Psychological safety is important in the workplace, especially when it comes to collaboration and teamwork. When team members feel safe, they can be more confident in expressing new ideas, asking questions, and possibly making mistakes.
Psychological safety goes hand-in-hand with employee experience and workplace culture, two factors that businesses are putting a lot of focus on recently.
Here are some suggestions for fostering psychological safety in your workplace. You don’t have to implement all of them right away, but start with one and see how it positively affects the workspace.
1. Treat others as they would like to be treated
Instead of the one we all know, treat others like you would like to be treated, for psychological safety in the workplace, you should instead treat others the way that they would like to be treated. Ask them how they would like their feedback delivered, the style of communication that puts them most at ease, how frequently they would like check-ins, and more.
Great managers and leaders shouldn’t assume that the way they handle things is the way all people want to be treated. Take the time to find out what each employee prefers and see how the atmosphere changes in the workplace.
2. Embrace curiosity
Companies should be trying to build a culture of curiosity if they want a psychologically safe workplace. According to Jackson Helter, a team leader at Speech Writing Service and Elite Assignment Help, “curiosity naturally makes people more creative, more engaged in a positive idea exchange, and more adaptive to their environment when they’re faced with obstacles. When a business promotes learning and asking questions, they will also achieve these valuable outcomes.”
3. Celebrate healthy conflict
Conflict is a risky interpersonal endeavor because it can be easy for people to feel judged. Instead, promote and celebrate healthy conflict by debating ideas and letting people know that you respect them and their ideas. When you start doing this, you’ll see that more and more employees become comfortable raising strange or different ideas that might turn into the next big project.
If there is an actual unhealthy conflict, resolve it in productive ways by putting yourself in the other person’s shoes.
4. Encourage conversation
Psychological safety is at risk when there are restrictions on employees’ communication. Your company should instead have many different paths to leadership, provide different options for employee feedback, and encourage all types of conversations. Up and down communication is the best way that a business can succeed, by letting employees know they can challenge the status quo, speak to their superiors, and provide their own feedback on the organization.
An internal company blog is one of the tools that can open a new, transparent, two-way communication channel inside an organization and provide an efficient way for employees to receive information and express their views, provide feedback or ask a question.
5. Build trust
Trust is a big part of psychological safety. When people are comfortable being themselves at work, it builds trust and respect between people. For the perfect team to exist, trust is a key requirement. Once you build it, you have to work to keep it and be an example to the rest of the team.
6. Put the emphasis on effectiveness
Instead of trying to build an efficient workforce, build an effective one. Leaders must avoid treating people like they are just the means to the end of the financial success of the company. A better way of acting is to create a circle of safety and emotional security around the employees. Lars Eriksson, an HR manager at Boom Essays and Assignment Writing Service, says that “they’ll feel safe and they can focus their time and energy on the organization and their work inside it. Emotionally secure employees are not only more productive but more creative and engaged.”
7. Approach creativity differently
Creativity should all be about taking risks, encouraging every idea and project, even if incomplete. This way, employees can be inspired by each other and learn from others. When team members are vulnerable without being punished, the work can go down an unpredictable path and result in success for the business. Although it can feel strange to change this traditional approach, it is always successful in the end.
Psychological safety at work is all about creating a place where employees feel safe to explore and share. They must be able to talk to their colleagues and superiors freely and feel supported. Businesses that have taken this approach have been successful in developing healthy organizations.