Psychological Safety isn’t a new concept, it was first developed in 1999 by Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson who defines it as “a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking." In short, it’s where people feel safe to speak up, express their ideas, ask questions, and admit mistakes without fear of embarrassment, rejection, or punishment.

What’s interesting, is how businesses and organisations are now focusing on psychological safety to increase individual impact and performance, shape more inclusive cultures, and deliver a more distinctive, compelling employee experience.

Ensuring people feel safe, confident and supported to raise serious concerns or matters of wrongdoing, is critical for the long-term sustainability of a business, and its stakeholder relationships. The Post Office-Fujitsu Horizon IT situation demonstrates just how important a speak up culture is, both for people to feel able to flag issues, and for managers to feel equipped and supported to manage or raise matters with seniors.

People speak up when they are empowered and feel valued, less concerned with maintaining the status quo and more open to sharing mistakes and taking calculated risks. Businesses therefore become more innovative and get the best out of their people with faster development and championing growth mindsets. These behaviours create a more inclusive culture, with a greater diversity of ideas and opinions, improving the quality and speed of decision-making.

Psychological safety builds more agile and resilient organisations, more adaptive to change and adept at overcoming challenges effectively. Working with the confidence and freedom to share ideas and feedback boosts individual wellbeing, resilience and engagement, which ultimately improves individual and team performance.

Hierarchical or overly competitive cultures can manifest in a reluctance to share ideas or admit mistakes. In large, complex businesses, it can be difficult and time-consuming to find the right people and course of action, especially if clear guidance or structures aren’t in place.

One of the most common barriers is a fear of negative consequences for speaking up, such as being overlooked for a promotion or getting a reputation for being disruptive. Inconsistent application of policies promoting psychological safety can undermine efforts to create a safe environment. Leaders and managers play a vital role in consistently reinforcing and role modelling desired behaviours and demonstrating the positive impact of active listening and transparent ways of working.

Hybrid working practices reduce the amount of in-person contact and informal conversations and check-ins, which are so important for colleagues and teams to maintain connection and closeness. New starters, particularly, can face challenges when trying to build trust and rapport with colleagues, and develop the courage and confidence to speak openly and frankly.

1. Understand current behaviours, barriers and opportunities - Psychological safety isn’t a one-size fits all term that’s uniformly applied and measured. Every business needs to identify nuances and variances in behaviours and cultural traits across teams and locations.

A strong starting point would include questions such as: what are people’s attitudes to risk taking? Do teams regularly discuss mistakes and learnings? Do teams have trust and confidence in their managers to take on board feedback, and handle concerns effectively? These can also form part of employee engagement surveys, to track and measure variance over time, and highlight any specific problem areas within a business.

2. Embed the right behaviours and skills with leaders and managers - The way leaders engage with others, particularly their direct reports, sets a critical example of leading and managing people and teams. When leaders act on feedback, when they demonstrate humility and consider alternative views, they role model powerful actions that nurture psychological safety. Equally, when senior people are open with their teams about mistakes they’ve made, it can be highly empowering for others to witness this type of vulnerability and honesty.

Leadership behavioural frameworks and manager training are excellent forums for embedding the types of behaviours required to maintain or increase the level of psychological safety – exploring topics such as active listening and coaching-based questions to encourage candidness, and running inclusive meetings that encourage a balanced share of voice.

3. Set clear standards of behaviours and accountability – Holding people to account and calling out unwanted behaviours demonstrates a commitment to shared expectations and maintains respectful, positive bonds. Regular check-ins during team meetings to invite concerns, suggestions and ideas create strong feedback loops.

High-functioning teams have a strong shared understanding, of what is expected of them individually, and how they operate as a collective. Engaging all team members in the development of a shared ‘Team ways of working’ that’s in line with the core cultural values and behaviours, ensures strong buy-in and supports onboarding new joiners.

4. Recognise and reward positive action - It’s important to recognise and reward people who share ideas and solutions that have a significant impact, whether it’s highlighting an issue early avoiding future disruption or suggesting a product improvement that creates a competitive advantage. Setting individual KPIs and sharing the outcomes from people’s contributions reinforces actions that will sustain and grow psychological safety for the long term.

By understanding the drivers and the blockers of psychological safety, businesses can take the right steps to foster a culture that brings out the best in their people by having open conversations, developing better ideas and making braver decisions. Honesty, really is a policy worth exploring.

If you’d like to learn more, or you’d like to discuss the role of psychological safety in your organisation, please get in touch at [email protected]