Building a Culture of Psychological Safety
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Imagine you are working for an organization where your voice is not heard. You notice there are gaps and opportunities on your team but are afraid to offer solutions because the company has a reputation for dismissing ideas that challenge the status quo.
These are just a few examples of a culture that lacks psychological safety. According to the Center for Creative Leadership, “psychological safety is the belief that you will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes.”
Dr. Timothy Clark has identified four levels of psychology safety:
Level 1- Inclusion Safety- This level relates to a sense of belonging. People need to feel they are valued and accepted for their differences.
Level 2- Learner Safety- This relates to growth and development. At this level, people can learn and explore freely through discovery, feedback, and engagement.
Level 3- Contributor Safety- This level relates to making a difference and contributing. At this level, people want to feel they are part of a more significant cause. They want to contribute ideas, thoughts, concepts that will be part of the problem-solving or creative process.
Level 4- Challenger Safety- This level relates to challenging the status quo. At this level, people want to feel safe being a disruptor and asking questions.
Assess Your Current Climate
The first step to building a culture of psychological safety is to assess the organization’s current state. Asking the following questions can help establish a baseline.
- Does your talent feel safe to ask questions?
- Do they feel safe to fail?
- If they do fail, do they feel there is going to be some reprimanding?
- Does your talent feel that they have a voice?
- Do you see the same people stepping up, raising their hands and offering ideas?
- Do you see talent doing the bare minimum in their role because they are afraid to extend themselves out of fear of stress?
When asking these questions, we must be honest and transparent. We also have to consider the risk we take as leaders if we do not actively encourage psychological safety within our organization. An internal Google study showed that companies with a higher sense of psychological safety also have more diverse teams. Additionally, they also retain people at a higher rate when they have psychological safety in place.
Have Open, Honest Conversations
Once we have determined our current organizational state, it is time to act. Have open dialogues with your talent. These conversations can take place via town halls, roundtables and employee resource groups.
In a remote work environment, virtual platforms such as Yammer, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Slack are great options for hosting meetings. If people are not comfortable with sharing openly, anonymous surveys can serve as an alternative.
READ: Integrating Change Management in Your DEI Interventions
Open conversations and dialogue are not limited to talent; managers also want to be honest about their own mistakes. Managers need to let their talent know they have also made mistakes and experienced failures during their careers. Being open and honest will helps talent feel safe to share their stories. In some cases, using an experienced external facilitator to moderate discussion can help to direct conversations that may go awry. This will alleviate any bias that may occur during the talks.
Create a Sense of Belonging
The first level of Dr. Clark’s psychological safety states that people want a place where they feel appreciated, valued and have a voice. There is a difference between being included and belonging. Inclusion is an intentional act by an organization to embrace diversity. However, this does not mean someone feels as though they belong. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, people need their basic needs met to feel belongingness. This means providing physiological and safety needs.
Is your organization…
- Providing adequate work-life balance?
- Providing a physically safe environment?
- Providing security for your talent?
- Providing good health and wellness?
- Providing equity pay?
In my work with Brooks Enterprise and Consultants, I speak to many managers who admit they sometimes struggle to provide the basic needs and cannot truly get the belongingness level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This is a barrier in providing psychological safety to talent.
Organizations must develop a plan to include psychological safety into their strategy. Suppose talent does not have the space to experience the four levels of psychological safety. If that is the case, it may be impossible to have an effective diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging initiative.
Photo Courtesy of LaKisha C. Brooks
