Psychological safety at work
Psychological safety is essential for positive workplaces. However, there’s one common mistake all organisations make.
This blog contains:
- What is psychological safety at work?
- What are the benefits of psychological safety?
- The one mistake we make with psychological safety.
- How to create psychological safety at work.
Imagine for a moment you’re attending an important meeting at work. As the discussion progresses you have an idea that you think might be helpful. But you hesitate. On one hand you want to speak up, but on the other you hold back. For some reason it just seems safer to keep quiet. Most people can relate to this experience. But, why is it so?
What is psychological safety at work?
Psychological safety describes a workplace culture where everyone feels supported to speak up, to share ideas, and even make mistakes without fear of ridicule or retribution.
Without psychological safety people are more likely to stay in their comfort zones and ‘play safe’. They are less likely to suggest ideas or identify risks. This makes organisations poorer. To state the obvious, the noisiest people in the room are not always the smartest.
What are the benefits of psychological safety?
Studies have found psychological safety is a predictor of team cohesion, productivity, and business success. It is also strongly associated with staff engagement, creativity, and staff loyalty. And, given psychological safety encourages people to ask questions and report hazards, it is also a predictor of positive OH&S outcomes.
The one mistake we make with psychological safety.
With the benefits of psychological safety well established, more leaders are wanting to implement this kind of culture with their teams. However, there is one common mistake. The mistake is to assume psychological safety means the same thing to all people. In workplaces different people need different kinds of safety, and these differences can be illustrated with Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs.
How to create psychological safety at work.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Maslow reminds us when our basic, physiological needs are not satisfied we are unlikely to care about anything else. Only after our basic needs are met can we move up the ladder in search of higher needs.
Level 1. Physiological needs
For example, junior doctors working in busy public hospitals frequently suffer sleep deprivation. Anyone deprived of this basic need will care about sleep and little else. For this group psychological safety is about challenging rostering practices and conditions without fear of retribution.
Level 2. Safety / security
At the next level in Maslow’s hierarchy, safety & security, people are more concerned with maintaining a secure roof over their head. This describes people experiencing cost of living pressures while employed on temporary or casual contracts. At this level psychological safety means asking about more secure tenure without further jeopardising their position.
Level 3. Social needs
This is where psychological safety is most commonly understood. Like the meeting described at the beginning of this article, this is about feeling safe to contribute and share ideas with the group without being ridiculed or otherwise disadvantaged.
Leaders make all the difference here. When leaders ignore incidents of negativity or bullying a toxic culture is almost guaranteed. In contrast, leaders who model respectful interactions and call out bad behaviour build a culture of safety.
High performing leaders go even further – coaching for strengths rather than picking on weaknesses, acknowledging examples of good performance and providing feedback from satisfied stakeholders. These kinds of positive interventions build the safest teams of all.
Levels 4 and 5. Self-esteem and self-actualisation.
At the very highest levels in Maslow’s hierarchy employees are motivated to take pride in their strengths and grow to become their best selves. At this level psychological safety is about recognition for good work, scope to meet new challenges, autonomy and freedom from micromanagement.
In conclusion.
- Psychological safety is not one size fits all. It means different things to different people depending on the individual’s position in Maslow’s hierarchy.
- For people at the lower levels in the hierarchy, psychological safety means being able to ask questions about OH&S issues or job security.
- For those in the middle of the hierarchy, psychological safety means sharing ideas and contributing to the group without ridicule.
- For those higher up the hierarchy, psychological safety is the freedom to grow, and the autonomy to become one’s best self at work.
Beyond creating a general culture of respect and support at work, leaders also need to think like coaches- recognising individual differences and being supportive of individual needs.