It’s Sunday and I’m sticking with my new habit of blogging (I can confirm the habit framework I talked about in week 2 definitely works!). I’ve loved the feedback and comments I’ve received so far from readers, so please keep them coming.
I’ve decided to stick with the topic of psychological safety – this feels like one of the ‘buzz phrases’ of Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) at moment, like ‘belonging’ was last year or swapping ‘D&I’ to ‘I&D’ before that, nevertheless I’m hearing it come up in many forums, so I think it’s an important concept to unpick a little more.
Someone in my close network, shared that they thought last week’s post had a couple of missing elements, which validated my reflections, so I welcomed the feedback and to have the opportunity to follow up this week. It also made me reflect on ‘what circumstances are needed in order to be able to share feedback successfully?’ and naturally I found myself back to thinking about psychological safety again.
Last week, I shared Dr Timothy Clark’s 4 stages of psychological safety framework which ‘reflects the natural progression of human needs in any social setting’. Storytelling is a really useful way to open up vulnerability and reassuring individuals that everyone is valued and included, no matter what their story is. The D&I agenda has focused here a lot, with phrases like ‘celebrating difference’, which is hugely successful inclusion strategy.
Assuming, you’ve got everyone on the same page; feeling included, how do you then move into the later stages of psychological safety such as contributing freely and challenging/ providing feedback? How do you ensure that people feel ‘ok to fail’ and challenge? Here are my top tips:
- Build relationships in order to build trust – get to know the other person and if it’s in a team, get to know everyone individually. What gets them out of bed in the morning?, what’s their ‘superpower’?, and if they can share their personality type, then even better.
- Seek and share feedback – make time to ask for feedback from your peers, team members, line manager and senior stakeholders. Share the feedback you get from your team particularly about any failures you’ve had (this reiterates that it’s ok to fail) and most importantly share any feedback you have for others, but do it in the moment where it has the most impact, to reinforce a learning culture.
- Ask questions in a safe environment – offering an anonymous way to ask questions or make suggestions can help to encourage people to speak up or if people are identifiable, ensure the conversation happens within small groups, so trust can be established up front and ensure that everyone’s contributions are acknowledge equally.
- Act on valid feedback – view feedback as a ‘gift’ (I know it can be hard to do it at the time!). Take the time to respond in a considered way and visibly change your behaviour/decision. Implementing this step successfully; where you really ‘walk the talk’ of accepting feedback can transform a culture into one that reinforces everyone is free to speak up, contribute and challenge.
If you’re wanting to explore this topic more, this survey enables you to measure and improve psychological safety within teams. Let me know how you get on, if you do try it!
Inclusion Now 