Psychological safety in the workplace has been a topic that has been around since the first person did work on behalf of someone else. However, the phrase has been made popular through Amy Edmondson’s work on the topic in recent years. In her book, “The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation and Growth,” she describes a psychologically safe culture as something where employees feel safe express ideas, ask questions and admit mistakes.
In a previous article, “How to Be a Thriver vs. Merely a Survivor of Your Career,” I explained the importance of shifting from a surviving mindset to a thriving one. But it can be tough to keep that mindset focus when navigating a workplace full of obstacles and challenges. As individuals, we need to recognize the silent enemies to psychological safety so we can circumvent them. Those of us who are managers, need to spot them so we can avoid or at the very least, minimize them in our teams.
The results of APA’s 2023 Work in America Survey confirmed that psychological well-being is a very high priority for workers themselves. Although some survey results show positive developments, the data also reveal the need for improvements. In fact, 55% of workers strongly (21%) or somewhat (34%) agreed that their employer thinks their workplace environment is a lot mentally healthier than it actually is, and 43% reported worrying that if they told their employer about a mental health condition, it would have a negative impact on them in the workplace.
Workplace stress also remains at a concerning level, with 77% of workers having reported experiencing work-related stress in the last month. Further, 57% indicated experiencing negative impacts because of work-related stress that are sometimes associated with workplace burnout.
Below are some of the common issues that can make establishing and maintaining a sense of psychological safety difficult and how to work through them.
Leaders who use passive aggressive punishments to keep employees in line can destroy any sense of psychological safety throughout the team. It can be hard to explain exactly what’s happening. But the employee knows they are on the outs with their manager. Often this shows up as some sort of silent treatment or condescending tone. The rest of the team knows as well. Maybe the manager doesn’t laugh at a joke from that employee in front of others, they don’t respond to emails anymore or they avoid eye contact. It can even show up as taking away work or just assigning key opportunities to others. It often gets emulated by team members as well, creating the ‘enemy of my enemy’ bonding. However, when the employee tries to surface their concerns to the leader or anyone else, it gets brushed off as the employee taking things too personally.
A survey commissioned by Go1 and conducted by OnePoll found the most common passive-aggressive behaviors in the workplace include talking behind coworkers’ backs (54%), complaints and resentment (50%), silent treatments (49%), sarcasm (42%) and dishonesty (37%). Close to half (47%) found these behaviors are most likely to occur face-to-face. However, 41% said it’s also likely to occur either through email or online messaging channels.
To solve for this, a critical skill to master is navigating through conflict and discussing issues openly, honestly and respectfully. Leaders should understand how critical it is for them to build their own emotional intelligence and communication skills. This will enable them to be better coaches and support their team. It will also help them mediate issues between coworkers and drive accountability for how others treat one another.
Leaders and employees that engage in a paternal leadership pattern. This can be one of the most silent enemies, after all it stems from a leader wanting to be helpful. A paternal leadership pattern occurs when the leader views themselves as the savior and protector of their employees. They believe they are doing their job, possibly course correcting the lack of support they may have experienced from their previous managers. But what they really end up doing is preventing their employees from reaching their full potential.
Some employees will enjoy the trappings of a manager who takes care of them and saves the day. However, they will miss out on opportunities to build trust in their own capabilities and therefore not feel safe, resilient and resourceful, when change impacts their role. For those employees who enjoy taking on the real-world challenges of the job, they can grow resentful at the idea of a manager who feels the need to parent them.
It’s important to recognize that a paternal dynamic creates a scenario where one individual is the caregiver and the other is a less mature and capable individual. In reality, at work, we’re all adults looking to do business with one another. This may mean that each person had different levels of experiences, talents and skills. However, everyone is capable of facing the reality of what their job is presenting to them. This doesn’t mean we don’t support one another. But we don’t focus on saving or shielding them from things that impact their job.
