By Angela Prentner-Smith
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PSYCHOLOGICAL safety is an important concept in the workplace. It refers to an individual's perception of the consequences of taking an interpersonal risk or a belief that a team is safe for risk-taking in the face of being seen as ignorant, incompetent, negative, or disruptive.  The benefits of this are a higher-performing workplace, better placed to innovate, reduce risks, produce better work, and make less errors. 

At  consultancy, training and technology business This is Milk we actively practise what we’re learning as our company culture evolves and we’ve found effective ways of ensuring a psychologically safe space so that our high-functioning teams are the best versions of themselves. 

The first step is communication.  Explain the concept and the reasons why psychological safety is important. Aim to make psychological safety a part of your company’s DNA and lead by example. Be clear in the message, that psychological safety isn’t about creating a "nice" place to work, it requires vulnerable communication, candid professional debate, and a high degree of tolerance for difference.  

One of the key elements of building success in your team is for every single member to feel psychologically safe. 

Results from an ambitious internal research project undertaken by Google in 2012 showed that the most important dynamic of effective teams was the existence of psychological safety.

First let’s remind ourselves that psychological safety refers to the belief that you can speak up and express yourself without having to fear negative consequences.

In a business team context this has been best defined by Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School. 

Google’s ambitious research project to determine what made the perfect team was called ‘Project Aristotle’, paying tribute to philosopher Aristotle’s famous quote stating that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

The researchers found that the main characteristic of successful teams was, you guessed it, psychological safety. 

If you want your team members to thrive, they must feel safe and secure to take risks and be vulnerable in front of each other. 

Here are nine reasons why you should create a psychologically safe working environment:

1. Increases positive employee engagement
2. Unlocks the benefits of inclusion and diversity in teams
3. Supports mental health
4. Facilitates a strong feedback culture
5. Improves how team members learn from feedback and mistakes
6. Fosters creativity and innovation
7. Improves employee retention
8. Boosts employer branding and talent attraction
9. Attracts brand awareness 

There are countless leadership books that can help build psychological safety in your business.  

​The team here at This is Milk have selected three titles that highlight the importance of psychological safety which help high performance leadership and deliver a happy, healthy mindset at work. 

​One of the key elements of building success in your team is for every single member to feel psychologically safe.  

​Results from an ambitious internal research project undertaken by Google in 2012 showed that the most important dynamic of effective teams was the existence of psychological safety. 

First let’s remind ourselves that psychological safety refers to the belief that you can speak up and express yourself without having to fear negative consequences. 

​In a business team context this has been best defined by Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School.  

By: Kerry Freeman, Psychological Safety Index Practitioner 

Company culture can sometimes be really hard to see when you’re in it. We make 100’s of small modifications to our behaviour to ensure we fit in and get on inside our organisations -  that’s just human behaviour. And rather than suffer with cognitive dissonance – that weird feeling you get when you take an action which isn’t in line with your thoughts – we tend to justify or rationalise those modifications, sometimes without even noticing, to continue to fit in. 

But there are key moments where your culture will come into sharp relief.  

Imagine you’re in a meeting. An idea for a product or service has just been pitched by your manager. Immediately you know 2 things – it’s going to have negative impact on your most vulnerable customers, and your team is going to hate doing it.  

Welcome to our latest Three at Three. In this week's episode, Kate Pickford discusses Psychological Safety Indexing with ​Kate Carmichael from Re:markable, Who is a Intent based leadership pioneer and Fearless organisation practitioner.

Kate asks her:

• What is Psychological Safety?
• How do you convince leaders to invest in Psychological Safety Indexing?
• What kind of pushback do you get from leaders and organisations?

We hope you enjoy it, and if you'd like to connect with Kate, click her name to go the her Linkedin profile.

​Be sure to check out our new page about Psychological Safety Indexing.