An unexpected pandemic, a new major project order, the sudden loss of a valued team member or the successful development of a business model — we at 55BirchStreet are also undergoing major and minor changes. Whether personal or entrepreneurial, in every crisis and change, we rely once again on Safety net that we have woven out of trust and familiarity and strengthen with new threads every day.
In connection with discussions on the topics of the role of managers, diversity or change, the term “psychological safety” is often used to assess the innovative strength and performance of teams. This feeds the soil of start-ups such as fable+ and Co., which promise to use their tools to understand and analyse the factors that drive team performance: motivation, effectiveness and — guess what — psychological safety.
Harvard professor Amy Edmondson coined the term. This is The feeling in a team of being able to take risks, make mistakes and express your own ideas, questions or concerns. The topic became more well-known due to Aristotle Project at Google, in which factors were researched by high-performance teams. The surprising result: It was not team composition, intelligence or diversity that played the decisive role in the performance of teams, but how they interact with each other: “Of the five key dynamics of effective teams that the researchers identified, psychological safety was by far the most important. The Google researchers found that individuals on teams with higher psychological safety are less likely to leave Google, they're more likely to harness the power of diverse ideas from their teammates, they bring in more revenue, and they're rated as effective twice as often by executive.”
Psychological safety also has its place in collegial counseling and supervision. First, a An atmosphere of safety and trust designed to explain one's own view of the problem in an environment of active listening and empathy. With an understanding of connections, Based on this, solution-oriented suggestions, irritations or questions brought in.
Changes as a transition from a familiar state to something unknown or new trigger uncertainty and anxiety and thus give the two factors security and trust an important role. Almost everyone now understands the term VUCA world and that dynamism and change are part of our environment and that of organizations. In order to ensure and develop the ability of employees in an organization to change and adapt — also to maintain performance — leadership is a necessity.
If you look at various management definitions of leadership, it is usually about achieving goals and implementing strategies in a corporate context through the influence of the manager. As a result, leadership also plays a central role in providing employees with security and trust despite changes and the unknown. Because openness, willingness to change and ultimately good team performance only arise when there is a secure and familiar environment.
But how can such an environment be created? In most organizations, fear dominates everyday life over hierarchy and authority. However, as a cross-level team, we can only create psychological security by using Give and actively demand the opportunity to express concerns and questions beyond your own position. True to the motto: Make mistakes, feel uncertainties, face fear and, above all, talk about it — absolutely welcome.
Amy C. Edmondson has a few simple yet effective sentences:
Because what all of these sentences have in common is the associated vulnerability.
Frederic Laloux: The principle of wholeness is at least as powerful as self-management, but it's more subtle, less headline grabbing, and so people often underestimate its importance. It is this idea that, for some reason, In almost all organizations, we feel we need to wear a professional mask. When we hide so much of who we are behind a mask, we also cut ourselves off from a huge amount of our energy, of our creativity, of our passion. Some of the organizations I researched have understood this. They have put in place very deliberate practices to make us feel welcome with all of who we really are. People show up whole; relationships become much deeper, much richer. And with that comes a level of vibrancy, of aliveness that is just extraordinary.
Every employee with us is invited to ask themselves: How do I contribute to psychological safety in my team and company?
Whether a team really manages to build them up is regularly shown in everyday working life, when we dare to admit mistakes and show emotions. At the risk of creating innovation and inspiration. However, as a team and also in working with our customers, we have noticed how important this can be in critical exceptional situations. It is like a “warm nest” that makes you feel good in difficult times.
How are you doing? How safe do you feel in good hands within the team and company? And what are you doing to build psychological safety?
We are looking forward to talking to you!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhoLuui9gX8
Book “The Fearless Organization” by Amy Edmondson
Book “Reinventing Organizations” by Frederic Laloux (Our Book Review here)
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