Oh, that feeling!

Feeling safe is a fundamental human need. When we feel safe, we are willing to take more risks, show more courage and push ourselves out of our comfort zone. Interestingly, this is the space where human greatness lies — the perseverance, the resilience. And even more interestingly, it is the same greatness or at least the potential to be great that organizations are looking for. What then comes in the way of individuals / employees finding it in themselves to achieve more and contribute more? The simple answer lies in exploring the environment in which they are having to operate and perform. In other words, does the environment provide the required psychological safety needed for them to thrive.

As Jim Rohn has said “The big challenge is to become all that you have the possibility of becoming. You cannot believe what it does to the human spirit to maximize your human potential and stretch yourself to the limit.”

The work environments and cultures are a compilation of individual behaviours. What does the larger system permit in terms of behaviours and are these behaviours, in turn, conducive to creating a psychologically safe environment.

I am sure, all of you have worked with at least one colleague or manager who made life at work hard or someone you feared. When I reflect on those times of my career, I am able to, rather vividly, recall the emotions I felt and the pain it caused. Needless to say, those were not my shining moments. Contrastingly, there were enough and plenty opportunities where those I worked with supported me and encouraged free dialogue without fear of apprehension and judgement. These were the times when I excelled and pushed myself to heights even I did not think I was capable of reaching. The only difference was the existence of psychological safety i.e how safe I felt or was made to feel that set apart the quality of my results.

There are enough cases in history that are a testament to the travails of lack of psychological safety e.g the Colombia Space Shuttle disaster. On the other end of the spectrum is the two-year study undertaken at Google, Project Aristotle, that showed that the top performing teams were the ones that felt psychologically safe.

As we evolve and resurface from the persisting pandemic, research shows that one of the biggest challenges organizations will face to stay in business is keeping employees healthy, engaged and employed. You probably have guessed the success mantra by now — creating an environment of psychological safety! Or as published in Forbes — “Increasing team psychological safety”. The new ways of working, managing home & work, being confined to homes has taken an a toll on the workforce both emotionally and physiologically. The need for connecting at a human level has become more pronounced than ever before. As happens in a crisis, it is up to the leader to set an example and steer those in the team including themselves. It is time we created a safe space for those in our care — our teams.

Start by pondering on some of these questions:

• Does your team have open dialogue without fear of judgement and prejudice?
• Does everyone in your team encourage open dialogue?
• Does every member of your team feel safe in presence of each other?
• Does your team hold the space for each member to become the best version of themselves?
• Is there a culture of speak-up?
• Are team members comfortable being vulnerable?

“I live to create value in peoples’ lives and I measure myself by their reactions. I’m a love merchant. I trade in intangibles.”―Tim Sanders