Enhancing Team's Emotional Security and Openness in the Workplace
Modern organizations are shifting towards delegating power to self-organized teams, especially in tight project delivery scenarios. These teams can brainstorm freely, have open discussions, and make decisions that best suit the project. This empowerment requires an environment of psychological safety, where failure is accepted, and teams won't be punished for their mistakes. The key lies in understanding the extent to which team leaders can create such an environment and determining if it will yield the desired results.
The Experiment
A research study at Sandoz aimed to examine the effectiveness of a minimal intervention on team leaders and their meetings with team members. The experiment revealed that team leaders who treated team members as individuals achieved a significant increase in psychological safety compared to other groups.
Upon deeper analysis, it was found that the benefit of this individual treatment was less pronounced in teams where members already felt psychologically safe. Teams with lower safety levels experienced significant improvements, as they needed it the most. Furthermore, teams with reasonable safety levels performed better when obstacles blocking their progress were removed.
The study also showed an additional benefit: as the level of psychological safety improved, team members felt more confident about their career development, while managers were viewed more favorably.
Key Takeaways
- Simple Improvements Matter: Organizations can achieve meaningful progress with minimal intervention. Large, expensive campaigns are not always necessary.
- Avoid Conceptual Approaches: Focus on identifying what needs to change, rather than promoting psychological safety as an abstract concept.
- Variance in Perspectives: There are significant differences between team-level and organizational-level perceptions of psychological safety.
- Focus on Individuals: Instead of gauging how team members feel about the organization as a whole, it's more meaningful to ask about their feelings at the team or individual level.
Creating a psychologically safe environment allows team leaders to unlock the full potential of their teams and benefit from their collective contributions. However, it's essential to research the best approach for your organization rather than blindly following popular practices. Leaders should ensure that employees at all levels feel safe to speak up and trust that their issues will be addressed, but they must identify the best approach for their teams.
Enrichment Insights:- Transformation in Leadership: Transformational leadership styles are effective in fostering psychological safety, emphasizing empathy and support.- Communication and Feedback: Regular, constructive feedback and empathetic communication contribute to building trust and fostering a sense of safety.- Organizational Culture: In an inclusive culture that values employee contributions, psychological safety interventions are likely to have a more significant impact.- Contextual Variables: Factors such as remote work environments and workforce diversity can influence the implementation and perception of psychological safety interventions.
- To further maximize the potential of self-organized teams in modern organizations, the leadership can focus on simple improvements such as treating team members as individuals, offering minimal interventions that significantly increase psychological safety in teams.
- Instead of promoting psychological safety as a generic concept, it is crucial for organizations to identify what actually needs to change, and tailor their approach to suit the context, whether it's at the team or organizational level.
- Enriching the leadership style with elements such as empathy, support, and transparent communication can play a significant role in establishing a psychologically safe environment, allowing employees to express their thoughts, feel valued, and contribute effectively to their projects.
