‘Freedom to Perform/ Thrive’
Why is psychological safety important for employers to understand and have a planned approach around how this flows through an organisation?
This is about how people are set up to bring their whole selves to work, contribute to their fullest and building high performing teams, who have the safety to challenge, offer diverse thinking and contribution and take ownership of decisions and actions in the workplace. For Leaders, this is about how to engage, provide freedom and support (as needed) and how to encourage people to do their best work!
This has been a hot topic for some time now across health and safety professionals, however, appears slow to filter through organisational design, review and impact. Wellbeing is probably more widely discussed in the majority of organisations that we speak and engage with, albeit this can also vary vastly. Some still believing this means that offering gym memberships and fruit bowls is meeting their employees well-being needs and ‘that box is ticked’.
Psychological safety is a much broader topic, which considers the following:
Where to start in terms of assessing your people and organisation’s current state and understanding?
Here are some questions to ask yourself and organisation about the level of psychological safety in your organisation and how people perceive this for themselves:
1. Do you and others feel safe to challenge/question, at every level of the organisation? (this means there is no fear of being treated differently or any adverse affects as a result of challenging, and that you feel you have a safe environment to do this freely)
2. Do you feel that if you /others make a mistake at work that this will be dealt with as a learning opportunity, or do you believe that this will adversely affect your personal brand and your job security?
3. Are you comfortable making decisions in your role and do you have the freedom and trust to do so, within parameters agreed or do you feel you need to constantly check with your leader/ manager and fear getting things wrong?
4. Is it ok to front up and share if you are having a bad day or need support, or do you believe this will be perceived as a sign of weakness or incompetence?
5. Do you feel comfortable sharing your views, beliefs and culture in your workplace, the same you as you would ‘outside of work’ you or do you feel best to keep this to yourself?
Here are some additional AI generated questions to assist with team discussions:
Inclusion and Support:
• “Do you feel included and respected as a member of the team/organisation?”
• “Do you feel people on your team sometimes reject others for being different?”
• “Do you feel your team is supportive of your personal and professional development?”
Leadership and Culture:
• “What do you think leaders/managers can do to foster a more psychologically safe environment?”
• “What are the key values that this organisation should prioritise to enhance psychological safety?”
• “What are some of the most effective ways to encourage psychological safety within our team?”
We have included some additional links below that may assist your own journey and taking action to review and further enhance psychological safety in your workplace today:
https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/what-is-psychological-safety-at-work
https://www.forum.org.nz/assets/Factsheet-Psychological-safety-at-work-final.pdf
https://www.healthandsafety.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Creating-mentally-healthy-work-and-workplaces.pdf
