Establishing psychological safety in the team

The role of leadership

Leadership plays a particularly important role here. Amy Edmondson - who wrote an entire book (The Anxiety-Free Organization, 2020) on psychological safety - has shown that a positive relationship between managers and employees has a decisive influence on the development of psychological safety. Based on her work, we have put together a few suggestions for managers:

• Acting as a role model
  Managers are role models. In a "safe" organization, they distinguish themselves by, among other things, taking a step back, admitting their own mistakes and ignorance and addressing problems openly. Read more about fear-free organizations here.
• Show appreciation
  Employees feel valued when their performance is recognized and they feel that they are useful to the company and/or the team. A (regularly conducted) employee survey is a good tool for showing appreciation towards employees.
• Defining work as a learning experience
  In a psychologically safe environment, work implicitly becomes a learning experience. However, managers can also address this explicitly by communicating (and exemplifying) to their employees that you can learn from every member of a team/organization.
• Establishing a constructive error culture
  In her work on error research, Amy Edmondson has shown that teams are more successful when they are aware of mistakes and address them openly. A constructive error culture means that people are allowed to make mistakes without being "punished" for them. This allows employees to take responsibility for their "mistakes". This can lead to important learning - for themselves and the whole team.
• Encourage curiosity
  Managers should encourage themselves and their employees to ask questions (including critical ones). Questions always require a reaction and encourage creative thinking - as long as it is not done in a "teacher-like" or top-down manner.
• Introduce needs-based structures and processes
  Create suitable forums for input and develop appropriate guidelines for discussions. It is important to include the individual needs of your employees with regard to communication style in the planning.
• Promoting further training
  In addition to personal development, professional development is also important. People want to continue their education - especially in their areas of interest. Managers should therefore proactively create learning opportunities for their employees.

The next point can contribute a great deal to the success of a team, but there must already be a great deal of trust and openness in the team.

• Create a culture of risk-taking
  It can sometimes make sense to share incomplete work so that it can be further developed together with other team colleagues. However, presenting unfinished projects also makes you vulnerable. Such a culture therefore requires a great deal of openness and trust from each individual towards the team and their superiors.

Good managers should have a realistic understanding of their own competencies. Professionally conducted 360-degree feedback helps managers to reflect on their leadership qualities and consciously manage their employees.