Managing Fear and Generating Psychological Safety

Have you ever been in a situation or company where you couldn’t be yourself or think out loud? Psychological safety is that shared belief among team members and the certainty of having a work environment where you can speak up, be yourself, make mistakes, and take risks without fear of retaliation or punishment. It’s having the certainty that you won’t be punished or humiliated for expressing your ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. Psychological safety involves a space of trust where mistakes and risks are seen as learning opportunities and sources of innovation and creativity. A space where our leaders encourage us to take risks and learn from our mistakes to be more creative and innovative. A space where our leaders are more inclusive, more empathetic, and also… more vulnerable.

Concepto de Amy Edmondson. Imagen por Claudia Salas.

This belief must be shared at the team and organizational level: it’s not enough for just one person to feel this way, and therefore it must be integrated into all company processes and culture.

Psychological safety has a direct impact on job satisfaction, productivity, performance, and the psychosocial and general well-being of people.

A positive and psychologically safe work environment fosters a happy work environment and increases team productivity and innovation. Conversely, a negative and emotionally unsafe company creates feelings of isolation, distrust of coworkers and management, as well as job dissatisfaction and decreased employee performance.

What stages? According to Timothy Clark, there are four:

• Stage 1. Inclusive Safety: A sense of being accepted and valued despite our differences.
• Stage 2. Learning Safety: A sense of growing and learning, which includes the freedom to ask questions, give feedback, experiment, and make mistakes.
• Stage 3. Contributing Safety: A sense of being able to make a difference, using our skills to make meaningful contributions. It involves feeling valued, recognized, and appreciated. It is linked to active listening and empathy.
• Stage 4. Challenging Safety: A sense of being able to improve things. Openly questioning the status quo.

Which team is yours? Which organization is yours?

Does your team have enough psychological safety?

Some traits to observe and be aware of:

• People remain silent when there is time for questions, and after the meeting, they gossip about their doubts.
• There is a fear of making mistakes.
• Mistakes are often punished and not seen as a learning opportunity.
• People don’t feel authentic.
• Poor product quality.
• They give poor ratings on climate elements and surveys, but people don’t dare to speak publicly about their impressions.
• There is no transparency of any kind, which generates uncertainty and rumors.
• There is excessive control over what others do due to a lack of trust.
• People don’t feel that their work impacts their lives.

How can it be improved?

• Starting with yourself: culture is created through our interactions, and we are responsible for what we say and don’t say. It’s not the sole responsibility of leaders.
• Some agile practices can be very helpful, such as work visualization.
• Creating a product focus: clear guidelines.
• Generating working agreements.
• Creating prioritization criteria.
• Starting to accept mistakes and seeing them as opportunities.
• OKRs to create alignment and, throughout the process, generate different dynamics and conversations.