How to create an environment where teams can thrive
Summary:
Healthy high performing teams all share one important factor: psychological safety
Psychological safety is the shared belief that the work environment is safe for interpersonal risk: asking for help, admitting mistakes, etc.
There are important steps that leaders at all levels can take to increase psychological safety for their teams
There are a number of things that have been shown to help teams work well together: a shared purpose, clear goals, a common approach, and accountability. But at the foundation of all high-performing teams is a critical ingredient that must be present for them to thrive: psychological safety.
Psychological safety, a term popularized by researcher Amy Edmondson’s work, is the shared belief that the work environment is safe for interpersonal risk. That notion of it being a shared belief is important; if you think it’s safe and I don’t, then we have a problem.
When Edmonson was researching teams in a hospital setting, she observed that teams with the strongest relationships made more errors than those teams that didn’t get along well. She was puzzled by this finding; it ran antithetical to what she believed about healthy teams. Upon further investigation, however, she found that the healthy teams weren’t necessarily making more errors but that they were reporting more errors. This was happening because they felt more comfortable speaking up in front of each other. In fact, she found that the teams with weaker relationships made more errors but were less willing to report them.
When psychological safety exists, people more regularly speak up, offer ideas, report mistakes, and learn together. When team members feel safe being vulnerable in these ways, their relationships and their work outcomes improve. Research indicates that psychological safety helps to support diversity and inclusion, leads to stronger employee engagement, and improves the team’s performance over time.
When team members don’t perceive psychological safety, what they experience is more like fear.
And that feeling of fear is antithetical to healthy teams: it inhibits learning, impairs analytical thinking, and can hamper creative problem solving.
Psychological safety isn’t just about being nice or avoiding disagreements. In fact, teams with psychological safety demonstrate a willingness to actively engage in productive conflict. But this conflict is handled with respect and care for the other person. It builds relationships instead of tearing them down.
When I work with leaders and their teams, we dig into psychological safety. We explore the extent to which it already exists and how we can build it further. Below are some of the topics we examine together; you might consider how they apply to your team.
How can I assess whether we have psychological safety on our team?
If you’re wondering whether your team has adequate psychological safety, try asking some of the following questions:
If someone makes a mistake, is it held against them?
Does it feel safe to take risks?
Do people feel comfortable bringing up problems they’re facing?
Do individuals regularly ask for the help they need?
Do team members feel they can bring their unique skills and talents to their work?
I use the answers to these questions to help diagnose the extent to which safety is present as well as areas that need the most improvement.
What can leaders do to build greater psychological safety?
Leaders play the largest role in establishing and nurturing psychological safety for their teams. According to Edmondson, there are several important steps they can take.
Frame the work: ensure the team understands the work to be done and why it’s important to the organization
Invite participation: leaders can proactively invite others to have voice - emphasizing that there is much to learn, inviting questions, and creating a structure to elicit ideas and concerns
Respond productively: when individuals do speak out about mistakes, concerns, or questions, leaders should listen thoughtfully and thank the individual; they should demonstrate that there are no repercussions to speaking out
Leaders have a significant opportunity to build safety when they encourage their team members to contribute and then create a safe space where multiple viewpoints can be heard.
In every team, there are two pivotal moments that can build or destroy safety: the first vulnerability and the first conflict. Leaders who approach these instances with care and encouragement will help their team feel safe with each other. They can set a healthy precedent for the ways in which the team continues to engage with each other.
Can a team establish psychological safety regardless of the environment it is in?
While the best team results are seen within organizations where psychological safety is the norm, teams can still establish it locally regardless of the larger environment. This is encouraging news for leaders and their teams. You don’t have to wait for the entire organization to change before you make important changes for your own team.
The impact of psychological safety
Psychological safety isn’t built overnight but develops from our actions over time. It’s natural for people to hold back ideas, especially when they fear rejection or embarrassment; psychological safety is the tool that helps draw those ideas out of them. When psychological safety is present within a team, that team can stretch itself to build healthy relationships and achieve higher goals. This foundational element is crucial for team success.
References:
Coyle, D. (2018) Culture Code: The secrets of highly successful groups. Bantam Books.
Edmondson, A. (2018) The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth. John Wiley & Sons.
A version of this article appeared in Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business Lead Read Today publication and can be found here: https://fisher.osu.edu/blogs/leadreadtoday/creating-environment-where-teams-can-thrive
Written by Bethany Klynn, PhD
Bethany Klynn is a leadership and culture consultant and executive coach who works with great companies to grow their leaders and transform their cultures.