The concept of psychological safety leaped into popularity in 2014 when Google released the results of Project Aristotle and its search for the traits that make up the perfect team. The Google researchers studied 250 attributes across 180 engineering and sales teams over a two-year time horizon and found that psychological safety – that is, the willingness of team members to express their ideas, questions, or concerns freely without fear of judgment – most predicted team performance.

Note that it wasn’t easy competition. Psychological safety competed against dependability (on time delivery of results), structure and clarity (clear goals and roles), meaning (personal connection to the purpose of the work), and impact (belief that individual actions will produce the desired results), and still ended up on top. In retrospect, this is not surprising considering the prevailing theories that place safety as a more foundational human need when compared to other needs like belonging, self-efficacy, and meaning.

Okay, so psychological safety is important, but why bring this up now? Isn’t this old news?

The importance of psychological safety to creating high performance teams may not be new, but there’s so much in the news that makes creating and maintaining psychological safety a current and present challenge. With economic instability, political tension, and the transition to new ways of working in hybrid work environments and with new technologies like Generative AI, there are many reasons for people to feel uncertain.

Amidst all this change and uncertainty, what can we do to water the seeds of psychological safety in our teams, so that we can increase our team’s creativity, learning, transparency, performance, engagement, and retention?

Leaders water the seeds of psychological safety when…

• They listen to their team, their suggestions and ideas.

• They are attentive and responsive to their team’s needs.

• They involve their teams in decisions and actions.

• They tell the truth and foster a culture of transparency.

• They do what they say and say what they do.

• They engage not just broadly but deeply with their people.

• They act with a growth mindset where improvement trumps judgment.

• They roll up their sleeves and do the work with their teams when needed.

Teams water the seeds of psychological safety when…

• They foster shared understanding of history, core beliefs, and goals.

• Team structure (including roles, responsibilities, and boundaries) is well defined.

• Rewards are shared; punishments are shared. All boats rise and fall together.

• Team members invest in understanding each other.

• Feedback is freely and openly given and received.

Organizations water the seeds of psychological safety when…

• They show in words and deeds that the organization’s resources will be brought to bear to support their teams.

• They create structures that foster supportive interpersonal relationships, both vertically (e.g. mentorships) and laterally (e.g. across teammates).

• They support diversity in backgrounds, strengths, talents, and values.

While much is changing in the world today, the fundamentals of these behaviors that grow psychological safety have stayed the same. If you’re a leader, how are you helping the members of your team feel heard, cared for, included, respected, connected, and supported particularly during times of failure and struggle?

If you lead teams or a part of them, how does your team provide its members with context, clarity, and a sense of oneness?

Finally, if you’re a CEO or CHRO, how are you using the resources of your organization – both human and financial – to support your people?

If you knew that psychological safety was the most impactful and reliable predictor of team performance, how would that change your level of commitment to act today?

Photo Credit: David Ballew on Unsplash

References

Edmondson, A. C., & Bransby, D. P. (2023). Psychological safety comes of age: Observed themes in an established literature. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 10(1), 55-78.

Newman, A., Donohue, R., & Eva, N. (2017). Psychological safety: A systematic review of the literature. Human resource management review, 27(3), 521-535.