4 min read

Process optimisation Productivity

Psychological safety: The key to well-being and innovation

Per Henrik Nielsen

TimeLog CEO with a strong focus on business development and +20 years of international experience as VP and Head of Consulting at Ericsson.

Psychological safety: The key to well-being and innovation

Should you be afraid of the silence?

The company's new strategy is presented. Everyone is listening attentively and you see that Jack is taking notes.

"Any questions?" you ask in the plenary. A few people shift uncomfortably in their chairs, but most just shake their heads, nod appreciatively, smile and maybe give a thumbs up.

'Great, man! That's understood,' you think, 'Maybe the key points need to be repeated a few times, but other than that, we're good to go.'

As a manager with over 30 years of experience, I've been in situations like this many times.

I've learned that it's important to foster a culture where questions are welcome - even when it means stepping out of our comfort zone.

In my view, the adage "he who remains silent, consents" doesn't apply; especially when employees deliberately fail to share their opinions, concerns, ideas or feedback, for example due to fear of negative consequences, lack of trust in management or a culture that doesn't support open communication.

When this happens, we find ourselves in a situation that researcher and author Amy Edmondson, who introduced the concept of "psychological safety," calls "workplace silence."

Because as Amy Edmondson notes in this TEDx Talk, we can have a (natural) tendency to hold back in the workplace:

Most of us don't wake up in the morning thinking: ‘Today I'm going to expose my insecurities and possible incompetence by asking a bunch of questions that I'm probably the only one having.'

Amy Edmonson

Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School

What happens when silence takes over and you hold back?

When you hold back, you deprive yourself and your team of learning moments.
The company loses input When you're uncomfortable sharing ideas or suggestions. This can mean reduced innovation and creativity.
If management isn't aware of any issues because they aren't addressed, it can mean a deteriorating work environment or making the same mistakes over and over again.

Also read: Increase job satisfaction and automation with easier HR and payroll management.

The counterpart to workplace silence is psychological safety

But if we agree that silence is not necessarily the way forward, what do we do?

According to Amy Edmonson, the counterpart is to work on the psychological safety of the workplace.

It's vulnerable to ask questions and admit that we may not know everything. Therefore, we need to be "caught" and supported by a safe environment.

What is psychological safety?

Before we get to the more tangible part of the article - for example, how you as a leader can help create higher psychological safety and how you can measure it - let's take a step back and define the concept of psychological safety:

Psychological safety is about feeling comfortable being yourself in a group. It means you can ask unusual questions, make mistakes or suggestions without fearing how it will be perceived."

Tina Buch Olsson

Head of HR and Education, Konventum

**Psychological safety is not the same as trust or job security**

On the other hand, psychological safety is not the same as trust or job security. We can trust each other as individuals, but psychological safety is about trust and safety in a group. It creates an environment where you can express yourself freely without fear of appearing stupid or ignorant.

Similarly, psychological safety does not relate to external factors like job security (either).

Why work with psychological safety?

With a high degree of psychological safety, people share their thoughts and ideas more often. This helps boost performance and innovation.

Google's Project Aristotle

Google's famous Project Aristotle identified that psychological safety is the most important factor for a successful and productive team.

Psychological safety and performance are closely linked

Psychological safety and performance are closely linked, and through my years as a manager, I've learned how crucial this safety is to a team's success.

When employees feel safe, they can concentrate on their work without worrying about how others perceive them. This means, their skills are optimally utilised and they contribute more effectively to our common goals.

I've seen time and time again how team safety leads to better collaboration, knowledge sharing and mutual support - all of which enhance overall team performance. In a safe environment, mistakes are seen as learning opportunities rather than failures, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.

Psychological safety, high performance and accountability go hand in hand

Psychological safety is (especially) important when you have:

High uncertainty: Uncertainty in the sense that you don't know all the answers in advance or that tasks are constantly evolving.

High interdependence: For example, teams or tasks are interdependent. For example, the marketing department relies on input from the product development team to understand what to market.

These two factors mean you need to be out of your comfort zone and in your learning zone, so you need to build a foundation where it's okay to fail, and where you can constantly evolve and take calculated risks.

How do you balance psychological safety with "nerve"?

If you think: "Okay, Pelle, it's great that everyone should feel safe and be able to ask 'stupid' questions, but don't you risk some employees getting too comfortable?"

And yes, accountability is part of the equation. And by that, I mean that everyone takes ownership of their actions, decisions and results and is accountable to each other.

This model can illustrate that interaction and emphasise that if we have low accountability and high psychological safety, we can fall too far into our comfort zone.

psykologsk-tryghed

How do you train managers to support psychological safety?

Managers are role models and culture bearers - and they are human beings like everyone else. This means that you may (also) need to help them get started with creating psychological safety.

Some of the tools I use are:

Take the lead when it comes to being open. There are things you don't know. It's okay and you can say it out loud.
We are here to learn. When we're about to start something new or difficult (or at all), try to frame it as learning and not "just" execution. We must finish and focus on results, but when we need to engage all brains, we also need to leave room for learning (and mistakes).
Ask, ask and ask again and leave room for others to want to ask too.
Give- and be open to -feedback

How to work with feedback as a management tool.

How do you measure psychological safety?

As a manager, there are several ways you can work on psychological safety - or assess how strong it already is - in your team:

Surveys and questionnaires: Start by surveying with specific questions about psychological safety. Ask team members if they feel comfortable expressing their opinions, if they are afraid of making mistakes or if they feel they can be themselves at work.
Observations and feedback: Make sure to regularly observe team interactions and collect feedback. Look for open communication, mutual respect and whether people are willing to share ideas and take risks.
Trust and respect: Assess the level of trust and respect in the team. Psychological safety is often seen in how team members treat each other and whether they feel comfortable discussing difficult topics.
Performance and innovation: Monitor team performance and innovation levels. Teams with high psychological safety often perform better and are more innovative because members feel comfortable experimenting and sharing new ideas.
Leadership behaviour: Evaluate your behaviour and that of your fellow leaders. As a leader, you play a crucial role in promoting psychological safety by encouraging open communication, showing vulnerability and giving constructive feedback.