Establishing Psychological Safety in your Team and Organization
Psychological safety is an integral part of high performing teams and organizations. However, the concept is often misunderstood and few understand how to cultivate it within their culture. A psychologically safe team depicts an environment where team members feel safe to ask questions, propose changes, interact honestly, and make mistakes without fear of retribution or embarrassment (Bariso, 2020; Frazier et al., 2017). In this way, psychologically safe team environments welcome authenticity, vulnerability, and communication while dismantling the need to posture to appear smart, “better than”, or worthy. However, psychological safety is often misunderstood as a team without conflict, disagreements, or emotions such as frustration, anger, or shame. Rather, a psychologically safe environment provides a space to process conflict and emotion openly and constructively. Therefore, conflict coupled with the ability and openness to handle the conflict, allows for it to be resolved efficiently while creating systems to prevent the same problem moving forward.
Scholars and practitioners agree that psychological safety is an integral aspect to high performing teams. Google conducted a years-long study to better understand why some of the teams within their organization thrive while others underperform. They expected to find that the best performing teams had the most talented individuals. Instead they found that the highest performing teams had the most psychologically safe team environments (Barison, 2020; Duhigg, 2016). Research within sport has demonstrated that psychologically safe team environments lead to “better team functioning, improved team resilience, and ultimately greater satisfaction with performance” (Fransen, 2020, p. 8). Similarly, Gosai et al. (2021) found that both relationship quality and psychological safety predicated athletes' development and success.
Psychological safety can be cultivated within a climate by fostering high-quality interpersonal relationships (characterized by high levels of trust and respect), supportive leadership behaviors (characterized by leader inclusiveness by asking for input and showing an appreciation for input), and supportive systems and practices (characterized by policies and systematic approaches to support). However, it is also important to recognize that individual differences can impact how one perceives psychological safety within an environment. For example, someone within a position of authority may perceive the environment as psychologically safe because they do not perceive excessive risk within their interpersonal interactions. However, a rookie employee in an entry level position may need more demonstrations of supportive leadership behavior to perceive the same levels of psychological safety. Further, personality differences can also impact perceptions of psychological safety; therefore, some may be more inclined to feel psychologically safe while others may not based on their past lived experiences and inclinations. Importantly, it is up to the leader of the organization to take on the responsibility of establishing and promoting a psychologically safe environment. This includes intentional actions to address the diverse group of individuals within the organization. By doing so, the organization can take that next step toward optimizing their performance and establishing inclusive organizational cultures.
References
Bariso, J. (2020, February 25). After years of research, Google discovered the secret weapon to building a great team: It's a lesson in emotional intelligence. Inc. https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/after-years-of-research-google-discovered-secret-weapon-to-building-a-great-team-its-a-lesson-in-emotional-intelligence.html
Duhigg, C. (2016, February 25). What Google learned from its quest to build the perfect team. The New York Times Magazine. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html
Fransen, K., McEwan, D., & Sarkar, M. (2020). The impact of identity leadership on team functioning and well-being in team sport: Is psychological safety the missing link? Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 51, 101763–. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2020.101763
Frazier, M. L, Fainshmidt, S., Klinger, R. L., Pezeshkan, A., & Vracheva, V. (2017). Psychological safety: A meta‐analytic review and extension. Personnel Psychology, 70(1), 113–165. https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12183
Gosai, J., Jowett, S., & Nascimento-Júnior, J. R. A. D. (2021). When leadership, relationships and psychological safety promote flourishing in sport and life. Sports Coaching Review. DOI: 10.1080/21640629.2021.1936960
