A couple of weeks ago, we began a series based on a McKinsey and Company article that discusses these five leadership behavior areas:

  • Your Strengths: In this post, we encouraged you to identify your top skills and strengths.
  • Pausing: Last week, we reminded you of the power of using the PAUSE so that you can show up at your best.
  • Building Trust: Today, we’re focusing on what it means to create trust and psychological safety, why it’s important, and some suggestions for conversation starters with your teams.
  • Being Curious: Next week, we’ll cover the importance of remaining open and curious in your conversations with your team.
  • Your Wellbeing: In our final post in this series, we’ll talk about the reasons to take care of yourself and what that might look like.

What do we mean when we talk about psychological safety and trust? Amy Edmonson of Harvard University, first introduced the idea of psychological safety in 1999 in the Administrative Science Quarterly, as:

“a belief that one will not be
punished or humiliated for speaking up
with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes,
and that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking”

Why are psychological safety and trust important? Research continues to show that when you and your team work together to create a culture of trust and safety, you’ll find that more people speak up, share their differing ideas, respect each other’s similarities and differences, and feel a sense of belonging.

All of this furthers innovation,
accountability, and commitment to success.

To support you in personalizing your experience, we encourage you to take a few moments to explore what safety and trust have looked like in your life.

Think about a time when you felt a strong sense of psychological safety in your work on a team. Now, think of a time when you didn’t feel safe – that you as a person or your work could be responded to with insult or disrespect.

How did those differences impact how you showed up, your willingness to share ideas, or your openness to acknowledging mistakes and asking for help in fixing them?

As you hold onto the memories of why it’s important to create a culture of trust and safety, consider if one or more of the below scripting suggestions could be helpful for you and your team:

  • How do you see me helping this team’s success? Your success?
  • What do I do that detracts from success?
  • What should I know about you to improve our communication?
  • What do you need more of, in your career right now?
  • What motivates you about your role, the work, the culture?
  • What de-motivates you about your role, the work, the culture?
  • If you could change one thing about your role, the team, the organization, what would that be?
  • How do you recharge?
  • When you’re at your best, what’s the work you’re doing and what are the conditions (i.e. working alone vs with others, long-term projects vs short-term, etc)?
  • When you’re stressed, what does that look like and how can I (and the team) support you?
  • How were you successful this week? What challenges did you have? What suggestions do you have for your priorities in this upcoming week?
  • What support do you need from me in order to be successful?

Remember, creating a culture of psychological safety and trust should happen at every level. So, whether you’re a leader or a team member, spend some time thinking about how you can create this kind of a culture.

What can you do to contribute to a foundation of trust and safety? Let us know what works for you!

If you’d like support
leading at your best
contact us today.