Psychological Safety at Work
Help your team to be comfortable expressing themselves and work better together.
“If you want to teach people a new way of thinking, don’t bother trying to teach them. Instead, give them a tool, the use of which will lead to new ways of thinking.”
— R Buckminster Fuller
What is Psychological Safety?
Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson, the most prominent academic researcher in this field defines, psychological safety as "a climate in which people are comfortable expressing and being themselves”.
Google’s project Aristotle identified 5 characteristics of high performing teams. Of the five, psychological safety was by far the most important and underpinned the other four.
Considerable research shows psychological safety is required for adaptive and innovative performance – which is essential in today’s Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world.
Do your employees feel psychologically safe at work?
What does a psychologically safe workplace feel like?
Team members feel safe to take risks around their co-workers, have conversations about difficult and sensitive topics and have each other’s back.
They feel confident that no one on the team will embarrass or punish anyone else for admitting a mistake, asking a question, or offering a new idea.
There is a welcoming and inclusive environment where people can bring their authentic selves to work.
How I can help you improve the psychological safety of your people
I am trained to help leaders to set up the conditions for psychological safety by teaching them how to use the ProSocial Matrix with their teams.
I provide:
30min webinars to teach individuals how to set the context for psychological safety.
Workshops to provide leaders with the tools to improve to create psychological safety.
Read on to find out more >>
ProSocial Matrix: What is it?
The ProSocial Matrix is a tool designed to enable members of groups understand and commit to behaviours in order to work better together to achieve the shared purpose of the organisation.
It was created by clinical psychologist Dr Kevin Polk, based on a globally proven framework developed by Nobel Prize winner, Elinor Ostrom’s eight-design principles for successful groups.
Psychological Safety: The benefits
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To your team
Feel at ease raising problems and concerns
It is safe to take risks and admit mistakes without fear of the consequences
Skills and talents are valued and utilised and collaboration improves
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To your organisation
Creativity and innovation
Improved employee well-being, job satisfaction, engagement and staff retention
Encourages creativity, problem-solving and openness to change
How it works
The ProSocial Matrix focuses on working with team members to identify their shared purpose, and their behaviours in the context of that.
Psychological safety: What clients have said
“Thank you so very much for the excellent way in which you ran our remote access workshops over the past 3 weeks. I think it has been very interesting and given us a real look in on ourselves.”
Deborah Burns, Director of Care and Quality Governance, NI Hospice
Find out more
To arrange a 30min complimentary call to discuss developing psychological safety in your team click here and select a date or get in touch.