4 Ways Software Engineering Leaders Can Create a Psychologically Safe Environment to Drive High Performance

In software engineering, performance is measured by velocity, generally measured by how fast a team can get new features released to users. But what makes great teams exceptional isn’t just their ability to create new code – it’s the way in which they work together as a unit. Software engineering leaders should foster a safe space for employees to feel like they can be themselves without fear of retaliation or judgment. When team members are psychologically safe, they feel confident that their teammates have their back and won’t hurt them intentionally with words or actions. When you focus on building a healthy environment for your employees, you are rewarded with high-performing teams that work together reliably and efficiently over the long term. If your team feels like an assembly line or a group of individual cogs in a machine rather than peers working together toward a common goal, you may need to institute measures of safety that go beyond company values, benefits packages, and trust falls.

“When employees work in a psychologically safe environment, discretionary effort can improve by up to 24%.” Gartner

Below are four methods that help foster a psychologically safe, high-performance work environment:

1.???Create transparency by sharing information

In order to create transparency within your team and company culture, you must first understand what exactly it is. Transparency is open, honest communication between team members or departments with little or no barriers. When transparency is present, each team member feels a sense of responsibility for the greater good of the business rather than just their own department.

Here are several ways to create transparency and improve information sharing within an organization:

1. Share information about the decision-making process and be forthright about the information being conveyed.
2. Use collaborative tools that can help with information sharing, such as project management software, document-sharing platforms, and communication tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams.
3. Lead by example and promote transparency from top to bottom to foster open communication and transparent behavior throughout the organization.
4. Encourage a transparent culture by promoting an environment where employees feel comfortable asking questions, seeking information, and expressing concerns or ideas.
5. Create a central repository of information by creating a central location where employees can store and access all relevant information. This could be an intranet site or a shared drive.

2.???Establish a culture of recognition

A culture of recognition is important for creating a positive work environment where employees feel valued and appreciated for their contributions. It can also help foster a positive and supportive work environment that promotes employee engagement and retention.

Here are a few steps you can take to do this:

1. Make sure that everyone in the organization understands the value of recognition and why showing appreciation for others' efforts is important.
2. Regularly scheduled events or moments, such as weekly or monthly team meetings, can be opportunities to recognize and appreciate team members' hard work.
3. Provide diverse ways to acknowledge individuals. As individuals may have varying preferences for recognition, consider offering a variety of options such as verbal commendation, written expressions of gratitude, or small tokens of appreciation such as company swag or gift cards.
4. Encourage every member of the organization to participate in recognition, ensuring that all employees have the chance to acknowledge their colleagues, and not solely rely on the management's responsibility.
5. Ensure that the recognition is both genuine and detailed. Individuals are more likely to value recognition when it is specific to their contributions and comes across as sincere, rather than insincere or generic.

3.???Help everyone feel included

Creating a team culture where everyone feels included is important for fostering a positive and productive work environment. When everyone feels included and able to contribute, it can lead to higher levels of engagement, collaboration, and, ultimately, better team performance.

Here are several steps you can take to help everyone feel included:

1. Promote diversity and inclusivity within your organization by prioritizing and valuing diversity and taking concrete steps to foster an inclusive culture.
2. Encourage a culture where all team members have an equal opportunity to express their thoughts and ideas through open and honest communication.
3. Offer support and resources to help everyone feel included, such as language translation services or accommodations for employees with disabilities.
4. Encourage a collaborative and team-oriented culture where every team member can contribute to decision-making and projects.
5. Show appreciation for all team members' unique backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.

4.???Coach your employees to build trust

Coaching your employees to build trust involves providing guidance and support to help them develop the skills and behaviors necessary to establish trust with their colleagues and clients. Here are a few steps you can take to coach your employees in this area:

1. Make sure your employees understand what is expected of them in building trust with their colleagues and customers.
2. Offer feedback and guidance on specific behaviors or actions that can help to build trust, such as being dependable, honest, and transparent.
3. Encourage your employees to communicate openly and honestly with their colleagues and customers and model this behavior yourself.
4. Provide training or coaching to help your employees improve their communication skills, such as active listening, assertiveness, and empathy.
5. Be open and honest with your employees about your own thoughts, feelings, and actions. This can help to build trust by demonstrating that you are willing to be vulnerable and open with them.

Bottom line

Creating a psychologically safe environment is essential for software engineering leaders to drive high performance in their teams. By fostering a culture of transparency, recognition, inclusivity, and trust, we can build teams that work together reliably and efficiently over the long term. The benefits of such a culture are numerous, including improved productivity, increased engagement, and higher levels of innovation. Remember, it is up to us as leaders to set the tone and create an environment where our team members can be their authentic selves, feel heard and valued, and know that they have the support they need to succeed. By investing in our team's psychological safety, we are investing in their future success and our own. Let's work together to create a high-performing team that drives innovation, excellence, and growth in our organization.