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{"id":10485,"date":"2022-05-23T15:52:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T15:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vibekebaunsgaard.com\/?p=10485"},"modified":"2024-04-19T08:53:29","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T08:53:29","slug":"what-is-psychological-safety-and-how-to-create-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vibekebaunsgaard.com\/da\/ledelse\/what-is-psychological-safety-and-how-to-create-it\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Psychological Safety and How to Create it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The highest performing teams experience psychological safety.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that simple!<\/p>\n

Do\u00a0you want your team to flourish\u00a0and perform at it\u2019s best? Then create a fearless organization, says Harvard Professor Amy Edmondson. By fearless organization, she means one that provides psychological safety.<\/p>\n

What is the Definition of\u00a0Psychological Safety?<\/h2>\n
What is\u00a0psychological safety<\/em>?<\/p>\n
Psychological safety is about being able to act and engage in a team without fear of negative consequences.<\/p>\n
Amy Edmondson, who is a\u00a0frontrunner researcher of psychological safety, defines it this way\u00a0(1999: 350):<\/p>\n
\u2018A SHARED BELIEF HELD BY MEMBERS OF A TEAM THAT THE TEAM IS SAFE FOR INTERPERSONAL RISK-TAKING\u2019 .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Psychological safety is thus\u00a0about the assurance that no team member will be\u00a0humiliated, laughed at or punished for posing questions, speaking up with ideas, concerns, or mistakes. With William Kahn, it is about \u2018daring to engage oneself without fear of negative consequences concerning neither one\u2019s self-image, status or career\u2019 (Kahn 1990:708)<\/p>\n
Creating psychological safety is about giving candid feedback, openly admitting mistakes, and learning from one another, says Edmonson in a podcast for Harvard Business Review.<\/p>\n
Team Psychological safety<\/em> is thus\u00a0about a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.<\/p>\n
Originally, when conducting\u00a0her research, Edmonson expected\u00a0cohesive teams\u00a0to make fewer\u00a0mistakes than other teams, yet \u2013\u00a0to her\u00a0surprise \u2013 her\u00a0research showed that\u00a0cohesive teams make as many mistakes as any other team. This may strike us as\u00a0\u2018counter-intuitive \u2013 that is, the opposite of what one would expect.<\/p>\n
What she then realized is the following: the better team is the one that dares to talk about mistakes \u2013 it\u00a0shares experiences across\u00a0team-mates so all learn from each other\u2019s experiences. Trust is, therefore, a major contributor to the creation of psychological safety.<\/p>\n
THE BETTER TEAM IS THE ONE THAT DARES TO TALK ABOUT MISTAKES AND SHARE EXPERIENCE FOR OTHERS TO LEARN FROM<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Clearly, failing to facilitate\u00a0an environment of psychological safety is\u00a0a costly business for any organization. The reality of such a\u00a0situation is that when you are heading for an unsuccessful project, organizational change process or any other disaster \u2013 employees keep their heads down in fear of repercussions and none\u00a0dares to speak up.<\/p>\n
While some\u00a0may initiate a quiet\u00a0whisper, a Gallup research report tells us that in the U.S., for example, only three in ten employees feel certain that their opinions count (Gallup 2017).<\/p>\n
_____<\/p>\n
$\"Vibeke-Vad-Baunsgaard-VVB_\"$ INTERESSERET I FOREDRAG<\/a>, KURSER\/WORKSHOPS <\/a>\u00a0ELLER R\u00c5DGIVNING<\/a>\u00a0OM PSYKOLOGISK TRYGHED ELLER ANDET – <\/strong>S\u00c5 KONTAKT MIG, VIBEKE VAD BAUNSGAARD, PHD – P\u00c5 MAIL: vibeke@vibekebaunsgaard.com<\/a>\u00a0ELLER RING TIL MIG DIREKTE P\u00c5 5059 5013.<\/strong><\/p>\n
JEG SER FREM TIL AT H\u00d8RE FRA DIG.<\/strong><\/p>\n
_____<\/p>\n
Summing up the above, we need psychological safety to ensure high-performing teams resulting in creative input, innovative ideas, and engaged\u00a0employees.<\/span><\/p>\n
The problem is that our brain simply does not like the idea of \u2018sticking our neck out\u2019 where a semi-toxic boss<\/a> or a competitive co-worker may turn\u00a0down our ideas before we are done expressing them. It puts us in a fight-or-flight mode. So to protect ourselves from retribution and fear of failure, well\u2026we stay silent and become disengaged.<\/p>\n
Google Research of What Makes a Good Team<\/h2>\n
Google did a huge study to see what differentiated great teams from not-so-great teams. Listen to Professor Edmondson explain in her own words what Google\u2019s research revealed, why it surprised her, and what she learned from it.<\/p>\n
