10 Daily Actions : To build a psychologically safe place for your team

My team doesn't share, they are too transactional, they aren't motivated to do more, they don't trust, they push back and resist a lot, they aren't honest, they keep blaming each other or me for things, talks don't help!

If this sounds familiar at any level, then this article will really help you get some power-tips for making a change.

Building a psychologically safe space for the team has become the talk of the town! Why not, we are already aware of what wonders can "An emotionally intelligent" leader create in the organization.

Quite a few people leaders took a backseat on this aspect, as building a #connection and #magic of collaboration became relatively tougher in the unknown world of virtual/hybrid ecosystem!

We know that this lack of empathy and connect is not Intentional... it is more about lack of "Concrete ideas". Here are 10 actions/ideas that you can take consciously and re-build the wonder in your teams in just a matter of few months...

1. Team meeting with a #Twist : Add at-least one personal twist in your weekly team meeting where sharing of "Personal story", "Metaphorical game", "meet your family", share your failure, share your proud moment etc. are discussed. If you are not comfortable running these activities, ask anyone in your team to prepare and facilitate. Need more topic ideas? Contact us & claim your free toolkit!
2. Add energy words : When discussing work, consciously use the words wherever appropriate - Super, fantastic, that's great, wonderful, that's nice, perfect, that super powerful, that's interesting, loved it!
3. Positive strokes : To your team, team member, stakeholder or anyone at work. Throughout the day, consciously think about even a slightest good gesture, work, thought, idea, action by anyone at work, send a good appreciative informal note/call to them/him/her praising with reason.
4. Coach like conversations : Consciously learn and apply the art of having coach like conversations with your team members.
5. Know your team members : Find moments in your conversations, small talks, lunch or coffee break, with your team member, where you become #curious about them as a #human being. Ask them some self reflective questions that help you learn more them as a person.
6. Over-reaction or projection kills "Safety" : Consider this is your best opportunity to build a psychologically safe space, if they are sharing any of their sad, mad, ugly truths. Remember, when you spoke the truth for the first time and the other person blasted you! That's when we lose the courage to talk our version of TRUTH. That's when barriers start building.

So avoid the following, when someone is sharing their own story, feedback, complaint or failure :

• Blaming or interrogating
• Projecting your own experiences on them, not necessarily they will have the same result or outcome. Just listen without sharing any connections
• Lot of suggestions and advices without being asked. Asking them if they need you to hear or they need suggestion will help you get clarity on your next steps
• Making loud facial gestures like - Surprised, disgusted, disappointed etc. Keeping a straight poker face helps, if you don't know how else to react.

7. Never bad-mouth or gossip about any team member/ colleague/ client/ stakeholder in front of your team member(s) : While you might think it will increase the trust, but this is a sure shot way to lose trust of your entire team forever!

8. Honesty WITH Love : While many of you might take pride in being honest, calling spade a spade, no matter how harsh the truth is, what we need to add in that message is a lot of #Love and #Compassion . That doesn't mean you sugar coat your message or don't tell the truth, it simply means that you need to learn more about #Facilitative language. Reach out to us at [email protected] if you want to learn more about this one!

9. Start 30 day challenges on any common interest with teams. This is a great way to bond and know about each other outside work.

10. "How are you #feeling about this/ things/ generally?" - this question check every week with each team member will help you as a leader in more than 1 ways.

Hope these power tips will help you build a psychologically safe space in your teams. Tell us about your #actions and #results you achieved in this endeavor.

Which point you liked the most? Which one are you planning to implement or any other comment that will help others struggling to build connect with teams will help.

We can help you build & facilitate this culture. Feel free to reach out to us at +91 9731601397 or contact@neucodetalent to discuss more ideas, ready recknoers, templates and tools that you could use!