Psychological safety: key to team performance
Following my article on psychological safety and leadership, I would like to expand a bit on what psychological safety is beyond the buzzword of the moment, and how it can impact your teams, leadership and organisation.
As these things sometimes do, psychological safety has taken sometime to to make it from scientific research on organisational behaviours to the business world. Coined and researched by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, psychological safety refers to “a shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking” (Edmondson, 1999).
Practically, psychological safety at work describes an environment where team members are free to share ideas, admit mistakes and ask questions, without fearing retribution or ridicule.
From personal experience, I can recall at least one environment where I most definitely did not accurately evaluate the level of psychological safety. I ventured to ask a question that, in the end (and via what I call a “public hanging”), cost me my job. All for the best in the end, as they say, but that experience showed me how low psychological safety affects teams and whole organisations.
In organisations with psychological safety research has found that it strengthens team learning, innovation and performance. Edmondson’s foundational study demonstrated that teams with high psychological safety were more likely to report errors, not because they made more, but because they felt safe to speak up (Edmondson, 1999).
It means people can be themselves at work, bring their whole selves to the table, engage honestly with each other and take risks.
These results challenged traditional assumptions about performance and demonstrated the fundamental role of trust and openness in collaborative environments.
In psychologically safe teams, members are more likely to speak up, share knowledge, and engage in constructive conflict, all of which are crucial to team learning, continuous improvement and team performance. Psychological safety has also been linked to increased engagement and reduced burnout (Kahn, 1990; Newman et al., 2017).
Furthermore, when team members feel psychologically safe, they are more likely to contribute diverse perspectives, leading to better decision-making and innovation (Frazier et al., 2017). As well as that, psychological safety is a key factor in making the most of diverse teams, making sure everyone is heard and can be themselves in their work environment.
As mentioned in my previous article, Google’s landmark Project Aristotle study, analysing hundreds of teams, found psychological safety to be the most critical factor predicting team effectiveness (Rozovsky, 2015).
Leaders play a key role in fostering psychological safety throughout their organisation by practicing inclusive leadership, demonstrating vulnerability, and listening actively.
Other behaviours that are key to creating a psychologically safe environment are encouraging inputs, supporting teams no matter if they succeed or fail, and creating a climate where everyone feels heard, seen, valued and secure (Nembhard & Edmondson, 2006).
For those out there thinking ‘I can’t possibly show vulnerability to my team, everyone will think I am weak!’ I would say that the if you look around, the people considered good leaders are not those representing strength only, but those who have the courage to accept their own humanity and admit their own fallibility. Thereby they encourage sharing of diverse perspectives, signalling to team members that openness is both accepted and expected. Some more public examples that come to mind here are Nelson Mandela, Jürgen Klopp, Michelle Obama, to name just a few.
To quote Simon Sinek:
‘A leader, first and foremost, is human. Only when we have the strength to show our vulnerability can we truly lead.”
Having said all that I would like to sum up by saying that , psychological safety is more than just a ‘nice-to-have’. It is about driving your teams’ and organisation’s performance, satisfaction and success. It’s about making sure your teams are effective and work together successfully in an environment where everyone can contribute. Who does not want that? In today’s complex, fast-changing world psychological safety at work is fundamental. Psychological safety provides the foundation for a trusting, collaborative, and adaptive environment. Organizations that prioritize it are more resilient, innovative, and inclusive.
Feel free to get in touch, if this has piqued your interest and is something you want to work on with your teams.
References
- Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350-383.
- Frazier, M. L., et al. (2017). Psychological safety: A meta-analytic review and extension. Personnel Psychology, 70(1), 113–165.
- Kahn, W. A. (1990). Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal, 33(4), 692-724.
- Nembhard, I. M., & Edmondson, A. C. (2006). Making it safe: The effects of leader inclusiveness. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27(7), 941–966.
- Rozovsky, J. (2015). The five keys to a successful Google team. Google re:Work.