<\/iframe><\/p>\nGoogle research shows us that trustful team members take turns when communicating and\u00a0give all involved the opportunity to speak. Moreover, the best teams demonstrate an ability to read and recognized each others\u2019 feelings.<\/p>\n<h2>How to Create Psychological Safety?<\/h2>\nIt takes great leadership and management to create psychological safety.<\/p>\nAs Edmondson points out in the video, \u2018it can be very powerful when a leader apologizes for not having made it safe in the past\u2019. It is always the leader\u2019s responsibility to \u2018go first\u2019 and not blame employees as in\u00a0\u2018why didn\u2019t you come to me\u2019 and so forth.<\/p>\nWhen blame is replaced with curiosity and listening, then a constructive path moving forward is opening up.<\/p>\nBlaming others is the easy way out, holding others responsible for actions, and it essentially fuels further tension and leads to defensiveness and disengagement (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/the-adaptive-mind\/201811\/want-resolve-conflicts-stop-blaming-others\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Psychology Today<\/a>).<\/p>\n<h3>Pose How<\/em> and What<\/em> Questions \u2013 above\u00a0Why, Who<\/em>\u00a0or When\u00a0<\/em>Questions<\/h3>\nA great way to keep a conversation above blame and focused on a constructive path is to only pose questions that start with How<\/em> and What<\/em> AND include the word \u2018I\u2019 (<a href=\"https:\/\/managemagazine.com\/article-bank\/leadership\/quick-excellent-tip-that-will-make-you-a-forward-looking-leader\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">see 2-minute explainer video<\/a>)<\/em>.<\/p>\nFor example: how can I help? What can I do to move us forward? What can I do to make sure that you never experience this again? And so forth.<\/p>\nAvoid why<\/em>,\u00a0who,<\/em> and when<\/em> questions that are likely to lead to blaming and shaming, such as: Who is responsible for this and why haven\u2019t we received these products yet? Such a question is looking backward and leads nowhere.<\/p>\nYou\u2019d be amazed at how well this works in practice. The advice is passed on from a book my brother once lent me. It\u2019s a small easy-read book by John G. Miller called QBQ: the Question Behind the Question<\/em>.<\/p>\nMiller\u2019s practical method for posing questions \u2013 as mentioned above \u2013 helps you to practice putting personal accountability into daily actions and avoiding blame. The advice is simple and has a real positive communication impact. It keeps you constructive and accountable instead of making you a victim of circumstances.<\/p>\n_____<\/p>\nL\u00c6S OGS\u00c5:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/vibekebaunsgaard.com\/da\/bevidst-livsledelse\/emotionel-intelligens\/laer-hvordan-emotionel-intelligens-goer-dig-til-en-succesfuld-leder\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">L\u00e6r Hvordan Emotionel Intelligens g\u00f8r dig til en Succesfuld Leder<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n_____<\/p>\n<h3>Honest Feedback is Paramount for Moving Forward Efficiently and Effectively while Removing Barriers to Innovation<\/h3>\nIf leaders sanction or talk down to people giving critical feedback \u2013 they are unlikely to receive\u00a0honest feedback\u00a0in the future.<\/p>\nRemember, you cannot direct the behavior of others directly. What you can<\/em> do is change your own actions, reactions, and behavior to initiate different behaviors in people around you.<\/p>\nThe crucial point is that \u2018people tend to act in ways that inhibit learning when they face the potential of threat or embarrassment (Argyris 1982 in Edmonson 1999). <a href=\"https:\/\/managemagazine.com\/article-bank\/leadership\/toxic-leaders-destroy-people-organisations\/\">Toxic leadership<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0employing leaders who fail to build trust are,\u00a0therefore, extremely costly as\u00a0psychological safety issues in the workplace destroy interpersonal relations and damage organizations at large. Emotional safety in the workplace and trust-building in teams and across teams should be of high priority. With Edmonson \u2013 employees withholding valuable information and knowledge in\u00a0a knowledge society that holds knowledge as its greatest value is helping none!<\/p>\nOne way to call for feedback is to follow one leader\u2019s example as he expresses how he after every presentation asks for feedback on delivery. It disarms difficult conversations and increases trust in leaders. He specifically poses the following questions (Delizonna 2017):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What worked and what didn\u2019t work in my delivery?<\/li>\n<li>How did it feel to hear this message?<\/li>\n<li>How could I have presented it more effectively?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nBe present at the moment when providing the feedback and be prepared to listen and discuss the challenges others or you yourself are facing in an open-minded way. Feedback and critique are essentially what provide personal improvement.<\/p>\n<h3>Ask these 4 Questions to Increase Feelings of Psychological Safety: EXAMPLE<\/h3>\nWe will highlight an example, which Jake Herway shares with us in a Gallup article about how to create a culture of psychological safety.