Psychological safety is the gateway to success
Those who have read Professor Edmondson’s book “The Fearless Organization” will know that psychological safety is required for team high-performance. Psychological safety is defined as “a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes”.
For you to be successful in your team, and “as a team”, psychological safety is the enabler. This insight is the result of almost 30 years of research by Edmondson, supported and reinforced by an extensive two-year research program (Project Aristotle) among 15,000 employees done by Google (read about Project Aristotle in The New York Times Magazine).
If you do not feel safe in a group, you are likely to keep ideas to yourself and avoid speaking up, even about risks. Furthermore, if mistakes are held against you, you then look to avoid making mistakes and so stop taking risks, rather than making the most out of your talents.
Low psychological safety, therefore, gets in the way of both team performance, innovation, learning, and personal success.
The Fearless Organization Scan in your organization
In collaboration with professor Amy C. Edmondson, The Fearless Organization Scan has been developed. This scan maps how team members perceive the level of psychological safety in their closest context.
Start the scan:
