Becoming a psychologically safe team requires all members to buy in

Credit: Getty Images/Chadchai Krisadapong

Psychological safety in the workplace can be described as “a condition in which one feels (a) included, (b) safe to learn, (c) safe to contribute, and (d) safe to challenge the status quo without fear of being embarrassed, marginalized or punished in some way.” Psychological safety increases employees’ productivity and effectiveness.

One critical insight for leaders and HR professionals is to be aware that psychological safety is not the outcome; it is the program. It includes setting expectations for how people treat each other in the workplace (e.g., safe and respectful workplace policy) and measuring and controlling psychosocial risk factors (e.g., psychologically safe teams’ expectations and standards). A thoughtful psychological safety program allows employees to work together in a way that supports all individuals and teams to thrive to their full potential.

Creating a psychologically safe and inclusive team where all employees feel welcomed, valued, and respected requires more than words and random decrees. It requires constant follow-up and clear expectations of every employee’s willing behaviours and habits, such as taking accountability for behaviour, demonstrating civility, and being collaborative.

Project Aristotle, a study of 250 team-level variables, found the most successful Google teams reported psychological safety as the most important variable. Team psychological safety is the shared belief that all team members must feel safe and take interpersonal risks, such as raising concerns or challenging the status quo.

Creating psychologically safe teams is an essential requirement for senior leadership to consider, as it plays a role in predicting a team’s efficacy (i.e., ability to work together to perform job-related activities successfully). It also enhances team learning behaviour, allowing members to learn from each other to achieve desired outcomes.

Getting employee buy-in

How teams interact with each other is as critical as the manager-employee relationship. A psychologically safe program requires prevention and support.

My applied experience over the past 30 years is that teams whose members interact with civility, kindness, and encouragement outperform teams whose members are chronically rude, judgmental, and riddled with unresolved conflict.

A critical step towards getting employee buy-in is for leaders to walk the talk and role model what “good” looks like regarding psychologically safe behaviours (e.g., being respectful). Adopt a Plan-Do-Check-Act approach when a safe and respectful workplace policy and training are implemented to ensure regular follow-up and measurement of the desired outcome.

Setting the expectation is one activity; following up and measuring is a secondary activity that is often missed.

Employees who adopt and buy into the employer’s values and expectations as the minimal standards are more likely to become psychologically safe team members.

Psychologically safe teams require all members to be held accountable. When appropriate, they are allowed to make mistakes in judgment and given the goal to learn from them. There is no perfection. Errors are not as important as what employees learn from them and how they feel after.

In “Four steps to fostering psychological safety, inclusivity in the workplace,” I introduce leaders to action steps towards creating a psychologically safe workplace. Employers can facilitate workplace mental health programs to help teams have a better experience, reduce mental harm, and promote mental health.

And in “Why employers urgently require team members trained and competent in workplace mental health and psychological health and safety,”  I introduce employers to the knowledge and skills for facilitating psychologically safe workplaces. Regardless of the program, the goal must be to move beyond activities to desired habits that help employees flourish.

To facilitate employee buy-in, anchor the concept that all peer-to-peer interactions play a role in creating trusted relationships needed for psychologically safe teams with your employees.

Two actions leaders can take with their teams to facilitate employee buy-in

A team’s success ultimately depends on every member’s daily actions and experiences. How a team member shows up and behaves can be a source of energy or a drain for themselves and their peers. Getting all team members to buy in begins with setting clear expectations. Each employee must take accountability for their actions and learn how their work style can be a charge or a drain for themselves and others.

• Set expectations and discuss the why — Begin the psychologically safe team conversation by introducing the concept and its benefits. Engage the team in reading and roundtable conversations at team meetings. Point out the behaviours for a psychologically safe team outlined in The Habit Playbook for Creating Psychologically Safe and Inclusive Teams. Have all team members complete the Psychologically Safe Team Quick Survey and bring their results to a team meeting to discuss what they learned and what they will stop, start, and continue to create a psychologically safe team. The expected outcome is awareness and framing accountability. Employees must be clear on the why, what, and how, which can arise from discussion. They will also benefit from becoming more aware of how their behaviours and habits affect their own and others’ experiences.
• Promote increased self-awareness — Ensure all team members understand that they play a role in caring for their mental health and look inward with humility regarding what they can do better. Another way to help employees explore themselves is to allow them to do additional self-evaluations in team meetings to share their learnings and one thing they can stop, start, or continue to create a psychologically safe team. The following free Quick Surveys can be helpful for engaging conversations to create awareness and opportunities for team members to think about the styles and factors that can influence how teams interact and ultimately get along: Communication Style Quick Survey, Learning Style Measure, Personality Communication Style, Work Style Quick Screen and Personality Preference Insights. Each provides a confidential report that can create conversations among teams on differences and how beneficial it is to adapt to different styles for self and others. Creating a sense of belonging can be facilitated when all team members agree and buy into the fact that members can have different styles.

What defines psychological safety for many employees is the degree to which they feel a sense of belonging, acceptance, and confidence that bringing their authentic selves to the workplace is OK.

Dr. Bill Howatt is the Ottawa-based president of Howatt HR Consulting.