Linking leader inclusiveness to work unit performance: The importance of psychological safety and learning from failures

This explored how leader behaviour influences how well clinical units learn from failure and on team performance based in hospitals. 55 clinical units (with an avg of 20 people per unit) & 224 workers were surveyed.

Leader inclusiveness (leader behaviours of being available, accessible and inviting input, openness and showing fallibility), psychological safety and unit performance were the areas of focus.

Higher leader inclusiveness may shape followers’ perceptions of psychological safety and therefore increase capacity for sharing and learning from failures.

Results

Predictably, leader inclusiveness was positively associated with psychological safety at the individual level, and unit psychological safety climate (an aggregate of individual psychological safety scores) was positively associated with unit learning from failure and senior manager’s ratings on unit performance.

Leader inclusiveness was found to promote higher psychological safety within units and particularly among units with lower baseline performance levels. Quoting the study, “Unit psychological safety influences unit performance through the unit's learning from its failures” (p113).

Regarding leader inclusiveness having a stronger effect when units have poorer performance, the authors suggest that a vicious cycle may be in place where poorly performing units aren’t being led by an inclusive leader.

Thus, poor unit performance leads to negative repercussions which reduce psychological safety, and in turn low psychological safety makes it more difficult for unit members to voice concerns and share learnings.

It’s suggested that members of low-performing units likely have some understanding of the issues relating to their poorer performance but lack the safe environment to voice their concerns.

Authors note that their findings suggest that when leaders invite and appreciate the contributions of others, they give their members a sense that their work is important and ideas are appreciated even when current unit performance isn’t ideal.

Further quoting the paper, “leaders who exhibit openness, accessibility and availability for unit members encourage voice, which aids unit members in learning from failures and thereby potentially enhancing their future group-level performance” (p113),

Other research discussed by the authors highlight that the sharing of information in groups tends to focus on general and shared information, but unique information held by some that is vital for making better decisions may be suppressed because the members who hold that unique info are reluctant to share it.

Higher psychological safety, partially supported by inclusive leadership, may help to “develop more fully shared understandings of tasks and problems … [which] has been linked to the sharing of distinct information among group members” (p114).

Further, “Leader inclusiveness, then, may be seen as a vehicle to liberate the group in such a way as to allow unshared information to surface” (p114).

Authors: Hirak, R., Peng, A. C., Carmeli, A., & Schaubroeck, J. M. (2012). Linking leader inclusiveness to work unit performance: The importance of psychological safety and learning from failures. The leadership quarterly, 23(1), 107-117.