Why Psychological Safety is Essential for Workplace Wellbeing.
Time and time again, there is one concept that I see shining forth in organisations that flourish, and severely lacking in organisations that struggle. That concept is psychological safety.
Whether a start-up has become successful overnight, or a company has been around for decades, if they don’t get psychological safety right, the workplace can become a festering pool of mistrust, cynicism, and high turnover. At best, with even a small amount of poor psychological safety, the brand will often not be one employees rave about to others, and the company will struggle to create the culture of connection it is hoping to create.
We have known about psychological safety for quite some time, and luminaries like Amy Edmondson and the founders of Google have brought it into popular consciousness. However, one area psychological safety really applies today is in the context of Psychological Health and Safety.
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But First, What is Psychological Safety?
Psychological safety, coined by Harvard professor Amy Edmondson, is a concept where a person can speak up, take risks, and express their true thoughts and feelings without fear of punishment or ridicule. Psychological safety forms the basis of trust and openness within teams and lays the groundwork for collaboration, innovation, and employee engagement.
Research by Google's Project Aristotle found that psychological safety was one of the most important factors contributing to high-performing teams. Teams where members felt safe to take risks and be vulnerable outperformed their counterparts in terms of creativity, problem-solving, and overall effectiveness.
Moreover, a study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology revealed that organisations with higher levels of psychological safety experienced lower turnover rates, higher employee satisfaction, and greater innovation compared to those with lower levels of psychological safety. Another study found that psychological safety was a key factor in creating gender-inclusive leadership through diversity-valuing behaviour at a C-suite level, and in turn reducing the turnover rates of female executives.
So psychological safety matters. It matters crucially.
It matters because it affects the social climate of a workplace. It matters because trust opens up conversations that lead to innovation. It matters because unhealthy communication and poor relationships can be aired to see the light of day. It matters because harmful behaviour must first be witnessed and discussed honestly before change happens.
It matters, and this is one of the key points, because psychosocial hazard management matters.
Psychological safety matters because it supports an environment of Psychological Health and Safety.
Psychological Safety versus Psychological Health and Safety
Firstly, just to clear things up. In a nutshell. Although similar sounding, Psychological Health and Safety is not psychological safety. The two are intertwined and often confused and used interchangeably. But they are not the same thing.
Psychological Health and Safety and the consequent psychosocial hazard management refers to a shared understanding that a group of people’s psychological and physical health and safety are protected and supported by their leaders and workplace in relation to:
the design of work;
the environment in which they work;
the machinery, equipment and appliances in the workplace; and
the interactions that take place at work.
Psychosocial hazard management is a method of managing risks which may impede psychological health and safety at work. This includes putting protections in place to protect people from things like bullying, job stress, trauma, poor support, low recognition, poor change management, and so on.
Psychological safety refers to a person feeling safe to take risks, share opinions, concerns or questions, and make mistakes without fear of punishment or shame.
Having a culture where psychological safety is supported and valued can assist psychosocial hazard management; however, it must be said, it cannot serve as the sole psychosocial hazard intervention. That is, increasing trust and open dialogue in the workplace can help support the implementation of risk reduction strategies associated with psychosocial safety.
For example, creating conditions where bullying is called out, or where employees feel comfortable and confident to raise concerns about job scope can help to reduce the risk of issues getting out of hand.
Psychological safety will not fix all the issues, but it can be a part of the solution.
How to Build a Culture of Psychological Safety:
Creating a culture of psychological safety requires intentional effort and commitment from leaders. Leaders play a pivotal role in setting the tone for psychological safety within their teams. It begins with ensuring communication is open, vulnerable, and shame-free, where employees feel empowered to voice their opinions and ideas without fear of harm or punishment.
When leaders model vulnerability, acknowledge mistakes, and encourage feedback, they create an environment where others feel safe to do the same.
Training Opportunities
Alongside other measures, organisations have an opportunity to prevent a large number of workplace issues impacting the psychological safety of their teams by investing in training and development for their leaders and staff. Often neglected in favour of technical skills, upskilling employees in empathy, active listening, emotional intelligence, setting boundaries, and navigating challenging conversations can help them to resolve conflicts and collaborate more effectively. This is especially important in a culture looking to support diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.