1. Introduction

Welcome to the end of your course! We hope that you have found it enlightening and enjoyable but most importantly we hope that it has a meaningful impact on you and your team. While this course is titled Psychological Safety, it is also about showing what can be achieved when a workplace culture encourages contributions, feedback, inter-team dialogue and more collaborative incentive structures.

Many of the techniques and practices discussed may run counter to some of our preconceived notions of leadership and workplace culture. For some of us, or for our teams, this means that these ideas will require active attempts to implement them. This could mean actively discussing the value of communication, and staging role plays to work at how to communicate better within our teams. Many of the ideas will require revisiting and refreshing over time. Ultimately , this is about changing how you work and interact, and this takes commitment and effort.

We’re concluding with a summary of all of the aspects that have been covered in this course. You can return to it as a reminder of everything that you have learned, and the principles that can best guide your approach to work.

1.1 Psychological Safety

Psychological safety is about the cultivation of a workplace culture in which no one is afraid to contribute. No one is afraid to ask a question or sound out their ideas. No one is afraid of making mistakes. All team members feel trusted and respected enough that they can be themselves at work.

Psychological safety is about inclusion and validation of team members, but it is also vital for achieving the overarching goals of the organisation. When we are working in complex and uncertain environments, facing new challenges, or trying to innovate, we need psychological safety. Creating the awareness that team members can speak up allows them to share information or concerns about a project. It allows them to voice their perspective. All of which could be essential information, ideas, or counter examples that the wider team may have missed. When the workplace climate fails to reassure people they can speak up, the whole team is deprived of opportunities for learning and clarification.

1.2 Six Guiding Principles

Looking back on all of our lessons in the course, we can identify six principles that you can focus on to improve workplace climate and team dynamics.

• Openness: An open culture is integral to an efficient and dynamic workplace. People need to be able to let go of whatever holds them back from speaking up or contributing. At the same time, as we saw in week 1, it is essential that everyone is aligned on what the team is trying to achieve. Does everyone know the mission statement? Provide a space for two-way conversations that allow people to express their goals, thoughts, concerns, and crucially, questions. The best way to achieve this is to encourage fearless discussion and assumption-busting information sharing. Value questions, feedback, criticism, ideas, and admissions of mistakes. Reward them.

• Trust: When we trust each other, we give each other the benefit of the doubt. This means that we can provide a nurturing environment based on favourable interpretation of our colleagues’ decisions. If we know we are trusted, we can act with more confidence. We know that our actions, even if they fail, will not be attributed to our negligence, stupidity or laziness, but will be interpreted as us trying our best. In article 1.3, ‘Tips for empowering your team’, you learnt that trust is essential for allowing others to work autonomously, meaning they can face challenges in confidence. Team members can bring their whole selves to work, and use the skills they have. In addition, in a trusting environment individuals can be more receptive to feedback knowing that the feedback is coming from a place of genuine concern.

• Respect: When we respect someone, we acknowledge their humanity. We take the time to consider their feelings, goals, and concerns when deciding how to treat them. In the 5-minute listen, Stephen Van Dine says, “Respect is huge… It’s not about hierarchy… It's about recognising that everyone in the organisation is choosing to be there, and making the choice to bring their best”. Respect is integral for openness because only through considering other people’s thoughts and feelings can we truly be open with them. In this environment, no one is left in the dark, everyone feels included and respected. A key part of respect is recognising good work and praising it regularly.

• Inclusion: Ensure that all team members know that they can contribute without fear, regardless of position or status. Even better than this, actively pursue inclusion. Validate team members by asking for their position, ideas, and perspectives and, even better again, contribute and build upon their ideas. Asking for someone’s perspective makes them feel like a valued member of the team. A simple question like “How would you approach this?” or “Can I get your opinion on something?” can achieve this. Through being included, people feel more ready to contribute, and more ready to fully commit themselves to their work. As Dr Garson says, “I think many people, in whatever work context they are in…. I think the worst feeling is being unseen”. Increase communication across the organisation and between teams, but also up and down the hierarchy. Take an others-centred approach. Support and nurture voices and perspectives that may get drowned out.

• Humility: The world is becoming more complex and uncertain, and skill sets are becoming increasingly narrow. Under these conditions, we must work with and rely on other people and their skills. Remember that you don’t have all the answers. As you learned in lesson 3.1, ‘How feedback can help you flex your problem-solving muscles’, even at times when we are time poor, a quick brainstorming session on our ideas with others will help to hone our thoughts and improve them. Seek out other perspectives. Brainstorm together.

• Collaboration: Collaboration helps to more effectively test and generate ideas. In lesson 2.1 ‘Make working together work’, adapt your praise and analysis of success to show the benefits of working together. Ensuring team members see how collaboration helps them to more effectively generate ideas and navigate challenges, will cultivate an ethic of sharing ideas and working together. It is important to regularly show how collaboration helps the team be more creative and generate ideas. In a psychologically safe environment, we can freely experiment, and make mistakes as a group. We can collectively analyse what has gone wrong together and learn.

If your conduct as a leader and as a colleague are guided by these principles, then you will see increased efficiency, increased information, and creativity, innovation, experimentation and problem-solving.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the course and found its lessons useful. Good luck on your journey to contribute to a more psychologically safe workplace.