One of a leader’s primary responsibilities is to enable their team to be successful. But how exactly do you impact your team’s success as a leader? On the surface, it might seem that a leader’s job is to “get the right people on the bus”. Perhaps by hiring exceptional candidates with a proven history of success, or maybe by selecting team members who’s skills or attributes compliment one another. However, research performed at Google demonstrated that “what really mattered was less about who is on the team, and more about how the team worked together.” Google’s research team studied over 180 teams, evaluating team success based on both qualitative (executive, team leader, and team member evaluations) and quantitative data (sales performance against quarterly quota). Their research revealed that the most important element of successful teams was high psychological safety.
What is Psychological Safety?
What is psychological safety? According to Harvard Business School professor, Amy Edmondson (the researcher who studied and coined the term), “Psychological safety is a belief that it’s absolutely OK, in fact it’s expected, to speak up with concerns, with questions, with ideas, with mistakes.” But how does this relate to team success?
Why is Psychological Safety Important?
To demonstrate its importance, let’s discuss what happens in an environment without psychological safety. Take for example the Tenerife airport disaster. Two Boeing 747 airliners collided on a Tenerife airport runway, with the ensuing explosion killing 583 people between the two flights, in what is considered the worst accident in the history of civil aviation. In reviewing the cockpit communication on the flight recorder, it was made apparent that the co-pilot was aware about confusion about their take off clearance. Despite the confusion, the co-pilot hesitated to challenge the captain’s decision to proceed with takeoff. The official after incident report cited that the co-pilot was not very experienced with 747s and was flying with a pilot “of greatest prestige in the Company who was, moreover, K.L.M.’s chief flying instructor and who had certified him fit to be a crew member for this type of plane.” The report concluded that “in case of doubt, these circumstances could have induced the Co-pilot not to ask any questions, assuming that this Captain was always right.” The co-pilot did not speak up, challenging the pilots understanding of the situation. Whether he was afraid of how the pilot might respond, or whether he felt he was not in a place to raise such concerns, the co-pilot’s lack of psychological safety led to his silence and in turn the death of 583 people, including the entire crew and all passengers aboard their aircraft. While not all work environments involve life-threatening consequences, the point stands that a lack of psychological safety in the workplace can have disastrous consequences for organizations.
In addition to avoiding negative consequences, psychological safety also plays an important role in influencing positive outcomes for teams. In an overview of the research, Edmondson found that psychological safety can actually predict both group learning and group performance. Psychological safety is essential in enabling learning, innovation, and the sharing of ideas which in turn drive the success of an organization.
Psychological Safety vs. Accountability
But what does the existence of psychological safety mean for accountability? If we are to be “accepting” of mistakes does that mean we cannot have an organization that values excellence in their performance? Edmondson depicts psychological safety and accountability as two separate axes that can influence team success. When both are low there is an apathy zone. Without accountability, we are in a comfort zone, leaving the potential for underperformance. Without psychological safety, we are in the dangerous place of an anxiety zone. This is a breeding place for toxic culture, “numbers over people” thinking, employee disengagement and burnout. Workplaces like these create the conditions for situations like the Tenerife disaster. Finally, with both psychological safety and accountability we can exist in a learning zone where ideas are shared, mistakes are brought to light and addressed, and innovation can thrive.
Growth happens where we are most uncomfortable, so don’t confuse psychological safety with comfort. Learning occurs on the fringe of what we know, at the very edges of our knowledge and experience. This is not a comfortable place to be, but it can be a safe place if our leaders and our teammates thoughtfully design such an environment for us.
Creating an Environment of Psychological Safety
In her TED talk, Edmondson provides 3 simple things that leaders can do to help foster this type of environment:
1: Frame work as a learning problem, not an execution problem.
If we are here to learn, then sharing mistakes is a way to grow rather than a way to be criticized. Sharing mistakes, questions, and ideas can help organizations find ways to improve and make the whole team better.
2: Acknowledge your own fallibility
As a leader, it is important to model not having all the answers. “I don’t know” can be a powerful learning tool, demonstrating to your team that it is important to rely on each other, to ask for help when you need it, and to use your resources to solve problems together. Admitting your own mistakes as a leader is also an important step in maintaining accountability.
3: Model curiosity and ask a lot of questions
Questions are another tool to open up the team to sharing ideas. If a leader is curious and seeks input from team members, they will not only feel valued and included, but the leader will be able to make better decisions due to the increase in information and perspectives from which they can view a problem.
If you begin to incorporate these three approaches as a leader, you will have taken steps to ensure the psychological safety of your team, creating an environment that will foster success.