Resources
Dive deeper into the world of teaming! The resources below give you an in depth look at how teaming can help your organization achieve high performance. When you’re ready to get started checkout our guides and leadership series.
Psychological Safety In The Workplace
Podcast
The Biggest Predictor Of Team Effectiveness
In this episode, Psychological Safety Certified Practitioner and Strategic Planner, Stephanie Fleming, discusses what psychological safety is, how it can be cultivated, and the benefits it brings to personal growth.
Stephanie explains the challenges that come with creating a psychologically safe environment and the role that leaders play in fostering a culture of psychological safety.
Kickstart your High Performance Team
Guide
Assess your team’s health as a foundation for high performance team dynamics.
Introduce your team to Psychological Safety and how it supports your team’s work and goals.
Practice new ways of interacting that support psychological safety in your team.
Encourage growth and adjust team expectations as your team evolves with psychological safety.
Introduction to Psychological Safety
Leadership Series
Psychological safety matters now as we figure out the next phase of working together post-pandemic.
Psychological safety is central not only creating high performance teams, but is also the crucial element to creating inclusive and innovative cultures.
Hiring great talent is not enough. To unleash collective talent, we need to foster a climate where employees feel free to contribute ideas, share information, and report mistakes.
It helps overcome the defensiveness and learning anxiety faced at work especially when something doesn’t go as planned.
WHAT IS ALL THE FUSS ABOUT PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY?
Article
These are incredibly challenging times for leaders.
In fact, 40% of CEOs fail in their first 18 months!*
However, the top CEOs’ companies generate 2.8x more returns for their shareholders than their peers.
One of the mindsets separating these top CEOs from all the others is they treat people and culture as a top priority. The top CEOs and leaders address the psychology of the team first, focusing less on what the team does together and more on HOW they work together.
Specifically, they recognize that psychological safety is the foundation for successful teams and thriving organizations.
What is psychological safety?
It’s the belief that you won’t be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes, according to Dr. Amy Edmonson, a Harvard Business School professor who has researched psychological safety for over 30 years. When people feel psychologically safe, they’re able to fully collaborate, leverage collective talents, and drive innovation.
Why does it matter?
Teams are how things get done in organizations.
Recent findings by McKinsey underline the significant impact of team dynamics on the execution of strategies. Challenges with people and culture account for 72% of the barriers to success. Addressing these not only doubles the likelihood of successful strategy implementation but also cultivates a resilient and adaptable workforce.
In our modern workplaces, collaboration has increased by 50% compared to two decades ago. Without a psychologically safe environment, employees are more likely to engage in self-preservation rather than focusing on collective goals. This defensiveness stifles learning, innovation, and efficiency—key ingredients for success in any business.
The cost of silence in an organization is high. Often, individuals refrain from speaking up not because they lack insight, but because they fear the repercussions of disrupting the status quo.
Psychological safety is fundamental to fostering a culture of open communication and innovation. In today’s fast-evolving business environment, where cross-functional teams must rapidly form and perform, creating conditions where employees can freely express themselves or voice concern is critical.
If you want the stats, according to Google’s Project Aristotle, psychological safety contributes 43% to team effectiveness. Without it, you are leaving performance on the table.
Why now?
The “post-pandemic era” has further eroded trust and psychological safety in many workplaces as we’ve had to adapt to new ways of working together. But savvy leaders see this as an opportunity to reset cultures by prioritizing psychological safety.
Thus, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is creating the conditions for psychological safety in your teams and organization. In today’s competitive environment, can you afford not to prioritize people and culture?
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This article is based on the following research:
*CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets that Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest by the McKinsey partners Carolyn Dewar, Scott Kellar, and Vikram Malhotra
The Fearless Organization by Amy C. Edmondson
Project Aristotle, research by Google
Losing from Day One. Why even successful transformations fall short, McKinsey & Company December 2021
Fearless Organization & Aristotle Performance Psychological Safety Certification Coursework
Originally published May 2, 2024 as a guest blog for Portland Consulting Group.
Unlocking Innovation: The "Edge Effect"
Article
Lessons to optimize organizational and team performance from nature.
I like looking to nature for lessons to optimize organizational and team performance.
For Earth Day, I’m revisiting the phenomenon of the “Edge Effect.”
In ecology, the Edge Effect refers to the greater diversity of life in the region where the edges of two adjacent ecosystems overlap, such as the forest and the savanna. This region benefits from the resources and characteristics of both ecosystems, creating a zone of extraordinary activity, diversity, and resiliency.
Similarly, when diverse skills and ideas in an organization merge, they create a fertile ground for innovation and productivity.
Imagine applying this concept to the management of our teams.
Just as in nature, where these transitional zones yield richer biodiversity, our organizations can foster similarly dynamic environments where diverse ideas, disciplines, and perspectives intersect. This is where true innovation thrives.
Interested in exploring with me?
Here are a few actionable strategies to leverage the Edge Effect in your organization:
- Promote Cross-Functional Collaboration. Encourage – and reward! – teams from different departments or with different skill sets to collaborate on projects. This not only sparks creativity but also leads to unconventional solutions that wouldn’t emerge in a homogeneous group.
- Cultivate a Culture of Open Communication. Create an environment where all voices are heard and valued. Diverse perspectives not only enrich discussions but also strengthen our collective output, much like the diverse species thriving in an ecotone. When diverse opinions and thoughts are not valued, a “monoculture” results with it’s own lessons from nature – imbalance and depleted soils for one.
- Implement Flexible Working Arrangements. Flexibility in where and how your employees work can lead to unexpected intersections of ideas and practices, much like the ecological margins where new species innovate and thrive.
- Encourage Continuous Learning and Development. Just as biodiversity strengthens the resilience of an ecosystem, intellectual diversity can enhance your team’s ability to adapt to new challenges and opportunities.
- Lead from the Edges. As leaders, we should position ourselves not just at the center but also at the dynamic intersections of our teams. Leading from the edges, or margins, allows us to foster and harness the creative potential that emerges from these meeting points, driving innovation from the ground up.
By fostering these “ecotones” or places of intersection within our organizations, we not only build environments where innovation is a norm but also where challenges are met with resilience.
For leaders aiming to stay competitive and innovative, I invite you to consider how you can create these productive “edge spaces” throughout your organization.
My Earth Day Challenge to You: Reflect on the areas within your organization where you can blur the boundaries to enhance intersection and interaction.
What steps can you take today to initiate this cross-pollination?
Team Psychological Safety Within Organization Dysfunction
Article
A big thank you to those who attended and contributed to our rich discussion on Psychological Safety with the Association for Talent Development (ATD) Golden Gate Chapter!
I was struck, but not surprised, by the collective yearning for high-performing teams with true psychological safety – and how it’s still so rare, even at companies that “should know better”. These companies are missing out on some great talent!
Without psychological safety, I heard employees feeling like they are throttled, unable to fully perform and contribute to their potential.
We wondered why so many leaders say they want high-performing teams, yet they cling to that outdated, fear-based management style instead of adapting a modern leadership style that includes creating conditions for psychological safety – the #1 predictor of team success.
One question we discussed at length: Can you have a psychologically safe team when the rest of the organization is dysfunctional or toxic?
Yes, you can – but it depends on the level of dysfunction.
As Amy Edmondson notes, a team can have its own “microclimate” within an organizational culture.
I agree! I’ve been able to create the conditions for psychological safety in a tough organizational culture with great uncertainty and boasted one of the highest-performing teams in the organization.
In thinking back, these are some actions that worked when I was managing teams within an organizational culture of uncertainty and fear.
🔹Meeting each person where they are. Finding out what they needed, what was motivating, what was discouraging
🔹Helping each person hyper-focus on both personal development and professional goals
🔹Using the org dysfunction as a “teacher” to help us build both personal and team resiliency muscles
🔹Encouraging team vulnerability by being vulnerable, transparent, and honest myself, even when uncomfortable
However, some organizations are just too toxic. I’ve experienced this as well, and how that toxicity impacts life outside work, too.
In those cases, you ultimately need to leave for your own well-being and sanity. It’s not you; it’s them. Employ a mindfulness practice or whatever you need to manage the stress and keep the trauma at bay until you can exit.
❓What’s your experience? Have you been part of a positive team microclimate within a dysfunctional culture?
➡️ Interested in having a similar introductory session on Psychological Safety for your organization, team, or professional association? Please contact me – I’d love to help!
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