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What is psychological safety & why does it matter so much?

“Psychological Safety is a belief that no-one will be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes” – a definition provided by Amy Edmondson.  More simply, it is everyone feeling safe to speak up.

When most of us think about safety at work, we think about our physical safety – avoiding so-called accidents, minimising physical risk, identifying and avoiding hazards.  But there is another form of safety – psychological safety – to do with human feelings, fears, and being comfortable and safe, and emotionally comfortable at work, among work colleagues.

The slides provide examples where a lack of psychological safety has led poor, and sometimes fatal, outcomes.

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So the lack of psychological safety has three major consequences.  Firstly, when people feel afraid to speak up, then mistakes aren’t reported, worrying concerns are not voiced, and as the examples show, disaster can follow.  Secondly, creativity and innovation is stifled, for fear a new or fresh idea is not only rejected, but ridiculed.  And finally, the bottom line is that increasingly people will not up with working in such an environment.  They will leave, and so the organisation loses employees who in all other respects are capable and committed.

Chernobyl

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, the trigger for which is now considered to be the unwillingness of junior control room staff to voice their serious safety concerns to an intolerant and autocratic supervisor.

Kegworth

The Kegworth air disaster of 1989, when flight 092 crashed near Midlands Airport, killing 74 passengers and crew. Although the cabin crew could see which engine was on fire, and heard the captain shutting down the wrong engine, they said nothing, for fear of being seen to criticise someone with greater authority and expertise.

"Partygate" - 2022

The recent criticism of the UK Government, and its PM Boris Johnson in particular, for allowing Government parties to take place when this was expressly forbidden, by law, for the rest of the country. In her damning report, the investigator Sue Gray mentioned that a contributory factor was the unwillingness of many Government staff to voice their concerns for fear of speaking out of turn and perhaps jeopardizing their own jobs.

Aviation Industry

And, by way of contrast, the example of the international airline community, where everyone is encouraged – even required – to report mistakes, errors or failures, for the greater good of airline, passenger and crew safety. So it is standard practice for any aircraft ‘near miss’ to be reported by pilots, and the generally psychologically safe culture is essential epitomized by the ‘black box’ recorder on every airplane, recording all technical and human cockpit activity, so that any failure can be understood and corrected.

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The performance quadrant opposite shows the relationship between psychological safety and performance. Looking at each quadrant in turn:

Bottom left:

If there is a low personal drive for performance, and poor psychological safety, the workforce will be apathetic, and unlikely to perform well.

Top left:

If there is strong psychological safety, but low drive to achieve, then people are likely to feel comfortable, and safe, but still do little to drive towards performance.

Bottom right:

If there is a high drive to perform, but low psychological safety, then there is likely to be anxiety: people want to do well, but are fearful of mistakes and criticism, and unlikely to offer new ideas that could improve performance.

Top right:

Finally, if there is high drive to perform, and high psychological safety, then these two factors are most likely to be conducive to high and sustained performance, which will include being open about mistakes and offering innovative ideas.  By definition, innovation and creativity offer something new, and something challenging to the status quo.  But if the culture accepts new ideas as the way forward, and welcomes both the ideas, and the opportunity to try them and fail, then everyone at all levels are encouraged to offer ideas to improve organisational performance.

At the end of this audio, take a moment to consider in which quadrant you would place yourself, your work team and the organisation as a whole…

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Amy Edmondson, who is usually credited with putting the phrase ‘psychological safety’ into common use, has identified 3 key conditions to underpin psychological safety.  They are:

• Frame failure as an opportunity for learning, not an opportunity for punishment or blame
• Accept your fallibility and admit your mistakes
• Model curiosity and ask questions (questions invite – even force – a response)

How many of these three factors do you feel are present in your team or organisation?

There are lots of different ideas and tools for measuring psychological safety, or the lack of it.  For example, whether staff feel psychologically safe, and why; and to identify the factors that create or hinder such safety.  As with any measuring instrument, standard warnings have to be given about confirmation bias, or distortion to please.

The diagram opposite offers a simple yet effective tool for assessing what you (or your team) feel are necessary for psychological safety to exist.  Anything that you or your team think would contribute to psychological safety should be listed inside the circle; anything that reduces or removes psychological safety should be listed outside the circle.

It’s a simple to use tool, something that you can complete on your own, or perhaps better still, be used by your team, with a big circle on a flip chart or whiteboard, with everyone providing post its to go inside or outside the circle – so that everyone gets a chance to contribute, and the end result provides a quick indication of key factors, but also the extent of any consensus on those factors.

Finally, we have provided a simple to complete psychological safety questionnaire, It assesses each individual team member’s experience of 10 factors most commonly associated with psychological safety.

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The statements opposite are all actions that could be taken to promote psychological safety.  Click on any heading to find out more information.  Actions that individuals could or should take, or are responsible for, will vary depending on their role in the organisation.  Open up the worksheet and have a go at matching up the action to roles.  There is also some space for you to note down any additional actions that you think we’ve missed.