when teams have psychological safety, their performance increases and members are able to be more creative and innovate more easily.
For example, Chi-Cheng Huang and Pin-Chen Jiang’s 2012 study on research and development teams found that teams with psychological safety outperformed those without it – members were not scared of presenting ideas they had due to fear of rejection.
This idea was confirmed by Google’s 2016 study which showed psychological safety as the most important characteristic of successful teams.
Even when members are separated geographically or culturally, Professor Christina Gibson and Professor Jennifer Gibbs‘ 2006 study on worldwide innovation teams revealed that psychological safety helped promote better communication between team members.
As a result, they felt better prepared to handle whatever challenges came their way.
The Fearless Organization encourages the creation of psychologically safe workplace environments where individuals can communicate openly and candidly so both people can continue to learn from one another and make even bigger breakthroughs in whatever project they’re working on together.
Fear In The Workplace: How It Kills Innovation And What You Can Do About It
The absence of psychological safety within a company can have terrible consequences, not just for its own employees but also for its customers and the company overall.
We saw this occur in both Wells Fargo and Nokia’s cases; due to their toxic work cultures, their employees were too scared to come forward about unethical practices or admit that their current technology couldn’t compete with newer rivals.
Consequently, these companies paid the price by being hit with multi-million dollar settlements and becoming irrelevant in an ever-evolving market.
Creating psychological safety is essential for any organization if it wants to succeed and avoid such dire circumstances.
Leaders need to create an atmosphere whereby employees aren’t afraid to point out mistakes or express their opinion of how better the company could be run without the fear of potential repercussions.
This will lead to higher morale and encourage everyone in the organization to collaborate together towards one comprehensive goal.
The results can be extremely beneficial when done right, as seen by countless companies who strive and thrive through psychological safety in the workplace.
Fearless Leaders Empower Their Teams To Take Risks, Learn From Failures, And Create Innovative Solutions
A fearless workplace starts with reframing failure and redefining the boss’s role.
We often hear that we should do our best and strive for perfection, but more often what is needed is a culture of learning from both successes and failures.
Leaders need to be open to allowing people in their team to take risks, even if there is a chance of failure, so that lessons can be learnt from those failures and applied in the future.
This can be seen in organisations like Pixar, where Ed Catmull made it clear that every movie was expected to fail at first before it could eventually succeed.
This sort of reframing of failure can also help reduce fear of taking risks and open up more lines of communication between employees and leaders.
Christa Quarles, CEO of OpenTable showed this by providing an environment which encouraged her team to make mistakes early on so they could try out different strategies rapidly.
In addition, the role of the leader needs to shift away from that of an authoritarian figure who hands down instructions and instead look at themselves as coaches or facilitators who set direction but allow their people to contribute their own ideas.
An example of this approach is Cynthia Carroll’s former leadership at Anglo American who arranged for meetings with thousands of mine workers about what would need to be done in order to improve safety measures.
The result? Mining deaths were dramatically reduced!
So in essence, a fearless workplace requires not only a reframing of failure, but also a reframing of how bosses view themselves and their teams – as individuals whose ideas are valued by their leaders rather than people who are just following orders.
Creating Lasting Psychological Safety Through Open Dialogue And Questioning
When leaders have a curiosity to learn from their employees and admit that they don’t have all the answers, it encourages people to speak up.
This openness can be seen in Anne Mulcahy’s example as the former chairperson and CEO of Xerox.
She was so comfortable with saying she didn’t know the answers that her employees nicknamed her the “Master of I Don’t Know”.
This environment lead Xerox to come back from bankruptcy.
Leaders need to go further on than simply acknowledging that they don’t know everything and instead start asking questions which show genuine interest in what others have to say.
Questions should avoid yes or no answers, and aim to evoke creative thought.
The type of questions asked will depend on the situation; if seeking wider understanding ask people what is missing or invite those with different perspectives.
If needing deeper understanding then ask for examples or reasons behind someone’s thinking.
In addition, leaders can set up structures for sharing information such as workshops, focus groups and meetings.
An example is Groupe Danone who started holding conferences between different departments and saw not only ideas being generated but also a culture of speaking up be created overtime through positive feedback given when people do take action.
Creating Psychological Safety In The Workplace Through Positive Responses To Input And Failure
It’s important for leaders to respond productively when people take risks and speak up.
Without the feeling of psychological safety, employees may not be comfortable challenging the status quo or taking risks in pursuit of new ideas.
As a leader, it’s your responsibility to support them by responding in the right way.
A good place to start is with appreciation.
We all need recognition and encouragement, so make sure that you take the time to thank them for trying something new or speaking up.
This will help maintain the feeling of psychological safety and give people more confidence when they contribute their ideas going forward.
When it comes to failure, there are different types, each requiring an appropriate response from leadership.
If it’s due to someone having tried something new which didn’t pay off as expected, then celebrate it!
Share this experience and learn from it together.
On the other hand, if preventable failures occur because processes were ignored or boundaries broken, then consequence – sanctions or suspensions if necessary – should follow in a fair and balanced manner.
Making sure everyone knows what is accepted and what isn’t ensures that such failures don’t happen twice — allowing everybody to feel more secure and free from fear when innovating and sharing ideas at work.
How To Create A Fearless Work Environment Even If You’Re Not The Boss
Have you ever had an idea of how to make a workplace less fearful, but felt like you don’t have the authority or power to do it? Good news – you don’t have to!
You can help create a fearless work environment even if you’re not the leader.
First and foremost, show your colleagues that they matter.
Ask them for their input, expertise, and ideas; make it a habit to direct these questions specifically to individuals.
Also encourage others to speak up in meetings by handing the responsibility over right after you’ve made a statement or idea.
When people share what they have to say – listen!
Be attentive and respectful when others are talking, even if you don’t agree with their opinion.
Show appreciation for their efforts by providing feedback and building on their ideas.
Do this every chance you get.
Finally, create an environment where everyone feels comfortable asking for help and offering it to each other in return.
Let them know that help is always available when needed by using phrases like “What can I do to help you?” When people feel less afraid of striving for excellence, your whole team will find motivation and are more likely reach their full potential.
Wrap Up
The Fearless Organization by Amy Edmondson aims to help leaders create cultures of trust and bravery in their workplace.
This is done by encouraging people to take risks and have conversations that lead to innovation.
In order to accomplish this, she recommends her readers adopt a “play to win” mentality rather than “playing not to lose.” The idea here is that if you focus on the potential reward you can earn, such as learning new things or gaining recognition, you will be more likely to take risks.
Ultimately, what the book advocates for is creating a workplace where people and ideas can thrive; one that encourages open dialogue between colleagues and learning from failure so everyone can reach their fullest potential.
This means creating an environment in which employees feel supported rather than afraid of retribution, allowing them greater freedom to try new approaches and feel rewarded for success.
