Recipe for a successful team (Part 2)

You might be familiar with this scenario, where perhaps someone close or within your circle of friends ended up with some form of depressive disorder due to unsafe and dysfunctional culture in the workplace. And, sometimes things start to get better with a change in job.

Yet it is more important to recognise the effects of stress in the workplace. Once stress builds up, you very much can't focus and do well in your job.

One of the main culprits of stress in the workplace is Psychological Safety. The lower psychological safety is in the workplace, it decreases the likelihood of workers asserting certain behaviors that increase overall productivity.

Fortunately, I have, in my workplace, an effective manager that exhibits some good managerial traits to develop psychological safety within the team. Someone that I am sure I can learn a lot from, and also a good friend for the last 5 years or so.

Here are my 3 key observations for improving psychological safety:

1. Growing with people. This creates value for employees and stakeholders, and in turn increasing personal and business value. Simple gestures such as occasional breakfast/lunch to build relationships and subtly creates guidelines for interaction and conflict handling, involving employees in achieving the team's goals.
2. Acknowledge your vulnerability. Come on, do you really trust someone who can't be vulnerable? As for me, I trust someone who openly shares their failures and learning points so that others benefit from it. I know that after my own struggles, I try to share this with someone I can trust, be it in the workplace or at home. This doesn’t make one weak; it makes you safe and a secure base, which creates a culture of psychological safety for your team.
3. Use curiosity to your benefit. Ask lots of questions. This forces people to generate answers. By understanding the different levels of accountability in different people, you can understand why they behave in a certain fashion, for example.

One of the common scenarios that can happen is this. Imagine yourself in a team meeting and you dare not ask questions to clarify the next task you are about to embark on. This has definitely got to do with feeling insecure and afraid others may perceive you as unaware. As you continue with your tasks.... this has got to be one of the most unproductive times spent at work.

Low psychological safety is a problem in so many workplaces everywhere. And leaders need to start brainstorming on ideas to create a good culture in your team. If you have not given it much thought on improving psychological safety, you might want to start today.