What are the stages of establishing a psychologically safe workplace?
9 Likes
For leaders working on creating a psychologically safe workplace, it is useful to read The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety: Defining the Path to Inclusion and Innovation by Dr. Timothy Clark. In the book the defines the stages as,
Stage 1
Inclusion Safety - Where an individual’s basic human need to connect and belong is met. In this stage, the employee feels accepted for who they are (their individual identity).
Stage 2
Learner Safety - In this stage, the employee feels safe to participate in the learning process (integral to any company). This is seen when an employee asks questions, gives and receives feedback and is encouraged to learn from mistakes.
Stage 3
Contributor Safety - In this stage, the employee feels safe to contribute their unique skills and abilities to the team’s/organisation’s goals.
Stage 4
Challenger Safety - In this stage, the employee feels safe to speak up about areas and needs for improvement, debate and challenge the status quo.
9 Likes
What are some of the challenges one might face in establishing a safe workplace?
8 Likes
One practical challenge is during high-stake projects or projects with tight deadlines. Here the priority is often to complete things quickly. In these situations, the voice of the leader, or the most vocal team member, or the star employee is prioritised.
At the same time, there is little room for mistakes. In such situations, with excitement, anxiety and stress an employee may be penalised or humiliated for a mistake.
8 Likes
When employees are given freedom to take risks, it causes huge loss for the company and when we try to put boundaries, it can be misunderstood as belittling or that their opinions do not matter. how do we bring balance to this?
8 Likes
The question about the balance between risk taking and recklessness is one that a manager is often faced with. It is only practical to communicate the boundaries of how much autonomy the employee has and how much would be harmful to the reputation or the goals or the organization.
It is important to see how boundaries are created - with fairness, assertiveness and empathy.
9 Likes
What is the importance of a psychologically safe workplace?
7 Likes
Innovation is a priority of every organisation. When an organisation is psychologically safe, employees are more open to learning on the job and proactively look for solutions to ground-level problems that a leader may not have access to.
When an employee sees the value they are able to add to the organisation it ensures retention.
8 Likes
Why should it be a priority for leaders? And, how can they make it a priority?
7 Likes
- Be explicit that you value respectful communication within the team and when dealing with vendors, partners and clients
- Encourage Hackathons or Experiment Days where employees have time set aside to showcase new ideas and innovations that will benefit the team
- Hold people accountable if they have been reported for being disrespectful
7 Likes
How to establish a psychologically safe workplace in a hybrid model?
6 Likes
Two best practices in the hybrid model include,
- Creating channels for offering regular employee feedback (positive and negative)
- Conducting regular project check-ins to reduce miscommunication
The practices for managers and HR are different.
6 Likes
What can managers do to increase psychological safety within their teams?
5 Likes
- Be open to speaking about your own mistakes and how you learned from them. This will make employees feel safe to take risks themselves
- Ask open-ended questions
- Explicitly acknowledge ideas from junior employees, interns and other new joiners
- Give credit where it is due. This is important to motivate employees to speak up.
- Be open to asking for help
5 Likes
How can we measure psychological safety at the workplace?
4 Likes
At Serein, we have designed a standard tool that measures psychological safety in the workplace. A few of the parameters are,
- Ability to bring up problems and uncomfortable issues.
- Appetite for risk-taking
- Perception and experience of respect at work
- Exit rate of minority groups
4 Likes
How does a psychological safe workplace enhance employee engagement?
3 Likes
Very similar to the question on the importance of a psychologically safe workplace - employees who are heard are more likely to be focused, driven, find contentment at work and stay longer or aspire for internal development opportunities in the organisation.
3 Likes
How can HR teams proactively take psychological safety ahead?
2 Likes
- Draft a policy on respect at work
- Encourage a culture of speaking up
- Provide redressal for issues of disrespect at work
- Encourage internal mentorship programs
3 Likes