How to create Psychological Safety at work
Digital HR Leaders Podcast hosted by David Green Summer Special: Amy Edmondson

How to create Psychological Safety at work

David Green 🇺🇦 David Green 🇺🇦

David Green 🇺🇦

Co-Author of Excellence in People Analytics | People Analytics leader | Director, Insight222 & myHRfuture.com | Conference speaker | Host, Digital HR Leaders Podcast

Published Jul 14, 2020
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Inclusion happens when the diverse workforces that we take care to assemble actually are diversely represented in the important decisions, the important roles in the company.

I can’t think of a better way of starting the series of Summer Special episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast then by taking a closer examination at the concept of 'Psychological Safety'.

“In a workplace, psychological safety is the belief that the environment is safe for interpersonal risk taking. People feel able to speak up when needed — with relevant ideas, questions, or concerns — without being shut down in a gratuitous way. Psychological safety is present when colleagues trust and respect each other and feel able, even obligated, to be candid.”

Those are the words of Amy Edmondson, my guest on this edition of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast.

Amy is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, author of The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth, and is currently ranked #3 on the prestigious Thinkers 50 list.

Amy’s work on psychological safety famously formed the bedrock of Google’s Project Aristotle study into what makes effective teams.

You can listen by clicking on the image below or by visiting the podcast website here.

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In our conversation, Amy and I discuss:

  • The definition of psychological safety – what it is and what it isn’t
  • The role of leaders and HR in creating psychological safety: "It starts with 'setting the stage' But it is also about being proactive and inviting voice."
  • Why leaders have to own their vulnerability: "As leaders if you talk about your mistakes, it makes it safe for others to do likewise."
  • The organisational benefits of psychological safety "innovation, creativity, safety, inclusion..."
  • How to create psychological safety in virtual teams
  • The relationship between psychological safety and transparency: "Transparency is what is enabled by psychological safety"
  • Examples of organisations who have created and embedded psychological safety and the subsequent benefits they have enjoyed

This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the role culture, leadership and trust play in driving innovation and growth – so business leaders, CHROs, Chief Learning Officers and anyone in a People Analytics, HR Business Partner or Talent Acquisition role.

Psychological safety needs to be paired with a motivation to really do great work.


LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

To listen to the Podcast and read the transcript of my discussion with Amy, head over to myHRfuture by clicking on this link: How to create psychological safety at work


WATCH THE VIDEOS

As well as the podcast, there will be a couple of videos available on the myHRfuture YouTube channel highlighting two of the topics Amy and I covered in our conversation. In the first video, Amy explains how to create psychological safety at work.


GET INVOLVED

If you enjoyed listening to this week's podcast episode, I'd be grateful if you could take the following steps:

  1. Please subscribe to the Digital HR Leaders podcast and weekly newsletter to make sure you don’t miss an episode.
  2. Please take the time to rate the show on iTunes. We rely on your feedback and support to make the podcast, so this is very helpful!
  3. Who would you like to see me interview in future episodes? Let me know in the comments below.
  4. Lastly, don’t forget to share on social media with your friends and colleagues, your support is always greatly appreciated!


THANK YOU

A huge thank you to Amy for such an enlightening and enjoyable conversation and for sharing her time and knowledge. You can connect with Amy on LinkedIn, follow Amy on Twitter @AmyCEdmondson, take the Fearless Organization scan, Amy refers to in our discussion and read more about her research at Amy's faculty page on the Harvard Business School site.

You might also want to read the following articles penned by Amy:

How Fearless Organizations Succeed

5 Tips for Communicating with Employees During a Crisis (co-authored with Brooks Holtom and David Niu)

When Employees Are Open With Each Other, But Not Management

Don’t Hide Bad News in Times of Crisis

What Good Leadership Looks Like During This Pandemic (co-authored with Michaela Kerrissey)

Cross-Silo Leadership (Co-authored with Tiziana Casciaro and Sujin Jang)

Thanks also to Ian Bailie, Manpreet Randhawa, Caroline Styr and the myHRfuture team for creating the Digital HR Leaders podcast and video series.


CATCH UP ON THE DIGITAL HR LEADERS PODCAST

If you haven't listened to all of the episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast, you can catch up now by clicking on the links below.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David is a globally respected writer, speaker, conference chair, and executive consultant on people analytics, data-driven HR and the future of work. As an Executive Director at Insight222, he helps global organisations create more cultural and economic value through the wise and ethical use of people data and analytics. Prior to joining Insight222 and taking up a board advisor role at TrustSphere, David was the Global Director of People Analytics Solutions at IBM Watson Talent. As such, David has extensive experience in helping organisations embark upon and accelerate their people analytics journeys. David also hosts the Digital HR Leaders Podcast on myHRfuture.

Alex Armasu

Founder & CEO, Group 8 Security Solutions Inc. DBA Machine Learning Intelligence

10mo

Much thanks for your post!

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Garry Turner MCIPD

radicality.co.uk | Executive Thinking Partner | VP Business Development (freelance) | Personal & Organisational Transformation | #ChangeIsAnInsideJob

4y

Why leaders have to own their vulnerability: "As leaders if you talk about your mistakes, it makes it safe for others to do likewise." - brilliant this, #vulnerability truly is a superpower to navigate rapid, iterative change which = life. lets get practicing :-) Great job David Green

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Emma El-Karout

VP Talent | Founder of One Circle HR | Executive Leadership Development | Talent & Performance Management | People & Culture | Forbes ME Contributor

4y

Ann Betz

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Cecilia Laube

STRATEGIC TRANSFORMATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS EXECUTIVE| Building the Organizational Capabilities that Create Sustainable Change| Strategic Advisor

4y

Leaders must be proactive!.....I love that. So many leaders forget such simple point.

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Junior Schoeman

Simplifying Talent Processes, Championing Mental Wellbeing, Navigating Talent Complexity Risks

4y

David Green how do we talk psychological safety when we not addressing poor leadership or disengagement / burning out of people We still not out of the Covid-Pandemic and most probably will be there for a while to come that has tremendous impact on the psychological safety. We still not looking deep enough into the subject. What is the individual impact on the mental health of all individuals. How much of it is contributed by the individual and how much is a results of ineffective systems poor leadership and an inability to be able to effectively listen to the employee despite talking Psychological safety Our experiences is that we can't have psychological safety until we have people engaged, and that includes engaged with their own talents experiencing success . Until we have made ineffective leader effective or when we have moved those over-promoted into positions outside the leadership as they are active obstructions to psychological safety We still not having holistic enough insight into the business its employees and their experiences that is individualised able to capture the root cause level views of their disengagement or burning out These are available and we have that access just not in digital big data

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