The presence of bias and a lack of inclusion is a selective ‘poison’ that dismantles a sense of psychological safety, but more so for underrepresented demographics. For example, according to the APA’s 2023 Work in America Survey, more females (23%) reported a toxic workplace than males (15%). More people living with a disability (26%) reported a toxic workplace than those without a disability (16%). Those in upper management were much less likely to report a toxic workplace (9%) than those in middle management (21%), front-line workers (26%), and individual contributors1 (18%). (This finding raises the question of whether it may be difficult for upper management to relate to assertions of employees that a workplace is toxic when upper management may not, themselves, be exposed to that aspect of the workplace.)
This speaks to the need of leaders and employees alike to explore and expand their awareness and understanding of the diverse experiences of their team members and beyond. This can include participating in bias training but also doing your own reading and research to build awareness beyond your own world experience.
Leaders should examine their approach to hiring but also onboarding, coaching, development investments and promotion decisions. It’s one thing to hire people from diverse backgrounds. It’s a whole other thing to ensure there is an inclusive environment on the team that celebrates and invites different perspectives, skills and approaches to the job. They should also ensure they have conversations with each of their direct reports regarding their career goals and plan for their growth and development. This may not always equal a promotion but that doesn’t preclude evolving an individual’s skills and experience.
A lack of connection can make individuals feel isolated and unsure of their place on the team. The APA’s 2023 Work in America Survey also shared that the surgeon general’s framework emphasizes that organizations that create opportunities for social connection and community can help improve mental health and well-being. This workplace essential rests on two human needs: social support and belonging. Overall, 26% of employees reported feelings of loneliness or isolation. An overwhelming majority of workers (94%) said it is very or somewhat important to them that their workplace be a place where they feel they belong.
Close to one-third (30%) of workers said they feel their workplace does not support them because of an aspect of their identity, such as race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability status, age, etc. This perceived lack of support was more common among workers ages 18–25 (45%) and 26–43 (34%), compared with workers who were 44 and older (11%–25%). Black and Hispanic workers were more likely to report feeling a lack of support from their employers (39% and 34%, respectively) than their White (27%) counterparts. In addition, the perceived lack of support due to identity was higher in LGBTQ+ workers (38%) compared with non-LGBTQ+ workers (29%).
Since covid, most companies have been figuring out the ideal scenario for their workers. This could be a full return to a physical workspace, fully virtual or a hybrid of both. However, providing a chance for social interaction is critical to developing a sense of belonging. The team building activities company’s do are often seen or viewed as fluff because they don’t directly connect to output or profitability. In fact, many leaders view these types of engagements with skepticism and an eye roll because the cost the company time and money.
Some team building statistics that are worth knowing include:
· 50% improvement in communication
· Workplace best friends boost engagement by women
· 27% drop in employee turnover
· 40% drop in safety incidents
· 12% boost in productivity
Finally, a lack of risk tolerance is another issue that prevents employees from fully engaging their imagination and creative problem solving. In the article, “Safe and Supported: The Intersection of Psychological Safety and Fruitful Risk Practice,” Erin Gloeckner shares that without psychological safety at work, employees are more likely to experience frequent rejection or outcasting. In the same article, he references Elitsa Dermendzhiyska, a science writer and social entrepreneur. She’s written an essay, “Rejection Kills,” in which she references various experiments and studies that document how emotional pain can trigger activity in the same brain regions that respond to and regulate physical pain. Dermendzhiyska explores how repeated or severe rejection can potentially result in harmful coping strategies such as emotional numbing and reduced empathy towards others.
When leaders focus heavily on avoiding rejection, a very human response, they inadvertently create a culture that makes it unsafe for others to share new ideas, debate, make mistakes or step outside of their comfort zones. This may have worked well when employees were primarily tasked with repetitive responsibilities. But with innovation and change agility being a major competitive factor to a company’s success, it can be the difference between an organization’s ability to stay in business or become obsolete.
Managers should look to embed skills for calculated risk taking and navigating change. There needs to be a focus on what’s being learned from mistakes and how it’s being applied to future decision-making vs. an emphasis on finger pointing and blame.
Everyone plays a role in creating psychological safe cultures that focus on thriving vs. merely surviving. Being aware of some of the more silent and insidious roadblocks to making that a reality can help you sidestep the mistakes that go along with this topic.
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