Psychological Safety

In 2012, the company embarked on an initiative — code-named Project Aristotle — to study hundreds of Google’s teams and figure out why some stumbled while others soared. Google studied team effectiveness for five years with more than 180 teams and concluded that Psychological Safety was the number one factor differentiating their highest performing teams.

Where it was high, Googlers… 

• brought in more revenue (nearly 50% in sales teams)
• were more likely to harness the power of diverse ideas
• were rated as effective twice as often by executives
• were less likely to leave 

The other four factors of team effectiveness only prove to be valuable when a team is psychologically safe.

Back in 1999, Amy Edmondson was already able to show the successes that are achievable when team members can address mistakes without sanctions. The only way to learn from mistakes is by openly talking about them. Other studies (e.g. those by Anderson & West) were able to show the effects of similar concepts (participative safety) on outputs such as innovation capacity.

Resources:

What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team - The New York Times Magazine

The five keys to a successful Google team - Rozovsky, J.

Please get in touch with our consulting team to discuss your needs. The Anonymous survey is limited to a maximum of 50 people. We will set up your project in the survey platform and provide you with an email template and survey link to share with your colleagues. Results will be consolidated and shared in a report by one of our consultants.

Psychological safety is not new, and research since the late 1990s and studies since then continue to demonstrate the impact this has on team performance and organisational culture. In recent years many organisations have started to push Equity, Diversity and Inclusion as a key business strategy and Psychological Safety is a cornerstone in fostering a culture of inclusion. As recent world and economic events force businesses and organisations to rethink their value proposition, innovate and retain top talent - Psychological Safety is a clear strategy to help achieve these outcomes.

Psychological safety is of greater importance in companies that promote Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Experiences with systemic discrimination often discourage employees within oppressed groups from speaking out — such as workers of colour, women, and LGBTQ individuals.  However, the need for psychological safety applies equally  to all – whether they are from marginalized groups or not.  Without psychological safety, people remain uncomfortable in their work environments, and their teams lose out on valuable input. In this article, we’ll discuss in more detail why psychological safety matters in ED&I.

Psychological safety is a part of taking care of your people, your company and your reputation. Here are some common scenarios that could be supported by working on psychological safety:

• There is a low level of trust in the team or organisation and this is affecting collaboration and information sharing
• You are reviewing your leadership development philosophy and would like to add elements that help develop inclusive leadership competencies
• You are entering into a period of transformational change and want to equip teams with the skills to innovate and work through change more easily
• There is a culture of fear. People are not taking calculated risks and mistakes are often swept “under the carpet” which may lead to the same mistakes — or even different, more costly ones — being made in the future
• Any organization concerned about efficiency, cost-saving and productivity should be urgently creating a psychologically-safe environment for their people. It saves time and money, and sometimes, it even helps you save face when your team helps you avoid those embarrassing and costly mistakes
• You are experiencing high attrition in areas and exit interviews or surveys suggest that trust and psychological safety are an issue
• Psychological safety can be the difference between life and death (or lawsuits). In Edmonson's earliest work at research hospitals, a nurse's ability to ask a doctor for feedback often meant the difference between life and death. In some cases, a doctor refusing to be "second-guessed" by a nurse meant a wrong dosage was given or the wrong procedure was performed. Though many of us do not work in environments with such high-risk activities, we should not forget that all mistakes — no matter how low-stakes they may seem — carry risk. When Wells Fargo combined sales goals with incentives that emphasized customer services, employees panicked and began creating fraudulent accounts in order to meet the wildly unrealistic goals. This was a colossal failure of psychological safety culture, and the company is now embroiled in fraud lawsuits and faced fines up to $3 billion.

Only three:

1. you are open to candid feedback from your team 
2. you are willing to hold space for uncomfortable but crucial conversations and dialogue 
3. you are willing to support and enable change to improve Psychological Safety in the team

• The Anonymous Team & Organisation Scan requires up to 2 hours to set up, complete and debrief the results and on next steps with one of our consultants.
• The Leader’s Toolkit can be offered as a 90-minute lunch and learn or a 3-hour workshop.
• A Team Journey takes between 7-8 hours for the team leader and 5-6 hours for the wider team.

If you are looking for organisation-wide change, it would be ideal to start at the leadership level and cascade down. If you want to address challenges in your team - just start there.

Whilst none of our delivery team are trained psychologists we are certified to deliver programmes which are centered around Amy Edmonson’s “Fearless Organisation” research and tools - a pioneer in Psychological Safety studies.  You can rest assured that our delivery team are experts in this subject matter and have experience of facilitating teams and large groups on topics connected to teamwork and leadership.

Yes, of course. We can train leaders and teams on tools to bring this to life in their day-to-day interactions and projects using the Leader’s Toolkit workshop or by facilitating the Team Journey