The world of today is fast paced, highly evolving, challenging and extremely unforgiving to the workplaces that refuse to adapt. In this highly competitive corporate world where maintaining status quo is just not an option, companies are looking at the key differentiators which can make all the difference between ‘thriving’ and ‘grappling for survival’. The need of the hour is to unlock the potential of our most precious asset, ‘our people’ and what better way than to inculcate a culture of openness.
In today’s workplace does everyone feel they can contribute, ask questions, seek & offer support, be vulnerable, feel safe to take risks, challenge the status quo without the fear of repercussions and have the belief that they would be heard? This is nothing but ‘psychological safety’, an integral need of the work environment of today.
Various amounts of research show that psychological safety improves creativity, inclusion, innovation, employee well-being, boost team performance, to name a few. The term psychological safety has been in existence since 1999, when Amy Edmondson of Harvard first coined it in a journal. And over two decades later how many leaders can confidently say that their team members feel psychologically safe while at work?
Leaders play a significant role in building an ecosystem of psychological safety.
To err is human
Leaders need to acknowledge that they are normal human beings with anxieties, fears, and not machines. Any individual’s strengths and weaknesses conflict with each other and determine the course of their journey to new heights. Leaders need to do an honest self-introspection to find out one’s own gaps, unwarranted behaviours, fears, and apprehensions.
Leaders should be ready to discover one’s blind spots. An honest and open communication channel needs to be nurtured, maintained, and harnessed to seek feedback. It is high time they surround themselves with competent people with diverse opinions than the proverbial “yes boss”. Feedback needs to be taken in the right spirit, however harsh and unrealistic it may sound. Absolutely there is room for clarification where misunderstandings may arise. Conflicting inputs provided need to be considered in a rational manner. If required, they can seek more information and bounce it off with peers or others to get an unbiased opinion.
Leaders also needs to be conscious of their body language. By just quoting that one is ‘open to feedback’ and then displaying body language which clearly depicts that the feedback is not welcome, is detrimental.
Post that, leaders can embark on a continuous learning journey by resorting to various resources for upskilling, reskilling, and course correction in behaviours.
Everyone Belongs here
A leader who appreciates divergent viewpoints not only shows openness but also humility. Reinforcing such diversity of thoughts can be accelerated by providing a platform to voice opinions, hiring people with cognitive diversities which means people with various thinking styles, personalities, beliefs, philosophies, quite different than that of the leader, and by incorporating the right team dynamics.
In today’s world everyone has access to a lot of information at their fingertips and are hitting new heights in innovation, hence it is imperative that leaders find ways of harnessing this potential rather than being dismissive of their views.
Leaders need to keep in mind that their team members also play a vital role in nurturing the psychological safety sowed by them as leaders. Small unwelcome incidents (even if unintentional) by strayed team members are enough to dampen the atmosphere and reverse the efforts put in by the leader. Leaders need to coach any colleagues who make inappropriate jokes targeting an individual or minority which may lead to a hostile work climate. Active Identification and handling of incidents such as inappropriate comments, bullying and biases will go a long way to encourage divergent views.
As leaders, they must rise to the challenge of orchestrating discussions in a manner that they bring out the valuable opinions of the introverts while not dampening the spirits of the outspoken.
Fundamental glue of Trust
Trust is paramount to psychological safety. I would like to refer to the Stephen Covey’s model of Trust based on the foundational pillars of character and competence as something I truly believe in. As leaders we build character through integrity and having the right intent by caring about the people through seeking mutual benefit.
The need to show the human side is paramount for the leaders through small actions such as by being vulnerable. They can show humility by sharing past mistakes, how one has challenged the status quo previously, how one has changed or learnt a new perspective based on inputs from others. They need to emphasize that the road to success is not the same for all, but the waypoints are similar and while our experiences will help and mentor others it will also strengthen our character as it will help us stay firm in our endeavours.
Leaders need to genuinely connect with team members beyond work topics to build a rapport. The world today is connected way beyond our imagination, while this is a huge positive for multiple reasons, it also blurs the lines between professional and personal life, making it hard for us all to avoid an overlap of personal and professional world. We therefore cannot expect individuals to leave their personal lives outside the work door. Leaders need to be cognizant of the fact that personal challenges if any may hamper the contribution at work and give the space to the individual to deal with it which would by ripple effect result in fostering the foundation of trust.
We may have the best of the company benefits, fancy offices, but, if we don’t get the fundamentals right by nurturing an inclusive culture with psychological safety, where everyone feels belonged, then we are far from unlocking the true potential of our people.
(This article is authored by Sonia Almeida Soares, Director of Inclusion & Diversity, Employer Branding and HR Communications, Volvo Group India)
