Building psychological safety? Avoid these extremes.

In our experience, processes and initiatives frequently suffer from two extremes: over-complication or over-simplification. This is particularly true when it comes to workforce-centred initiatives.

Over-complicated approach: A scenario in which leaders attempt to build psychologically safe teams becomes over-complicated when leaders believe they must “have all the answers” to resolve obstacles. This can be reinforced by a career of being rewarded for being the go-to problem solver.

Conversely, an overly simplistic approach – thinking they will achieve psychological safety by modelling inclusive leadership. While necessary, the complexity with building a fully psychologically safe team is that it’s not just a case of every member trusting the leader to be inclusive and non-judgemental. In addition, there is a need for every member to trust that every other member will be similarly inclusive and non-judgemental.?

So, in a team of four people (let’s call them A, B, C, D) there will be a need for six trust relationships: A-B, A-C, A-D, B-C, B-D, C-D. The number of required trust relationships jumps markedly as team size increases (a team of 5 needs 10 trust relationships, a team of 6 needs 15 trust relationships, etc.).

Achieving the target outcome entails acknowledging that there are intrinsic interpersonal complexities to manage, and an understanding that leaders don’t need to be mental health and wellbeing specialists to be effective. Instead, they do need to be adequately equipped to navigate predictable obstacles.        

That’s where PsychSafety Solutions can help.

At PsychSafety Solutions, we equip leaders with the skills, knowledge and behaviours to create high-performing teams by unlocking the collective power of diversity and creating authentically safe and inclusive work environments where all can thrive.?

#psychologicalsafety #highperformingteams #culture #innovation #leadership