Psychological Safety in a Hybrid World

There has been a lot of focus on psychological safety and how important it is for the wellbeing of individuals, teams and organisations.  It is the ability to speak without fear or punishment.

Amy Edmondson through her research has brought the concept of psychological safety to centre stage in recent years after her highly successful TED talk in 2014 

Edgar Schein and Warren Bennis from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) first put the idea of psychological safety in the world in 1965 in their book “Personal and Organisational Change Through Group Methods”.

At its core, psychological safety enables people to 

1. Feel included
2. Learn
3. Contribute
4. Challenge the status quo

And they are able to do these things without fear of being punished, embarrassed or marginalised.

Examples of psychologically unsafe environments

Unfortunately there are too many examples of unsafe environments where people do not feel able to express their feelings, feel included or be able to challenge the status quo.  

Recently in Australia we have seen courageous people speak up about a lack of physical and psychological safety in the Federal Parliament where female members of staff and politicians have been subjected to verbal, sexual an physical abuse and when they spoke up about it were initially told to stay quiet.  Their courage to speak up has uncovered flawed systems that cover up a toxic culture.

Education is not immune.  In a recent post I wrote about a local school Principal and Deputy Principal being asked to stand down from their positions due to numerous complaints of bullying and marginalisation.

Many of the programmes we run on Leading Change, have as part of the curriculum the topic of psychological safety, and how it forms the foundation for successful change and transformation.  Over the last 5 years we have gathered data using a short questionnaire to gauge the level of psychological safety participants felt in their workplaces.  As you would expect we have had a range of results.  However, using survey data is only one source of information, the really powerful insights come from the dialogue which is generated from the stories shared amongst peers.

Psychological Safety and the Pandemic

In a world where hybrid working is the new normal, psychological safety is so important to ensure people feel supported and valued.  Researchers and experts in the field have suggested that psychological safety will play an even more important role in ensuring organisational success as well as the vital role it plays in people’s mental health and overall wellbeing.

There is a new paradigm in place as a result of the pandemic.  The boundary between work and home life is no longer distinct.  People are showing up in a different way and their expectations have changed - their psychological contract with their employers has also changed.  We have seen some examples of organisations responding really well to their employees working from home and others not so well.  Installing keyboard and mouse monitoring software to measure ‘productivity’ or just checking in on their employees are obviously indicators of low trust and psychological safety.

The new way of working demands new ways of leading.  The interpersonal and communication skills required by managers and leaders are now more important than ever.  Creating environments where people are empowered to be the best they can be, feel safe and can contribute is a priority.

As Stephen M.R. Covey says, Command and Control, even enlightened Command and Control Leadership is no longer effective.  Trust and Inspire leadership is where a leader says “what can I do WITH you?” and where they believe their job is to ‘go first’ and model the behaviours that engender trust, transparency and respect.  If you want to find out more about Stephen’s new book which is published today (5th April 2022), then click here.

So, what can you do to help develop psychological safety with hybrid teams?  Below are six tips to set yourself up for success.

6 Tips of How to Create Psychological Safety with Your Hybrid Team

• Clear contracting upfront with everyone.  What do they need to feel safe and what they will do to help others feel safe
• Ask what they need from their leader/manager and what the leader/manager needs from them for the meeting/team to work well
• Realise that not everyone feels comfortable on camera all the time.  Also having a camera off can enhance the listening skills of the person when not seeing any visual cues.
• Add check-ins each time you meet as a group.
• Use online tools to help people work closely together.  Using a tool such as Lean Coffee Table where the agenda is co-created and the conversation is time-boxed.
• Ensure you account for the different communication styles of the people in your team by collecting feedback verbally, in the chat or using polls.

We acknowledge that the level of change and disruption we are facing now and for the foreseeable future, creating psychological safety is critical, whether this is at school, university, the workplace or at home.  Not only for the success of organisations but also, more importantly for the mental health and wellbeing of individuals.

I think that discussion around psychological safety should not just be left to leadership education or academic research but in the curriculum of every high school, if we are serious about improving not only workplace cultures but mental health.

If you would like more help, with how you can improve psychological safety in your team or organisation then please get in touch. To find out more please follow me here on LinkedIn, Facebook & Instagram and get to know the work we do @changeoptimised.