Psychological Safety

Psychological Safety impacts every area of personal and team performance at work. Work Health and Safety laws have recently been updated to include Psychosocial Hazards. It’s time.

The Challenges

Highly skilled, knowledgeable and well meaning people hold back on their best work for fear of being wrong, reluctance to stand out, or getting in the boss’ bad books. Leaders lament the seeming lack of commitment and initiative shown by their teams, often jumping in to solve problems and drive progress. Blame flourishes, productivity suffers, leaders burn out. Research consistently highlights low Psychological Safety as the reason. Fixing it changes everything.

RETENTION AND ENGAGEMENT

People leave environments that feel unsafe. They are more inclined to stay if Psychological Safety is high. Research shows this is even more impactful when pressure is high. Engagement and reduced turnover are critical commercial advantages in today’s world.

HEALTH AND SAFETY IMPERATIVES

In both the Chernobyl and the Challenger Space Shuttle disasters people had knowledge that could have averted the disaster. They didn’t feel able to speak up. Recent WHS legislation amendments require employers to identify and mitigate risks to mental health as well as physical risk. Psychological Safety is key to doing this well, and is the right thing to do.

BOTTOM LINE IMPACT

When people feel Psychologically Safe, they spend less time concerned about retaliation by team members. Productivity increases. They are also more likely to embrace performance, growth and challenge.

CAN YOU RELATE?

If your team is already doing well, you know that complacency is the greatest risk. Perhaps you are continuously searching for the one percenters that will keep you at the top of your game.

Or maybe your team is quick to avoid responsibility, weaponising blame to deflect accountability. They’d rather watch a train wreck than contribute ideas or action to avoid it, even when they can see it coming.

“We are better at holding each other accountable. It bought us closer together as a team and we can better tailor approaches to suit the various personalities in our team”– Program Participant

LET'S MOVE THE DIAL ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY

Using evidence based tools, we’ll work together to measure current levels of Psychological Safety in the team. We’ll also see how leaders are either contributing to it, or degrading it. A comprehensive report identifies the specific individual/team/leader behaviour that will have greatest impact on moving the dial. We’ll work with your team to make a plan, and then make the changes. If you are already a high performance team, this work will add to your cohesion and results. If the team has an anxious, blame oriented culture this will move you toward a cohesive, high performance team.

We’ll work with you over 3 months to make the changes stick, keep track of results and build on the positive impact. Let’s build a thriving and adaptive team together.