Melanie Taylor Consulting’s Post

I keep encountering resistance to the terms “psychological safety” and “empathy.” When we open the discussion, it often turns out that people aren’t resistant to the concepts, they’re resistant to their interpretation of the concepts. In their mind, psychological safety and empathy equal coddling. And they’re resistant to coddling. Which makes sense. Overprotecting and enabling unhelpful or unhealthy behaviour is rarely helpful. We then need to talk more about what psychological safety and empathy are and aren’t. First, they are not coddling, overprotecting, or enabling. In his book The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety, Timothy R. Clark defines psychological safety as “a condition in which you feel (1) included, (2) safe to learn, (3) safe to contribute, and (4) safe to challenge the status quo – all without fear of being embarrassed, marginalized, or punished in some way.” At the root – you trust that the other person will treat you with respect, no matter what. You can wade into a challenge, strive to meet expectations and be accountable, knowing if it doesn’t go perfectly, you’ll feel respected and supported to evaluate and try again. Having empathy means considering what others are thinking, feeling, and experiencing. It means getting more data about what’s going on in the situation and using that data to make better suggestions and choices. It doesn’t mean coddling, nor should it—empathy needs boundaries and accountability. Psychological safety and empathy aren’t about “being soft” and lowering expectations; they’re about creating the conditions to support people to feel their best, do their best, and as a result, exceed expectations. #psychologicalsafety #empathy #accountability #expectations

The ultimate pendulum swing of psychological safety. Well, it was bound to happen. Don't get me wrong, psychological safety is extremely important. I realize that psychological safety is about creating space for people to speak openly, no judgment, being able to make mistakes etc, but people take and twist these kinds of things to serve themselves. I have seen people interpreting it to say -- every time I react to something and feel uncomfortable, I am psychologically unsafe. Whoops! Life isn't one big comfy couch where uncomfortable things never happen. How do you learn if every time you feel uncomfortable, you can go into victim mode and shout about how someone is making you feel psychologically unsafe? Nobody makes you feel anything. You are the one who is reacting. You are the one in charge of how you feel. You are the one in control of yourself. Stop giving your power away to other people. Let's preserve the power that psychological safety interpreted and used correctly has for everyone. Strategic Soft Skills Institute #influence #psychologicalsafety #emotionalintelligence

It's Mental Health Week and anyone who knows me, knows I am a big proponent of mental health education and support. Today I was reading about team psychological safety in the workplace. It's a buzzword we often hear - but do we understand what it means and how we can advocate for it? Efficient teams aren't always healthy teams. As leaders, we have a responsibility to build a culture in our teams where everyone feels safe to share ideas, ask questions and admit mistakes without fear of reprisal. We make better decisions when a diversity of thought and experience is considered. If we don't have psychological safety in the workplace, teams can experience high levels of employee stress, turnover and burnout. Does your team have it? Harvard Business Review posted the following statements to consider. • If you make a mistake on this team, it is not held against you. • Members of this team are able to bring up problems and tough issues. • People on this team sometimes accept others for being different. • It is safe to take a risk on this team. • It isn’t difficult to ask other members of this team for help. • No one on this team would deliberately act in a way that undermines my efforts. • Working with members of this team, my unique skills and talents are valued and utilized. https://lnkd.in/gS7j_gtX

Love this 3 question pop quiz from McKinsey on #psychologicalsafety. Do you know what Psychological Safety is?

What to do when no one is talking: Risk Danger Insecurity Fear Punishment Avoidance These words popped into my head as I read a Psychological Safety focused newsletter from Psychsafety.co.uk. As I read the words now, I am struck at the weight of them. Each one is heavy in and of itself. Put them all together, and it feels like there is an elephant standing on my chest. We all grow up learning when we should speak up and when we should remain silent, through encouragement (“Use your words; tell them what you want.”) and discouragement (“Not now, the adults are talking.”) from the adults in our lives. Often unintentioned, we are rewarded or reprimanded for using our voices, whether it is to share our emotions (positive and negative), offer ideas, or ask questions. In the workplace, rewards and reprimands may sound different than when we were kids, but they feel familiar and the effect is the same. Please check out my website blog for the rest of this read... #psychologicalsafety #cultureleadership #culture #selfawareness #risk #fearoffailure https://lnkd.in/gA2btxB2

