How to Build a Psychologically Safe Culture
At many workplaces, it often seems like the same few people contribute ideas in team meetings and others are afraid to share their opinions, as they feel they will be unfairly judged. As a leader or colleague, you can do four things to build a psychologically safe culture where more people feel comfortable contributing:
1. Be respectful of other people’s opinions, especially when they differ from yours. Say things like, “I really appreciate that perspective…” And encourage everyone to speak up. If there is someone on your team who has a hard time contributing in meetings, call on them, but prep them ahead of time! I had a boss who would call me before a meeting and say, “Fran, in today’s meeting, I am going to ask you to give everyone an update on the restructuring.” This gave me time to prepare my thoughts and contribute in a way that felt comfortable to me. Before long, it became natural to speak up, and I didn’t need a prompt.
2. Be curious. A psychologically safe culture promotes behaviors like genuinely wanting to learn, and a big part of learning is listening to what others have to say. You can do this by modeling the behavior yourself — asking questions and admitting you’d love to know more about a subject. You could also create structure around this by having every member on your team share a lesson or insight on something monthly. This could be something big (the secrets to the best email marketing campaigns) or even small (Google Docs keyboard shortcuts you need to know).
3. Have an abundance mentality. This means being confident that there are enough opportunities to go around — just because someone wins doesn’t mean that you lose. Being competitive is a good thing, but a competitive environment where the winner takes all is not a psychologically safe environment. Celebrate everyone’s wins and failures, too, to show that work, like life, will have ups and downs for all. Recently, a member of my team took a big risk that didn’t have a successful outcome. I acknowledged at a group meeting how proud I was that she aimed high and, as a group, we shared learnings from the experience. These difficult moments can actually bring teams closer together.
4. Be socially aware. I was at a networking event recently, and I noticed a few people huddled together. Two of them were hogging the conversation, and another person was not engaged at all. Open your eyes and hearts and be aware when that is happening. Be the one to draw that person in. As a manager, you can probably suss out enough of the inner workings of your team — who is friends with whom, who seems to be more of a loner. When a project comes up, assign two people to it who perhaps aren’t as close to give them a chance to get to know each other better. Also, make it a point to understand how everyone on your team likes to work — some are quick thinkers, others may need more time to prepare. Create opportunities for both work styles to contribute, like providing brainstorming topics ahead of time and asking people to come to the meeting with ideas.
If you’re interested in having me speak at your organization about topics just like this one, please visit my All American Speakers Bureau page and contact Maddy McPeak at maddy@aaehq.com.