The importance of psychological safety in the workplace

Psychological safety within teams at work is one of the most important aspects of ensuring that people are working both efficiently and effectively. The concept of psychological safety at work isn’t new. Amy Edmondson coined the term back in 1999, and defined it as “a shared belief by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking.”

What does psychological safety look like in practice?

To be clear, it’s important to establish that psychological safety isn’t about being nice to one another all the time. Psychological safety is present when people feel safe enough among each other to be their full, authentic selves in front of each other. Employees in a psychologically safe environment can:

Voice their thoughts and ideas candidly

Challenge the status quo

Work through disagreements

Seek out help

Take intentional risks

Present new ideas

Essentially, they are enabled to invest themselves completely in what they are doing without the fear of consequences or punishment as a result. They speak and act with authenticity, knowing that no matter what happens, their teammates and leaders will have their back. They will be honest with them, but won’t violate their personal dignity because they said something that someone else disagreed with. They can move forward with the knowledge that their thoughts and opinions matter and will be taken into account rather than dismissed, or worse yet, punished.

Why is psychological safety important? Is it being applied?

Think of psychological safety as a key to opening up the gates to an innovative company culture. Whether it’s implemented or not has a direct impact not just on how employees act and feel, but also on an organization’s bottom line. If an organization maintains a psychologically unsafe environment, innovation and performance will be stifled in more ways than one. For example, people might feel less comfortable bringing up novel ideas that would have had a positive impact. Or, people might disengage from their work after they’ve received consistent direct or indirect feedback telling them that their contributions and opinions aren’t being taken into account. Overall, a psychologically unsafe environment holds people back from expressing their thoughts and talents as much as they can, which affects a company’s ability to get the most out of the talent they’ve hired.

Unfortunately, recent insights show a significant gap in the implementation of psychological safety. Insights gathered from various sources by the Center for Creative Leadership show that:

As of 2019, only 30% of employees strongly agreed that their opinions count at work

20% of female leaders feel overlooked or ignored during virtual meetings

Action steps for leaders

So, what can leaders do to close this gap and create psychological safety for everybody in their teams and workplace? McKinsey suggests that leaders can work on various skills, such as open-dialogue skills (the ability to talk through disagreements and diffuse tensions), sponsorship (enabling other peoples’ success ahead of one’s own), and situational humility (the ability to express curiosity with a personal growth-oriented mindset). When things get challenging, they also suggest leaders focus on expressing four key qualities to avoid giving into fear and risk creating an unsafe environment. These qualities are awareness, compassion, empathy, and vulnerability.

Other steps that leaders can take to create psychological safety include:

Being inviting and receptive to feedback

Demonstrating engagement

Including team members in the decision-making process

Stopping negativity before it spreads

Avoiding placing blame on people when a problem arises

Building psychological safety is one of the most important things that a leader can do for the team. By providing employees with an environment that allows them to freely express their thoughts, ideas, and opinions, leaders create an environment that is conducive to innovation and bottom-line success.