The Key to Psychological Safety

Dr. Timothy Clark defines psychological safety as ‘an environment of rewarded vulnerability’. The key to creating psychological safety lies in that one highlighted word: rewarded. The behaviors to be rewarded can be grouped into four categories or dimensions, as described by Amy Edmondson, author of The Fearless Organization. Her four dimensions of psychological safety:

1. Inclusion and diversity

2. Willingness to help

3. Attitude toward risk and failure

4. Open conversation

To foster psychological safety, leaders need to proactively and visibly reward these behaviors, while demonstrating and role modeling these behaviors. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

1. How can I reward front-line employees for day-to-day actions that demonstrate an inclusive mindset?

2. How often do I publicly reward people for helping others?

3. How do I react when someone takes a smart risk, but the initiative ultimately fails?

4. How have I visibly rewarded people for speaking up about challenging issues?

5. What is one deliberate action I will take this week to demonstrate my own vulnerability?

Leaders often have a blind spot when it comes to psychological safety. As the boss, you may feel safe speaking up, but do your team members feel equally safe? To objectively measure your organization’s safety level, consider the 7-question survey in Amy Edmondson’s book, The Fearless Organization. There is also a free version of the survey online.

Image by Daniel Mendoza via Creative Commons license.