Building High-Performing Teams: We’ve got psychological safety wrong.
In an age where innovation is prized and the demand for high-performing teams is at an all-time high, leaders find themselves on a tightrope.
On one end, they must promote a challenging environment that spurs creativity and growth.
On the other end, they need to create a culture of psychological safety where employees feel secure to voice their thoughts and ideas without fear of retaliation.
The reality is that a balance must be struck.
As leaders, it's our job to create a workplace culture that promotes challenge, while simultaneously fostering psychological safety where employees feel secure expressing their thoughts and ideas without fear of retaliation.
This delicate balance necessitates a new kind of leadership: conscious leadership.
The Paradox of High-Performing Teams
High-performing teams are often envisioned as groups where harmony reigns, conflicts are scarce and every project is a resounding success. Yet, in reality, it's a different story.
High performance is born out of challenge, disagreement, and the ability to navigate volatility. The crucible of adversity can forge the most exceptional teams, akin to a diamond being formed under pressure.
Leaders, therefore, aren't expected to eradicate these challenges — far from it. Their role is to harness these potential points of conflict, converting them into catalysts for innovation and collaboration.
It is within these trials that a sense of psychological safety must be instilled, creating a culture where team members can share their ideas, doubts, and even fears freely.
Psychological Safety: The Key to Togetherness and Innovation
Google's Project Aristotle, a study released in 2015, found that psychological safety — the shared belief that one can take interpersonal risks in the workplace — was the top factor among high-performing teams.
When individuals feel safe, they are more likely to engage in behaviors that drive innovation and performance, such as asking challenging questions, seeking feedback, admitting errors, or proposing new ideas.
The question then becomes: how can leaders foster psychological safety amidst a challenging and volatile environment? How can they promote a culture of togetherness amidst the storm? The answer lies within conscious leadership.
The Role of Conscious Leadership in Nurturing Workplace Culture
Conscious leadership goes beyond mere awareness of your team's feelings and thoughts. It's about actively nurturing an environment where those feelings and thoughts can be expressed openly and without fear.
Here are some steps conscious leaders can take to cultivate psychological safety and togetherness in their teams:
- Embrace Vulnerability: As a leader, acknowledging your own mistakes and showing your own vulnerabilities can be a powerful tool. It sets a precedent within your team that risk-taking and mistakes aren't just accepted, but they're a natural part of growth and innovation.
- Encourage Open Communication: Open and honest communication should be encouraged at all levels. This means making it clear to your team members that their thoughts, concerns, and ideas are not just welcome, but vital for the team's success.
- Practice Empathy: Each team member is a unique individual with their own set of experiences and perspectives. Recognizing this and demonstrating genuine care and understanding for your team's experiences, is key to fostering a sense of safety and togetherness.
- Promote a Learning Culture: Shift the focus from success and failure, to learning and improving. By encouraging your team to learn from their mistakes as well as their successes, you create a culture that values growth and resilience.
- Recognise and Reward Courage: When a team member shows the courage to voice a new idea or voice a concern, recognise it. By rewarding those who step out of their comfort zone, you demonstrate that taking risks is not only accepted but appreciated. This reinforces the notion that every contribution, whether it succeeds or fails, is a valuable part of the team's journey.
By promoting these behaviours, conscious leaders can successfully create a workplace culture where high performance and psychological safety coexist. A dynamic, high-performing team is not simply a group of individuals working in proximity but an entity that thrives on interaction, challenge, and mutual respect.
Case Study: Psychological Safety and High Performance in Action
Consider the story of Pixar, the acclaimed animation studio. Ed Catmull, President of Pixar, attributes much of the company's success to its commitment to fostering a culture of psychological safety. "We go to extraordinary lengths to create a safe environment for our employees," Catmull says.
Despite operating in an incredibly competitive and demanding industry, Pixar's emphasis on psychological safety has allowed it to stay innovative, producing a string of blockbuster hits over the years.
At Pixar, leaders promote open communication, encouraging employees at all levels to share their ideas and feedback. Mistakes are seen not as failures but as opportunities for learning and growth.
This kind of environment not only fosters psychological safety but also promotes high performance. The proof is in the studio's output: consistently high-quality, innovative, and commercially successful films.
Round Robin Exercise
The Round Robin exercise is an engaging team-building activity that encourages open communication and equal participation, enhancing psychological safety.
Here's how you can conduct this exercise:
- Set the Stage: Begin by explaining the objective of the exercise. Ensure everyone understands that the goal is to foster open communication and mutual respect.
- Select a Prompt: Choose a prompt related to a challenge the team is currently facing, or a future project or goal. The prompt should be open-ended and allow for diverse perspectives.
- Round Robin Sharing: Starting with one person, go around the group and allow each team member to share their response to the prompt. No interruptions are allowed during this time. Everyone's ideas are valued equally and everyone gets their turn to speak.
- Discussion: After everyone has shared, open up the floor for a general discussion. Encourage team members to explore the ideas further, ask questions, and provide constructive feedback.
- Reflection: Conclude the exercise with a reflection. Ask the team members how they felt during the exercise. Did they discover anything new about their colleagues? How did they feel about the open communication?
This exercise promotes an open dialogue where everyone's input is valued equally, thereby fostering psychological safety.
It gives everyone a chance to express their thoughts without fear of interruption or immediate criticism, which can help team members feel more comfortable taking risks and speaking up in the future.
Remember, these exercises are just tools in the overall quest to enhance psychological safety. The true change comes from a consistent commitment to creating a respectful, open, and safe environment where everyone's voice matters.
Conclusion
The journey to cultivating high-performing teams is a nuanced one. It's not about removing challenges but learning to navigate them. It's about understanding the dynamics of a high-performing team and acknowledging the inherent volatility that comes with it.
Fostering a sense of togetherness and nurturing a culture where psychological safety is the norm, not the exception, is crucial.
As we travel this path, we need to remember that every challenge presents an opportunity for growth. In the world of conscious leadership, challenge is not just accepted – it is embraced, recognized, and utilised as a catalyst for growth and innovation.
Your views
We'd love to hear about your experiences navigating the complex dynamics of high-performing teams.
How are you embracing the challenges and fostering psychological safety in your workplace?
