How are you creating Psychological Safety in your workplace?
How are you creating Psychological Safety in your workplace?
Building a cohesive, collaborative, and creative team may feel hard to do. Add to this the virtual workplace, and you have a situation that needs an intentional strategy. And, yes, building connected, synergistic teams is a key competency of high-performing leaders. Looking to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, it all starts with basic needs being met. So, how are you creating psychological safety?? Here are some practices to reflect upon or share with your team to ensure the right environment is being created for safe and productive workplaces.
If you care about your employees, these employees will care about the customer experience, the team’s mission, and delivering excellence. Empathy is showing people you understand them and that you want to understand what is important to them.
Positive feedback reinforces what you want to see continued. It also shows that you notice a job done well, efforts that are consistent and are counted on, and it acknowledges your appreciation for what the employee brings each day.
Communicating with a goal of shared understanding helps to build trust. Communication, when done well, is about building relationships. How well do you speak and listen with the goal of fully understanding another?
Mental and emotional health are impacted by physical health. What wellness programs are you offering that support whole person wellness?
Employees must feel comfortable expressing thoughts about work and the workplace. How do your employees feel when they disagree with authority, peers, or institutional practices?
Appreciate the differences of every team member. Learning about opposing views, recognizing the value of diversity in experience, in thinking, and in encouraging different ideas not only allows for more options to review, but more ownership in seeking success.
And, of course, being ethical, honest, and open will let your team know they can count on you.
So, what is your strategy to build a foundation of psychological safety? Tell us in the comments!