12 July 2021
Last week at Culture Amp's Culture First APAC 2021, I was on the Sprouta panel, I spoke about the link between psychological safety and high performance.
Psychological safety is often an overlooked secret ingredient to high performing teams and organisations. Recent research from McKinsey found that it is a precursor to adaptive and innovative performance. Google’s Project Aristotle discovered it is the number one factor for teams to thrive.
The term was first introduced by Amy Edmondson and it is a "belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes".
If people don't feel psychologically safe, they will fail to speak up, contribute ideas or new ways of doing things.
Leaders can build psychological safety by:
Creating the right climate by developing an environment of trust and vulnerability not just between the leader and the employee but within the team.
Role model and reinforce behaviours such as speaking up, giving and receiving feedback.
Change mindsets by fostering growth and curiosity through learning.
I love this quote as it takes effort and intentionality to create a psychologically safe environment.
Further reading