<\/p>\nHerway (Gallup 2017) proposes to use four simple questions to build trust in teams:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>What can we count on each other for?<\/li>\n<li>What is our team\u2019s purpose?<\/li>\n<li>What is the reputation we aspire to have?<\/li>\n<li>What do we need to do differently to achieve that reputation and fulfill our purpose?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nIt is important to note that the order of the questions is important as they move from building personal trust and then team psychological safety.<\/p>\nSo Herway explains how he took an HR team aside to a separate room. After having shared some overall information and education with the team, he started posing the first of the four questions to the person next to him.<\/p>\nThe magic part was that after having asked the first person what her team could count on her for \u2013 it became clear that she would not value it as highly as her teammates. Sharing it openly the team could assure her of the value. \u2018You can count on me to meet deadlines\u2019, she responded after having thought it through. \u2018Yet, doesn\u2019t everyone do that\u2019, she then asked \u2013 as if this was nothing. The team members then told her how they valued her timeliness and shared how it was part of their own successes.<\/p>\nAfter having heard each other\u2019s responses concerning personal accountability, it was possible to move on to align the team with a shared purpose and identity.<\/p>\nHerway then facilitated this process by posing some helper-questions such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u2018Why do you come to work every day?<\/li>\n<li>What is the purpose of HR in your company<\/li>\n<li>How do you achieve that purpose together?<\/li>\n<li>Then, with that purpose and process in mind, what do you aspire to be known for in your company?<\/li>\n<li>What is the brand you want to create?\u2019 (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gallup.com\/workplace\/236198\/create-culture-psychological-safety.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gallup 2017<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nStep by step the team built up a safety net for all of them \u2013 first by building up individual safety and next by building team psychological safety. Through these steps, it was possible to establish\u00a0a healthy and safe culture, where all felt heard and safe to engage fully.<\/p>\nStart in the small, lead by example, and listen actively.<\/p>\n_<\/p>\nL\u00c6S OGS\u00c5:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/vibekebaunsgaard.com\/da\/bevidst-livsledelse\/taking-ownership-of-your-life-makes-you-a-better-person-leader-manager\/\">Taking Ownership of your Life Makes you a Better Person, Leader & Manager<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n_<\/p>\n<h3>Evaluate and Survey Psychological Safety in your Organization<\/h3>\nMake anonymous evaluations of the level of psychological safety in your organization. Leaders can easily overestimate the level of trust and research shows they overestimate employees\u2019 positive views of their own leadership.<\/p>\nThe reason for that can be straightforward in light of the above. If employees are silenced due to fear of repercussions in matters of organizational daily activities \u2013 then they are further unlikely to voice their critique of the cultural environment to their closest leader.<\/p>\nIn traditional authoritarian organizations, it may be viewed as unacceptable behavior\u00a0to voice any critique to any\u00a0leader \u2013 both to the closest leader and to any leader above one\u2019s immediate leader. Therefore, leaders \u2013 in these types of organizations \u2013 are often left in the dark as concerns what organizational members think of their leadership skills and the creative organizational culture.<\/p>\nMy own research shows that dominant ideologies (logics) among leaders and specific departments are likely to\u00a0prevail and hence stay dominant\u00a0(<a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/0170840612464756\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Baunsgaard and Clegg 2013<\/a>). To legitimize dominant views, anybody opposing these dominant views \u2013 in such psychologically unsafe environments \u2013\u00a0may thus be\u00a0pointed out as\u00a0incompetent, lacking both skills and strategic ability, or even as laughable.<\/p>\nIt is to be noticed, moreover, that psychological safety \u2013 in cultures where employees fear repercussions \u00a0\u2013 is likely missing at all levels in the organization hence affecting employees, middle-managers, and leaders at large.<\/p>\n<h2>Benefits of Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace<\/h2>\nPsychological safety is beneficial for the organization in a variety of ways. Keep in mind that organizations failing to create a culture of\u00a0psychological safety are likely to have disengaged and somewhat fearful employees.\u00a0Disengagement and fear are furthermore the routes to what may turn into alarming\u00a0high levels of stress among employees.