There are two kinds of safety leaders are responsible for in the workplace. Physical safety is one of them: making sure that employees’ health and wellbeing are important priorities (the pandemic changed what used to be a low priority in most settings to the primary issue in almost every industry.)
Workers also want to know that if they feel threatened physically, their manager will take action. Abusive customers, bullying coworkers, or harassing family members will be dealt with immediately and to the full extent of the law, if necessary.
But there’s another kind of safety that deserves attention: psychological safety. Writing for Chief Executive online, Elizabeth Freedmen says that workers need to feel safe “being able to speak up, take risks and make mistakes without fear of negative consequences — all important aspects of how we define the concept of psychological safety.” But when performance is on the line, executives tend to focus on results and numbers – they’re not often supportive of risk-taking and mistakes.
In fact, psychological safety isn’t a priority for most leaders. Freedman says that according to a 2021 study by McKinsey & Company, just 26% of leaders fostered psychological safety at work. She says that if a team is going to create an environment of psychological safety, leadership has to… well, take the lead. “You can’t give what you don’t have, which is why executive teams have to go first when it comes to psychological safety.” It’s easy to say things like “be more candid in meetings.” But unless you can provide specific examples of what that looks like, it will be hard to model.
Freedman suggests managers and executives show the way. “To do that, get very concrete and specific about how to apply a new action or behavior, starting with common scenarios.” For instance:
- Share an example of a challenging interaction you had with a leadership peer.
- Discuss salary and compensation openly and transparently.
- Tell a personal story about your life to your team.
- Regularly discuss failures, dumb ideas, and mistakes.
The last suggestion, being vulnerable in front of your staff, has many benefits. Among them Is making you more approachable. If your staff knows you’ve made bone-headed moves or honest mistakes in the past, they’ll be more likely to come to you when they do. If they’re afraid to share bad news, situations can fester and worsen for weeks, even months, making them harder to fix.
You’ll also become more human to them. If they see you as a whole person, with faults and failures in addition to your power and status, they’ll be more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt in emotionally charged situations. You’ll build trust, which is essential when you have to deliver bad news or make hard decisions.
Freedman suggests that companies openly share progress on these issues. “Share examples in different ways, internal and external, so employees and other stakeholders (e.g., partners, customers, and community members) can see what you’re doing and connect those outcomes to performance, results, and drivers for your business. Be upfront about the methods you’re using, talk about what’s having an impact and what’s not, and share what you’re learning.”
A company might admit that its marketing wasn’t as inclusive as it could be or change a policy based on their customers’ or employees’ feedback. The company is both owning up to mistakes and demonstrating that it’s okay to make an error and correct it. If the brand can survive a mistake or a risk that didn’t pay off, the people who work for it will start to trust that they can, too.
Elizabeth Freeman says putting these principles in place can transform a company’s culture. “In a post-pandemic hybrid world with continued complexity, headwinds and pressure, psychological safety requires full participation because underneath those challenges are so many good things waiting for us: new breakthroughs, great ideas and opportunities for a better future. When psychological safety moves from concept to action to norm, we’ll achieve those things and more.”
Your Work, Your Way 