Psychological safety is a perception related to the consequences of taking interpersonal risks. It describes a work environment where people believe that candour is expected and possible.
In their article ‘Psychological Safety Comes of Age: Observed Themes in an Established Literature’, Amy Edmondson and Derrick Bransby review contemporary psychological safety research, 185 articles in total, published in the past nine years.
What did they find?
They identify four dominant themes relating to psychological safety:
1. Getting things done. Psychological safety plays a significant role in enabling performance. By creating conditions favourable to speaking up, sharing ideas, and asking questions, psychological safety helps individuals and teams get things done.
2. Learning behaviors. Learning behaviors emphasised in the research typically involve interactions between one or more people, for which lowering interpersonal risk improves the quality of their interaction.
3. Improving the work experience. By creating an environment where candour is expected and possible, psychological safety helps to encourage open and authentic interpersonal behaviours, creating a supportive and inclusive team climate.
4. Leadership. Leader behaviours such as listening, seeking feedback and normalising vulnerability are important for creating psychological safety.
So what does this mean for leaders?
To enhance psychological safety, leaders can practice genuine inquiry and display vulnerability.
Leaders should also consider psychological safety a mechanism that helps them achieve desired results in challenging contexts by leveraging the diverse skills in their teams. Psychological safety is therefore not the goal but rather a factor for enabling other goals.
In recognition of the critical role psychological safety plays in creating an inclusive work environment, we measure psychological safety as a predictor of inclusion in our Inclusive Culture Diagnostic.
To find out more about our Inclusive Culture Diagnostic, check out our website here or email us at enquiries@inclusiveleadershipcompany.com.
You can check out the original article here.
