As I scroll through my LinkedIn feed and have daily conversations with corporate leaders, I can’t help but notice that Psychological Safety seems to be on everyone’s minds these days – and it’s a conversation that needs to be had.

We all know that the past year has posed many challenges for employees and employers as they struggle to adapt to the large scale effects of 2020 and the effects of the pandemic. Canadians cite that their three biggest challenges are dealing with work-life balance, maintaining productivity and communicating virtually with coworkers. Now more than ever, there is a growing need towards improving organizational cultures and company support for such things as flexible work, childcare, and wellness.

For over 25 years as a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion specialist, my mission has always been to help organizations build cultures of belonging - where every employee feels valued, respected and heard. This past year, I’ve noticed employers are increasingly looking for opportunities for their employees to share their experiences in a safe, non-threatening environment.

In order to build a corporate culture where your employees feel valued, respected, and heard, corporate leaders must work to foster a sense of psychological safety - the belief that you will not be punished for making mistakes - within the workplace.

What is psychological safety?

Psychological safety is the belief that you will not be punished for making a mistake at work. Creating a culture of psychological safety where people feel empowered to take risks and share new ideas is critical in building a safe, inclusive, and healthy work environment. By creating a challenging - not threatening - work culture, your employees will be more willing to take risks and be more creative, which often leads to an increase in successful business outcomes.

Cultivating a psychologically safe environment is even more critical during Covid-19 and remote work, as many employees are suffering from a lack of human interaction and declining mental health. Reports show that almost 2 in 5 Canadians are concerned about their co-worker’s mental health, making psychological safety an even greater matter of importance. As well, new virtual hires face a steep learning curve in becoming integrated and adapting to team dynamics without having met in-person. Implementing meaningful strategies targeted towards building your employees’ self-confidence is key in creating a healthier and higher-performing workplace environment.

Four strategies to foster psychological safety

1. Walk the Talk

As a corporate leader, employees look towards you to determine what the company prioritises and values. You are observed not only through formal statements and emails, but also in your day-to-day behaviour and interactions at work. If you want to show that creating a psychologically safe workplace is a company priority, it starts with your actions. When you’ve made a mistake - admit that you’re wrong. Doing so signals to your employees that making mistakes is OK and part of a learning experience.

Ask for input from a diverse group of team members, so that they feel their voices are heard and valued. If someone brings up doubts or concerns, respond humbly and show your appreciation for them bringing it up. By modelling behaviour that exhibits an appreciation for a growth mindset and acceptance that making mistakes is part of life, employees will internalise this behaviour and feel less at risk of being punished for small errors.

2. Focus on growth, curiosity, and learning

A key hallmark of a psychologically safe environment is the prioritization of curiosity and learning. By encouraging growth mindsets at work through concrete initiatives like workshop series and mentorship programs, and also via subtle actions like thanking employees for bringing forward errors or new ideas, your employees will understand learning as a key corporate value and integrate that into their work performance.

The point of building psychological safety is to avoid a culture where employees are too scared of being reprimanded because they made a mistake, or choose to remain silent for fear of shame and reprisal. By framing everyday interactions as learning moments which we grow from, and putting an emphasis on long-term learning through training programs, your workplace will be more open to new ideas which in turn will foster a culture of innovation and performance.

3. Develop a collaborative culture

A large part of workplace conflicts stem from an inherent fight-or-flight reaction humans have which can be triggered by blame, criticism, and competition. However, we know that to have truly productive workplaces, employees need to understand that everyone is on the same team, and working towards the same common goals. Fostering collaboration, trust, and mutual understanding within your work culture is necessary in order to avoid situations where peoples’ psychological safety may feel threatened.

In order to foster collaboration, consider leading team-building activities like Paul Santaga of Google’s 'Just Like Me' exercise, which is designed to build empathy and mutual understanding across teams. Also, consider how conflicting communication of goals or certain company policies may inadvertently pit employees or teams against each other, creating more potential for competition and criticism. As a corporate leader, it is important to ensure all members of your organization understand that collaboration towards the same goals is critical for company success.

4. Measure culture statistics to identify blind spots

As much as corporate leaders attempt to exhibit ideal behaviours and create team initiatives, there will often be residual blind spots which can be captured through resources such as engagement and culture surveys. Measuring culture statistics in areas such as organisational values, team dynamics, and perceptions of psychological safety via anonymous, standardised and recurring surveys will allow people to share their true feelings about the company’s culture without fear of retribution, due to its anonymous nature.

From here, senior leadership can assess areas to improve and grow. By conducting these types of surveys year-after-year, you will also be able to have concrete, long-term data to back up changes and improvements needed to be made in the company’s culture to build employee engagement and psychological safety.

At the end of the day, creating a psychologically safe environment for your employees is simply about ensuring that people are not subject to harsh punishment or shame for making mistakes or bringing forward new ideas or suggestions. Once psychological safety is established, the resulting inter-team trust will manifest itself in positive ways like improved communication, greater employee satisfaction, and higher levels of innovation.

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