The two sides of psychological safety - Do not make this common mistake
Psychological safety is the known essential ingredient in any high-performing team we know.
One side is undoubtedly the creation of safety for each other. This is a learnable/trainable skill that influences psychological safety. This 'OTHER SAFETY' capability within the system disproportionately relies on leaders, but includes all of us - we all have a responsibility to create safety for each other. We all have a responsibility to understand our part.
There is a second, in my mind a neglected, but just as important side of the teaming behaviours coin.
What I call 'SELF SAFETY'. 'Self-safety' is a skill we can learn to handle situations that evoke our threat response. Our threat response can be triggered by anything from saber tooth tigers to speaking in a meeting to saying 'I was wrong'. If we do not understand how to create it for ourselves, spot the threats we feel and understand the habits we have created over our life, we will be stuck in a much lesser version of our potential. We will attack, avoid or move into apathy.
Of course those around us have an influence over our 'self safety', but sometimes it is up to us to understand how to move beyond our own discomfort and do the hard things of...
• speaking up
• showing up
• asking questions
• listening to others
• focus on the unknown not the known
• being vulnerable
• admitting mistakes
• face into the failures necessary for growth
• welcome difference
• seek better ways forward
• prove ourselves wrong
• invite contribution
• ask for help
• say 'I'm sorry'
The way to help teams and organisations increase their psychological is a two-part game:
(i) understanding how we contribute to others safety/fears so we can alter our teaming behaviours (especially for leaders). See here for how to Team Better Together
(ii) understanding how we can contribute to our own safety/fears so we can increase our teaming behaviours. See here for how to build Courage
The most common mistake I see in writings on psychological safety is to focus on 'other safety' without acknowledging of the role of 'self-safety'. Both can be taught and both are achievable
See PROGRAMS for more details on how you can set yourself up for high-performance teaming in 2023.
Reconnected Retreat
I'm delighted to announce that peak performance expert Alessandra Edwards and I are hosting the Reconnected Retreat for female leaders. Step away for one day into an unforgettable and rejuvenating experience set in the award-winning Peninsula Hot Springs.
Revive and reconnect to your true vital and vibrant self. By the end of the retreat, you will experience renewed mental clarity, strength and self-compassion.Indulge your senses, nourish your body and reconnect to your purpose.For a limited time only, access early bird pricing of $867 per person. Please note, as this is an intimate event, places are going to be strictly limited.
For more information about this amazing journey to relaxation, click here.
Public Series - Psychological Safety
Do you want to learn more about psychological safety, how it impacts our teams at work and what to do about it? Take this work immediately back to your workplace to make a difference to the culture and teaming behaviours you see and how you can contribute to creating a safer space for people to bring their whole self.
This workshop is for people leaders who want a plan of action on the what, why and how of leading psychological safety. Psychological safety is the number one predictor of high performance in your team. If you don’t know what it is, why it is important, how to measure it, or what to do to create it, you are missing the most important leadership skill of our current times.
Click here to get your tickets.
Public Series - Courage
There may be many areas of your life or just one, which you know if you had a little bit more courage, you would be a little bit happier or a little bit more productive, or that you would achieve more, enjoy more, connect more ….be more! There are simple things that I can show you and you can practice here that make an enormous difference in bringing you closer to your potential. Let me show you how easy it is to develop the practice of growing your courage muscle.
Are you excited??? Because I am!!!! Click hereto get your tickets. See you there!!!!