I wonder do we get psychological safety wrong. Psychological safety "Is a shared belief held by members of a team that it’s OK to take risks, to express their ideas and concerns, to speak up with questions, and to admit mistakes — all without fear of negative consequences." (https://lnkd.in/eYJPFfBA) Most people stop the definition here forgetting that Edmondson adds, “it’s felt permission for candor.” Felt permission is not in the mind. Feelings show up in the body which is a nervous system response. So I think we need to stop talking about psychological safety for three reasons: 1. Psychological safety is the felt experience of our nervous system feeling safe, which starts in the body, then informs the mind, 2. We put the feeling of safety 'out there' rather than developing our ability to create it 'in here'. 3. Without danger, there's less development of skills, resilience & sharpening of our opinions against reality. Our nervous systems are constantly on alert for dangers & threats to our survival. Different signals in the environment will trigger the feeling of safety or threat for different people. One danger & threat response that shows up for me is with people in leadership positions, it brings me back to approval seeking from childhood. This shows up in my body first as anxiety triggering thoughts in my mind like "I don't belong" and "I'm not valuable". I've worked on this pattern & others in coaching & therapy for almost 10 years because I want to coach leaders & business owners. I'm still doing this today. The work isn't to change the threat. The work that is more helpful is to walk towards the 'danger', not away from it. Exposure therapy exposes you to the thing you're afraid of in small, incremental doses where you nervous system can adapt. The outside might never feel safe. If it won't ever change, we might be waiting. Resisting the moment in front of us & suffering. This suffering can create frustration, anger & resistance which decreases the likelihood of other people changing too. We must take some responsibility internally for these states of danger & work through them, figuring out how best to create safety in our bodies. The Buddha found enlightenment not from within the castle walls where he was protected from all threat & discomfort. Instead, he found enlightenment outside of the castle walls, struggling, being beaten up, almost homeless etc. What if our enlightenment is on the far side of our sense of threat? I'm happy to be wrong. If you want to develop your ability to move towards the future with courage & confidence, let's have a conversation! I'm also going to be talking about how to create this sense of safety within in my workshop this week: Leading and Living Wholeheartedly: https://lnkd.in/dwZPZrbj

I loved reading Sarah Thwaites post. I was working with a fabulous group of leaders recently about cultivating a collective leadership approach to talent management. As we explored this subject, we discussed how cognitive biases and distortions held can play a role in how we view talent. It is something for us to be aware of, in not only our decision-making but in considering how we support, develop and connect with our people, right? One person's 'innovative, progressive and edgy' team member or candidate may be another's 'wayward child', another's threat to a 'leader as hero', or another's overly-ambitious 'pusher' who needs to calm-the-farm. We can say we want 'edgy'. We can say we want innovation. We can say we are open to be challenged, yet this is only really proven by the quality of experience we offer our positive disruptors and innovators who challenge the status quo. Playing small is no fun for ANYone and benefits NO one. Innovators and positive disruptors cannot be contained by chains. They simply slip free of them to find new places to think and be. If we are unprepared to frame dissent as exploration and as a healthy and NECESSARY step towards growth and improvement, then we may have unwittingly pushed the button to activate the following: (1) To prevent our innovators and positive disruptors feeling as though they BELONG (2) To syphon the fuel and energy from our innovators and positive disruptors, signalling to them that assimilation is safer/preferred to acts of dissent (even dissent for continuous improvement's sake) (3) Compliance is valued over curiosity (4) Haemorrhaging of talent (talent leaves in search of a more hospitable host who will optimise and better leverage their strengths and their innovative magic). The leadership shadow we cast, irrespective of WHERE we sit on the old org chart, has a significant role to play in either supporting and promoting innovation and helpful dissent OR suffocating it altogether. New lands only get to be discovered if we are prepared to leave the safety of the harbour....if we allow people to 'up anchor' and explore, if we trust others to captain the ship, if we are prepared to look through the binoculars held by others, and if our hunger for seeking new land is stronger than our desire to dig our heels into familiar land that we have long-ruled. Looking back has its place. Looking forward secures our future. #psychologicalsafety #innovation

Great tips.

In a psychologically safe team, members feel accepted and respected by others. A psychologically safe team allows its members to make mistakes and disagree with each other when necessary – all without fear of judgment, ridicule, or punishment. Read our latest blog to find out more about what psychological safety is, and the benefits it can bring to your team. https://loom.ly/xG_5cak #nhspsychologicalsafety #NHSwellbeing #xytalconsultancy

How to develop Psychological Safety with your team… Psychological Safety is a shared belief held by members of a team that it’s OK to be themselves, take risks, express their ideas and concerns, speak up, ask questions, and admit mistakes — all without fear of negative consequences or being thrown under the bus! A good way to identify it is to work through the statements below. How you answer these questions will give you a sense of the degree to which you feel psychologically safe: 1. If you make a mistake on this team, it is not held against you. 2. Members of this team are able to bring up problems and tough issues. 3. People on this team sometimes accept others for being different. 4. It is safe to take a risk on this team. 5. It isn’t difficult to ask other members of this team for help. 6. No one on this team would deliberately act in a way that undermines my efforts. 7. Working with members of this team, my unique skills and talents are valued and utilised. It is worth working through these for yourself and then with your team to determine the level of Psychological Safety they are experiencing. Once you know that, you can work out what the next steps are to increase the level of Psychological Safety and ultimately the level of performance in your team. #mjeastoncoaching #leadershipdevelopment #psychologicalsafety