Recognising Red Flags: Identify Signs of Psychological Safety Issues

This week’s Psychological Safety 101 focus is on the signs to look out for, that will indicate you have a psychological safety issue within your organisation.

In this edition, we will cover:

• 31 red flags to look out for.
• Transitioning from Theory to Practice: 4 actionable things to implement immediately

Before we begin, let’s start with recapping what psychological safety is.

Psychological safety is an individual's subjective experience of safety, comfort and confidence within a specific context.

To catch up on any editions you have missed, click here :

Do you have a Psychological Safety Issue?

There are a wealth of signs that may indicate a psychological safety issue within your organisation.

Here are red flags to look out for.

Psychological Safety Red Flags

Individuals don’t bring their Authentic Self to work. You can sense they are holding themselves back or have their barriers up with colleagues.

Individuals struggle to manage their emotions in interactions with colleagues. This impacts on their behaviour in the workplace.

When individuals are triggered or feel frustrated, they don’t discuss this. Instead, they have a tendency to bottle up their frustration, perhaps taking it home with them and letting it fester.

Vulnerability is not expressed with anyone in the organisation.

There is a distinct lack of personal information sharing.

Individuals exhibit negative behaviours in the workplace.

Individuals meet the minimum requirements and clock off precisely on time.

Individuals stay quiet and don’t actively participate in meetings or discussions. Participation is passive.

You ask a question and experience awkward silences.

There is an unwillingness or reluctance to switch cameras and/or microphones on, unless prompted.

Individuals find it challenging to navigate diverse personality types in the team. This has an impact on communication and morale.

You hear discussions about or experience strained team relationships.

There is disengagement among team members.

There is a lack of trust.

There are consistent misunderstandings or misinterpretation of messages, resulting in confusion or conflict.

Individuals don’t express their expectations of others clearly. This can result in frustration and conflict situations.

Messages are over complicated and there is a failure to deliver them clearly and succinctly.

Individuals exclude others with their choice of language.

There is a reluctance or unwillingness to seek clarification or feedback.

Individuals appear unhappy or dissatisfied with their work or team environment, maybe verbalising this.

Ideas, opinions, concerns, knowledge, experience or expertise are not shared, unless asked directly to contribute.

Individuals don’t actively contribute to team goals, objectives or projects.

There is a reluctance or hesitance to collaborate with others or share progress on projects.

Errors are made and not seen as learning opportunities.

Individuals and teams shy away from risk-taking, leading to limited innovation.

Micro-management is rife.

A culture of blame is widespread.

Training is conducted on an ad hoc basis merely to “check a box.”

You have high rates of absenteeism and presenteeism.

There is a steady or large flow of people leaving your organisation or team, without expressing the reasons why.

Measurement of psychological safety is either non-existent or very limited.

Summary

These indicators suggest the presence of a psychological safety issue.

This list isn’t exhaustive, but should give you a good starting point to identify if you have a psychological safety issue within your organisation.

Transitioning from Theory to Practice: 4 actionable things to implement immediately

Self Awareness

Reflect on the red flags presented and their relevance to your workplace experiences. Evaluate your own actions and behaviours in relation to these red flags. Consider how they influence your thoughts, emotions, behaviours and interactions with colleagues.

Organisational Assessment and Strategic Planning

Evaluate how the identified red flags may manifest within your organisation’s structure and culture. Develop actionable strategies to effectively address the top three prevalent red flags in your workplace environment.

Impact Analysis on Teams and Organisation

Conduct an in-depth analysis of how these red flags contribute to a toxic culture and their implications for teams and the organisation. Initiate discussions with colleagues to collectively address prevalent red flags and identify actionable steps to mitigate their effects.

Measurement and Intervention

Explore the implementation of reliable diagnostic tools to measure and assess Psychological Safety within specific teams, where there are causes for concern. This data will enable you to pinpoint the root causes of issues, facilitating the development of targeted interventions aimed at effectively addressing underlying concerns.

Measure Psychological Safety

If you want to delve further into whether you have a psychological safety issue in your organisation, consider the following approaches.

Pledges and Self-Assessment Tools

Implementing the Psychological Safety Institute's Psychological Safety Pledges and/or the self-assessment questions associated with these. Leave me a comment below if you would like a copy of these.

Using these two tools will enable you to identify which of the 5 Pillars of Psychological Safety might require immediate focus and prioritisation within your organisation.

Diagnostic Tool: University of Cambridge JBS and Psychological Safety Institute

If you want robust data about psychological safety in your team or organisation, look no further!

The University of Cambridge JBS and Psychological Safety Institute are on the hunt for teams and organisations eager to:

?? Uncover the root causes of their psychological safety issues

?? Improve psychological safety in the workplace

What You Get

?? Deep insights into your team/organisation's psychological safety levels.

?? Comprehensive dashboard: detailed results for your entire organisation and three layers of its structure, identifying strengths and areas of concern.

?? Data split by Pillar (intra-personal, inter-personal, team dynamics, collaboration, curiosity and creativity) to uncover root causes of issues.

?? Dive deeper with question-level analysis to address specific concerns within each Pillar.

?? Compare data effortlessly between teams, departments or directorates to identify trends and opportunities for growth.

?? Comprehensive report summarising key findings and providing practical, actionable guidance and recommendations to enhance psychological safety in your workplace.

What we are looking for

?? 5 individual teams (in different organisations)

?? 3 organisations with multiple teams (up to 1,000 employees)

All employees must be located in the same region. I.e all in the UK, all in the US, all in Australia.

Pricing

? Individual teams: ￡2,500

? Organisations: ￡5,000

Start date: May 2024

Don't let a lack of data and insight hinder your organisation's success.

Reach out today to secure your spot or learn more.

Next Week

We will cover the top 3 reasons why psychological safety is crucial in the workplace.

+ Transitioning from Theory to Practice: 3 actionable things to implement immediately

Ready to ignite change?

Take action today to build psychological safety in your workplace.

Reach out to learn more: www.ThePSI.Global

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@GinaBattye

CEO & Founder, Psychological Safety Institute