Psychological safety – the shared belief that it’s safe to take risks and make mistakes without fear of repercussions – has become an important aspect of modern workplaces. However, just stating that a work environment is safe does not automatically make it so. In fact, the entire system that the company operates under must be conducive to creating a genuinely secure atmosphere.
The Foundation: An Established Company Structure
In any organization, the overall structure can act as the bedrock for the development and maintenance of psychological safety. This structure comprises not only the official hierarchy but also the organization’s norms, procedures, and culture. It includes the processes for decision-making, conflict resolution, information sharing, and performance evaluation.
An established and reliable structure provides predictability and clarity, enabling employees to understand their role, their scope for decision-making, and their responsibilities. It also facilitates trust in the management and the organization as a whole. This sense of predictability and trust fosters a feeling of safety, as employees feel that they won’t be unfairly penalized or left in the dark about decisions that affect their work.
However, if the structure is perceived as arbitrary, non-transparent, or unstable, it can lead to a sense of insecurity. Employees may feel that they are ‘walking on eggshells’, unsure of what is expected of them, or how their actions will be perceived. This atmosphere can hinder open communication, innovation, and collaborative problem solving, as people may be afraid to voice their ideas or concerns for fear of reprisal.
Therefore, to create a psychologically safe environment, the structure of the organization needs to be robust, transparent, and fair. It should provide clear guidelines and expectations, while also allowing room for individual creativity and autonomy. It should reward not just outcomes, but also effort and learning. And most importantly, it should cultivate a culture of open communication and mutual respect, where every voice is valued, and every individual is treated with fairness and dignity.
The System’s Influence on Individual Behavior
It is important to remember that different individuals will tend to behave in similar ways under the same system. This is because a system, by its very nature, shapes the behavior of those within it. Thus, if an organization’s system creates an atmosphere of fear or insecurity, it is the system that needs changing, not the people.
Removing Barriers to Psychological Safety
To create a psychologically safe environment, organizations must identify and remove barriers that perpetuate feelings of insecurity. This could include anything from overbearing management styles to performance evaluation systems that put undue pressure on individuals.
In many organizations, performance evaluations are a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they provide valuable feedback and establish expectations. On the other hand, they can create a pressure-cooker environment, particularly if they’re linked to penalties for poor performance or unrealistic targets. This can lead to stress, stifling creativity and innovation – the very lifeblood of a growing organization.
A Holistic View: Identifying Systemic Causal Loops
In order to create a genuinely psychologically safe work environment, organizations must adopt a holistic view. This involves identifying the systemic causal loops that create or contribute to the lack of psychological safety.
Using systemic thinking, an organization can identify patterns and structures that perpetuate insecurity. This could be anything from an overemphasis on competition, to a blame culture, to a lack of clarity around roles and responsibilities. Once these systemic issues are identified, they can be addressed in a targeted way to create a more psychologically safe work environment.
Creating a psychologically safe workplace is a complex task that requires a systemic approach. However, the benefits of such an environment – increased innovation, improved employee wellbeing, and higher productivity – make it well worth the effort.
References
- Schein, E.H. (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership. Jossey-Bass.
- Duhigg, C. (2016). What Google Learned from Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team. The New York Times Magazine
- Senge, P. (1990). The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization. Currency.
- De Jong, B.A., Dirks, K.T., & Gillespie, N. (2016). Trust and Team Performance: A Meta-Analysis of Main Effects, Moderators, and Covariates. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101(8), 1134-1150. doi: 10.1037/apl0000110
- Sterman, J.D. (2000). Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World. McGraw-Hill.
