Building a performance culture
Have you ever thought about why some teams perform better than others? Why do you think that is? Great leadership? Partially. The right mix of talent? Partially. Team culture? Yes! In fact a study conducted at Google showed that the key differentiator between good teams and great teams was a culture of Psychological Safety in the team.
Does everyone on the team feel safe to speak up?
Can team members speak up with comments, feedback and questions without fear of being ignored, humiliated, ridiculed, criticized or punished? How psychologically safe are interactions between team members? To what extent do team members feel safe to take interpersonal risks such as speaking up in meetings with new ideas or questions? Is it not only permissible, but even encouraged to give feedback to a more senior person in the organisation?
A lack of psychological safety has far reaching consequences
Amy Edmondson’s research on psychological safety in hospitals shows that a lack of psychological safety can lead to mistakes being hidden, thereby threatening patients health, and even putting their lives at risk.
A leader’s role
In the knowledge economy, the leader’s role is to create psychological safety in their team to allow healthy intellectual debate without team members feeling vulnerable or unsafe while doing so. A psychologically safe culture enables learning, creativity, innovation and high performance.
Get in touch to find out more
Would your leaders benefit from knowing more about building high performing teams through psychological safety? I can help you your leaders gain a better understanding of why psychological safety matters. Contact me at sarah(at)all-about-talent.net to find out more.