Psychological safety: why it is a key tool in the new context of post-pandemic work

One of the most exciting topics to analyze and understand how organizations work is psychological safety, a concept that was not even mentioned a while ago, but which in recent years has proven to be a key factor in successful teams. But not only that: in the light of the new pandemic context and the modalities of remote work that were imposed, the issue acquires a renewed importance and became one of the strategic axes to be addressed in the business sphere.

One of the most in-depth references on this subject is Amy C. Edmondson, a specialist at Harvard University who in her book The fearless organization describes psychological safety as a framework in which people are comfortable expressing themselves and being themselves. This implies knowing that you will neither be punished nor humiliated for expressing your ideas, questions, concerns, or for alerting to the mistakes you see.

According to Edmondson, considering psychological safety is important for several reasons. One of them is that it is very difficult for people to do their best work when they are afraid. A culture of psychological safety allows employees to participate, take risks, experiment without fear of failure or retaliation. Let's compare this type of culture to another in which employees are intimidated to talk or share a new idea. It's hard to imagine that in that second scenario they can afford to be committed to work.

Psychological safety generates a series of positive consequences, benefits that reach, not only to organizations, but to each of the collaborators. On the one hand, it contributes to the generation of ideas for innovation: everyone wants to contribute because they know that what they say will not cause them a problem but, on the contrary, will be valued. On the other hand, it facilitates true diversity and inclusion, central to a healthy and vital organization. No one is marginalized and can then present themselves as they are; bring their uniqueness to the team.

In addition, psychological safety helps prevent fraud, because employees are driven to point out the risks they see immediately. At the same time, psychological safety contributes to the development of each employee, since all members of the team learn permanently, being able to freely transmit ideas and incorporate others. Likewise, they take risks intelligently, one of the aspects that is being promoted most today in organizations: creating a culture where risks are taken without fear of error, even though making mistakes is a possibility.

Psychological safety has proven to be the foundation of high-performing teams because it makes everyone feel committed to the work and increases the likelihood that they will remain engaged within the organization. Research by Gallup reveals that only three out of ten employees consider their opinions to be taken into account in their workplace. The report highlights that if this ratio were raised to six out of ten employees, organizations could achieve a 27% reduction in talent turnover, a 40% drop in security incidents and a significant increase in productivity.

And commitment is precisely a key ingredient in today's context, where teams are scattered and in many cases performing remotely for the first time. The new scenario, in which many of us are connected through screens, generates the need to revisit the deeper aspects of links at work, where psychological safety appears as one of the fundamental aspects.

We have to understand that in normal and usual contexts, before the pandemic, it was not easy to work on the subject of psychological safety and the absence of it was seen in countless companies. Today, that difficulty is increasing, as the level of vulnerability in which we find ourselves has increased in many cases.

The big theme that is being seen today, Edmondson says, is that the barriers between work and personal life are more blurred. Within this framework, we must seek and offer more tools so that leaders can generate psychological security in this new environment in which the wheel continues to turn: we must make decisions, build new channels of communication, adapt to other schedules and an endless number of dynamics that we may not be with familiar.

We have also seen during this period that we are all exposed to new concerns; issues that have to do with the care of older adults, schooling at home for children, our own health security and, obviously, the number of people who have contracted COVID-19. This impacts our mental and psychological well-being and makes it necessary for dialogues with leaders to take this into account. In addition, it must be borne in mind that everyone's level of susceptibility and irritability increases as the difficulties, tensions and pressures to which we are exposed on a daily basis increase.

The key to understanding the subject is that the core of psychological security can be summed up in one word: trust. When one trusts the other, he has that ability and attitude to dialogue without fear of reprisals. This is absolutely critical now, when in many cases there is the need to bring to the table issues that have never been brought into the workplace: the effort involved in caring for a school-age child, household chores, caring for others or the fear of illness.

Here is the central axis of the message: it is not enough for a leader to say “trust me”. Trust is built in acts, it is visualized little by little in concrete life, and it can never be real if it is only enunciative; a simple manifestation of goodwill. To create a culture that truly contemplates all of the above, Edmondson suggests five steps.

1. Try to understand what the scene is and establish it clearly by discussing the challenges present for both team members and their own. The goal is to share responsibility for problems, which no one owns exclusively. All together they can put on the table the issues to be discussed, accept them and solve them.

2. Lead the way by example. The best way to show that one is serious is to expose one's own vulnerability, sharing the leaders' own concerns and the personal limitations of hybrid work. It is important to let employees know that the leaders themselves are people who also have difficulties, doubts and inconveniences in this new way of working.

3. Take small steps in building trust, which is a process that takes time. Even in those organizations that already have an established culture it is built in small doses, so it is also necessary to be very coherent and consistent over time.

4. Share positive examples. Whenever things happen that are aligned with the culture you are trying to create, it is important to make them known, reinforce them and put them as an example of what can be built forward.

It is therefore essential that we all understand that psychological safety is a fundamental tool for the success of business in these times. It not only allows us to cope better with this complex, difficult and unexpected situation, but also to transform it into an opportunity for growth and learn to navigate in a much more humane way any crisis we face. Synthesizing, we all win!

*Alejandro Melamed is a Doctor of Economics (UBA), international speaker and disruptive consultant. Author of several books, including Times for the Brave (2020), Design Your Change (2019) and The Future of Work and Work of the Future (2017).

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