Creating psychological safety at work for all employees

Published: May 3, 2024 | by Amanda Czepiel, JD, Head of Content at Brightmine

Psychological safety at work has become an increasingly important inclusion issue as companies grapple with ways to retain employees and create an engaging work environment. The term, coined by Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson, refers to a belief that one can voice their concerns, speak, ask questions or make mistakes without the risk of punishment or humiliation.

But how does a company ensure psychological safety exists at all levels of the organization? And what does that look like?

Psychological safety at work starts at the top

To truly judge whether an organization has strong psychological safety, you ultimately must start at the top. If senior leaders have a “my way or the highway” approach, that will have a chilling effect on employees. In turn, employees will be less likely to take the interpersonal risk of offering new ideas or speaking up generally.

Leaders can set a positive tone as catalysts by role modeling the behavior they expect from their team. Some ways to do that effectively include:

• Treating all employees with respect.
• Creating space for others to share ideas at meetings.
• Asking team members for input – and not just as a check-the-box exercise, but really asking by expressing genuine curiosity.
• Inviting pushback by seeking opinions that may differ from the leader’s own views.
• Showing vulnerability.

A leader’s willingness to be humble and display vulnerability, in particular, is a sign of strength. It encourages others to share their questions, concerns or mistakes, notes Amy Edmondson in her book, The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation and Growth. Leaders also should admit when they do not know something or are unsure and show their openness to other ideas.

Leaders modeling these behaviors make it more likely that mid-level managers and supervisors will follow suit. This, in turn, will ensure there is a company-wide culture of inclusion that prioritizes psychological safety.

Making the business case for psychological safety at work

The good news is that getting buy-in from senior leaders to build psychological safety at work need not be a herculean task.

“Psychological safety is actually even easier (than other DEI initiatives) because it is so linked to innovation and that’s how businesses grow,” says Jo Portlock, Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion at LexisNexis Risk Solutions. “There is no point in having a great idea unless you share it,” Portlock adds. “At that level, it’s easy to get buy in.”

Along these lines, presentation plays a key role. That is, you need to speak the language of senior leaders and understand their motivations. By setting the stage in this way, you can make a compelling business case for psychological safety.

Highlight the benefits of psychological safety at work

To make the business case, show how creating a psychologically safe workplace will bring an organization closer to accomplishing its goals and objectives. You can do this by highlighting how projects with greater psychological safety have been shown to have a greater likelihood of success.

Senior leaders can relate to the bottom line and will buy into that more readily than if you state the goal as “helping people feel safe.” That’s not to say helping employees feel safe isn’t also important. For instance, Google’s Project Aristotle found that individuals on teams with higher psychological safety:

• Bring in more revenue.
• Are rated as “effective” twice as often by executives.
• Are less likely to leave the company.

At the same time, it’s also important to explain to leaders as well as employees what psychological safety isn’t. “It’s not a get-out-of-jail free card with performance,” said Portlock.

But, she noted, organizations should establish a climate where it’s ok for employees to fail and admit mistakes as long as they learn from them. They should view mistakes as an opportunity to grow rather than punish. Otherwise, people may not come forward to admit them for fear of the repercussions.

Measurement tools are critical

So how is an organization to know if it’s fostering psychological safety at work…or not?

Using appropriate measurement tools to take the temperature of your employees through surveys is critical. Many organizations measure workforce demographics and other similar people data, but they are less apt to measure psychological safety.

Leverage anonymous psychological safety surveys

Portlock recommends asking a targeted series of questions across the organization in an anonymous survey to find out if a problem exists, such as:

• Do you feel comfortable speaking up at a meeting?
• Would you have any fear approaching your supervisor with a concern?
• Is there room for constructive disagreement at team meetings?
• Does your manager welcome new ideas?
• Does your company make members of underrepresented groups feel welcome?

Also, it’s critical to break down the survey by department identify any problems unique to specific teams. A general inclusion survey without that team breakdown risks missing crucial findings. For instance, you may end up with a good score overall, but is that masking a problem in a particular department?

Team-by-team progress

Portlock stresses that while broad awareness about psychological safety at work is good, what organizations really need are team-by-team based objectives. Psychological safety and inclusion generally are only as good as each individual team—and its leaders—whether you have 100 employees or 1,000.

She advises using psychological safety trainers to meet with smaller teams using “train-the-trainer models” that turn your employee-trainers into experts. These sessions can be much more engaging than general anti-discrimination courses, Portlock notes. In addition to training sessions, consider the following actions:

• Make learning and skill development part of leaders’ day-to-day work.
• Show through these trainings (and other trainings on unconscious bias that ferret out bias without casting blame) what a good culture looks like.
• Provide incentives for managers based on their team’s psychological safety scores.

Cultural awareness

It’s impossible to discuss psychological safety fully without noting that it’s also inextricably linked with cultural awareness. “Certain groups naturally have lower psychological safety,” says Portlock. She notes that employees under 40, people of color and other underrepresented groups might not feel psychologically safe with white male senior leaders.

That’s why the workplace psychological safety or inclusion surveys mentioned above should break down the anonymous results, to the extent possible, by demographics. If 80% of employees feel included, but the 20% who don’t are largely from underrepresented groups, that’s a red flag. It’s also another reason for digging deeper with numbers across the organization within various teams.

Employees of different cultures may not perceive psychological safety in the same way. Consider taking special steps, which may include ensuring that employees who may not be comfortable speaking publicly at a meeting realize there are other means through which they can submit their ideas. Individuals have their own comfort levels, so treat them as they would like to be treated, not necessarily as you would like to be treated.

Other steps to take

Employers can also take other steps to create psychological safety at work, including the following:

ERGs and support systems

The existence of all the following can work in tandem to create greater psychological safety at work:

• Strong employee resource groups (ERGs).
• Mentorship and networking programs.
• Allyship.

Leadership buy-in can go a long way in this regard. Managers can show support by attending ERG meetings, and employees of all levels can participate in mentorship programs.

Social cohesion

Creating time for activities to boost social cohesion can also boost psychological safety across the organization. This is important with all employees, but may be especially true with remote workers.

With hybrid or virtual teams, consider dividing people into smaller groups, or breakout rooms. In these smaller groups, employees may be more comfortable sharing their ideas and perspectives. Also, ask for employee input ahead of time. Some employees may prefer typing their ideas or vulnerable statements via email or chat as opposed to verbally in a meeting.

In addition, employers can increase their chances of greater psychological safety by:

• Recognizing accomplishments.
• Coaching emotional intelligence.
• Acknowledging suggestions or new ideas.
• Encouraging virtual coffee sessions.
• Ensuring that a stated open-door policy goes beyond words and is truly open-door.

All of these steps can enhance psychological safety by making people feel more included.

Conclusion

All these steps can help your organization change the status quo and make true progress on psychological safety at work. However, it’s not the only piece to the talent management puzzle. Review our premium talent management resources on the HR & Compliance Center, formerly XpertHR tools and resources.