Deadline Psychological safety defines an atmosphere where people feel free to express their thoughts and feelings and where they can give direct feedback without hiding behind a cherry.

The term originates from organizational change research in the 1960s and was popularized by Dr. Amy Edmondson, a professor at Harvard Business School. It defines him as a being “the team members’ shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risks.”

The term is meant to convey a sense of confidence that no one on the team you work with will mock, reject, or punish you for speaking up about what you care about.

When Google sought to answer the question, “What determines team effectiveness at Google?”, it undertook the Aristotle Project, in which it evaluated 180 of its teams. At the end of the project, he concluded that among the 5 key characteristics that make a significant contribution to the development of a successful team is psychological safety. The first four are seriousness, clarity of structure, purpose, and impact.

Psychological safety is a very attractive construct that is increasingly touted as a “silver bullet” that creates high levels of productivity and happiness, creativity, inclusion and transparency in any organization.

It sounds good in theory, but is it possible in practice to create a climate of psychological safety, especially in Romania?

I find this interesting because for most of us, our Hispanic blood makes it almost impossible to ignore our own emotions and those of the people around us. Making fun of colleagues and challenging their successes and good intentions is a national sport.

We are not naturally inclined to be vulnerable and share our fears, difficulties and worries with others. For most of us, what others think of us, and the resulting fear of being judged and blamed, creates high levels of anxiety.

If in the family and with friends we express our emotions relatively freely, at work things are a little different. We all wear psychological masks at work. The higher the management position and the higher career prospects, the more complex the mask.

We’ve seen this in every training and consulting project we’ve done in organizations over the past 25 years. The reality is that people don’t speak up in front of clients or bosses. If you make a mistake, you don’t tell anyone about it; at work you only talk about winning and how good you are. Our actions and resumes must be impeccable or we will not be promoted or even lose our jobs.

Psychological security is the feeling that you can go to work and be yourself to the fullest. You can always take the risk to express your opinion, ask questions that bother you, and make mistakes without fear of being blamed for them in the future. How is your company doing? Think a little about your colleagues and especially about your superiors.

Very few people are willing to take the risk and abandon the masks to create an environment in which trust and psychological safety emerge. How much can an introverted person change for the sake of psychological safety?

There is an instinctive fear that what I say will not be received well, and then I avoid saying what I think. The mind minimizes the potential problems I’ll have if I’m right and doesn’t speak up, and magnifies the potential consequences if others don’t like what I say.

In Romania, the labor relations established by the communist regime and the increasingly low level of education further complicate the situation.

When I think of psychological safety, I think not only of corporatists in Piper, West Gate or other big cities in Romania, but also of people who work in construction, in the port, in agriculture and in factories, regardless of their level of management .

Is it realistic to build psychological security in hyperpoliticized state institutions, where appointments are not related to competence, but to party, family or special service affiliation?

Amy Edmondson says: “It’s about minimizing all the things that cause psychological stress,” “The belief that it’s safe to talk in the workplace. It’s not about being nice or allowing conflict… it’s about being open.”

Developing psychological safety requires a combination of internal and interpersonal skills and a genuine willingness to point out the elephant in the room. Psychological safety involves self-knowledge and self-control and acceptance of the fact that it is always in the hands of others.

Essentially, Dr. Amy Edmundson states that psychological safety is the trust that exists during interpersonal communication. Psychological safety is the confidence we have in others and the confidence we have to be ourselves when we offer it to others.

Creating a culture of true engagement is very difficult. It’s not enough to tell people that starting tomorrow they have to be vulnerable and start talking openly, admitting their mistakes and questioning the status quo. It requires training and constant support.

According to a study by McKinsey & Company in 2021, only 26% of leaders promoted psychological safety in the workplace. Why? Psychological safety remains Fr rara avis both in Romania and in more developed cultures.

In my more than 25 years of professional experience, I have come across very few teams that have managed to enjoy a high level of psychological safety. – Read the entire article and comment on Contributors.ro