Better We, Better Week- Psychological Safety: The Key to Fueling High Performance

Great Morning Team,

As I was cleaning up my mailbox this week, I realized I had held onto this infographic in my mailbox for quite some time. Given the continuing work of the People Team developing the People Alignment Tracker (PAT) I thought it would be helpful to share this great infographic with you from the great matriarch of Psychological Safety, Amy Edmondson, Harvard Professor, and author of the books, “Fearless”, and “The Right Kind of Wrong.”  

This is a terrific 2×2 matrix (created by Tanmay Vora, QAspire.com) of the likely outcomes of behavior based on the varying levels of psychological safety and performance standards. What resonates for me in this visual beyond looking inward, evaluating my own “Zone,” is how great the need is for Psychological Safety to become foundational if we want to experience higher levels of growth and improvement personally, professionally and organizationally. This means being able to express ideas, engage in feedback discussions with candor, and freely expressing dissent, all without fear of retribution. There is one important rule to all of this, and that is we are responsible for how communication lands, and when we are communicating with others, it must be with thoughtfulness, respect and care.

If we want to become better than where we are today in anything we do, feedback is crucial. Creating a psychologically safe space with others is the first step, so we can take interpersonal risks such as providing feedback on performance and sharing ideas leading to innovation. Communication methods like No Fault Formula help amplify psychological safety as well. It ensures that we are using skillful and effective communication to provide feedback to help us grow, develop and improve.  

Creating psychological safety for others is quite deceptively simple. It requires us to be vulnerable, humble and honest, regardless of title or hierarchy. As a starting point, when we can say things in conversations like: “I don’t know”, “I need help”, “I made a mistake”, “I am curious…Tell me more”, it invites others to feel safe to voice, to express and to help. So, in the spirit of “Trying Stuff” and our Core Value of Relentless Learning, try using any of these phrases and see what happens. For me, it has created some of the most eye-opening moments of discovery, at times discomfort, and in the end, growth.  

Take a moment to evaluate your “Zone.” What could we each commit to doing differently to achieve this “Learning Zone” consistently for ourselves and organizationally? We would love to hear your feedback. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Wishing you all a Better We, Better Week! 😊

Lori Beth