<\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/managemagazine.com\/blogtalk\/stress\/how-managed-to-free-myself-from-stress\/\">Stress<\/a> is acceptable for shorter periods. Yet when states of fear, feelings of not daring to speak or not feeling heard become more permanent rather than being the exception to the rule \u2013 then the risk of long-term effects of stress \u2013 such as mental health problems (depression, anxiety), cardiovascular diseases (heart problems, high blood pressure), obesity and so forth, sets in.<\/p>\nBesides facilitating high-performing and effective teams, the positive health benefits of psychological safety should not be overlooked.<\/p>\nThe\u00a0following list points out some of the most well-researched positive benefits of psychological safety in the workplace.<\/p>\nPsychological safety increases:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>overall team performance<\/li>\n<li>innovation<\/li>\n<li>creativity<\/li>\n<li>team member\u2019s level of learning from mistakes<\/li>\n<li>the likelihood of shutting down projects and <a href=\"https:\/\/managemagazine.com\/article-bank\/self-handicapping-leadership\/why-self-handicapping-hurtful-leadership-strategy\/\">strategies hurtful for the organization<\/a><\/li>\n<li>personal engagement<\/li>\n<li>team engagement and <a href=\"https:\/\/managemagazine.com\/article-bank\/motivation\/lead-manage-motivate-knowledge-workers\/\">motivation<\/a><\/li>\n<li>positive work\u00a0environment<\/li>\n<li>changeability<\/li>\n<li>organizational performance<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nSee Bear & Frese (2003)<\/p>\nStudies demonstrate that participatory management facilitates psychological safety (Edmonson et al. 2001) as does inclusive management. We call for further research to cast future light onto specific leadership and management styles fostering a safe environment where psychological safety is key.<\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/managemagazine.com\/blogtalk\/leadership-blogtalk\/what-is-psychological-safety-and-how-to-create-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Originally posted by ManageMagazine<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>References<\/h2>\nBaer, M & Frese, M.\u00a0 (2003). Innovation is not enough: climates for initiative and psychological safety, process innovations, and firm performance. Journal of Organizational Behavior<\/em>, 24(1): 45-68.<\/p>\nBaunsgaard, Vibeke Vad and Stewart Clegg (2013). Walls and Boxes: The Effects of Professional Identity, Power, and Rationality on Strategies for Cross-functional Integration. Organization Studies, Vol. 34(9): 1299-1325.<\/p>\nDelizonna, Laura (2017). High-performing Teams Need Psychological Safety. Here\u2019s How to Create It. August 24., 2017. Retrieved online March 5. 2020:\u00a0https:\/\/hbr.org\/2017\/08\/high-performing-teams-need-psychological-safety-heres-how-to-create-it.<\/p>\nGallup (2017). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gallup.com\/workplace\/236198\/create-culture-psychological-safety.aspx.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How to Create a Culture of Psychological Safety<\/a>. December 7., 2017. Retrieved online March 5. 2020:<\/p>\nEdmondson, Amy (2018). The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth. Wiley Publishing.<\/p>\nEdmondson, Amy (1999). Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 44(2): 350-383.<\/p>\nEdmondson, A., Bohmer, R. M. & Pisano, G. P. (2001). Disrupted Routines: Team Learning and New Technology Implementation in Hospitals. Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 46(4): 685-716.<\/p>\nKahn, William (1990). Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and Disengagement at Work. Academy of Management Journal. No. 33(4): 692-724.<\/p>\nMiller, John G. (2004). QBQ: The Questions Behind the Question. Penguin Putnam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"L\u00e6r hvad er psykologisk tryghed, hvordan skaber du det og hvorfor udebliver det i din organisation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[68,43],"class_list":["post-10485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ledelse","tag-bevidst-livsledelse","tag-psykologisk-tryghed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vibekebaunsgaard.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vibekebaunsgaard.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vibekebaunsgaard.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vibekebaunsgaard.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vibekebaunsgaard.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10485"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/vibekebaunsgaard.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13820,"href":"https:\/\/vibekebaunsgaard.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10485\/revisions\/13820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vibekebaunsgaard.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vibekebaunsgaard.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vibekebaunsgaard.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vibekebaunsgaard.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}