Psychological safety and the critical role of leadership development

Running a business is challenging in its ways. Irrespective of the company's size, success usually depends on the motivation and the level of innovation and creativity the employees bring to the table.

Expecting employees to do their best at the job needs commitment and determination from the top management of the organization. It is important to provide a culture and ecosystem in which employees believe that their efforts are being recognized and they are playing an important role in the growth of the organization. 

Employees willing to speak their minds freely, bring innovative ideas, unleash their creative side, and bring meaningful change to the organization are usually satisfied on a psychological level. On the other hand, organizations that cannot meet the employees' psychological needs usually face challenges in adapting to change.

Leaders have an essential role to play in ensuring that the psychological needs of the employees are met across levels and that the employees are confident about their contribution to the organization in achieving the goals. Companies that invest in catering to the psychological requirements of the workforce can create a team that is innovative, creative, and high on productivity and efficiency. Senior executives in any organization need the right mindset and orientation toward the employees' psychological safety.

Here is all you need to know about psychological safety and the critical role of leadership development in bringing psychological safety:

What is psychological safety?

The environment of psychological safety is one where employees can ask for help, share their opinion about company strategy and propose innovative ideas without the fear of being judged or any negative social consequences. Employees need psychological safety in an organization for better results, rapid innovation, and adaptation to change. 

How do different leadership styles impact psychological safety?

There are different leadership styles  and they directly impact the employees' psychological safety. Here is how different leadership styles impact the psychological safety of the employees in an organization: 

Authoritative leadership

The traditional command-and-control leadership style, also known as authoritative leadership, has undergone a massive change, especially after the pandemic. However, even before the pandemic, the authoritative leadership style does not work well for meeting the psychological needs of the employees. An authoritarian leader may get better results from employees for the organization's objectives, but it is detrimental to the employees' psychological safety.

Consultative leadership

A consultative leadership style is where top management asks the lower-level employees for feedback on the organization's strategy. It is a consultative process with which the organization's roadmap is finalized. This model is more suitable for the psychological safety of the employees in the organization. As leaders consult their team members and consider the team's views on subjects that affect the employees' psychological safety, it is expected to provide much better results.

Supportive leadership

Supportive leadership has an indirect yet significant impact on the employees' psychological safety as they feel valued and supported in their tasks. A supportive leadership style is one where rather than just delegating the tasks to the lower-level employees, the manager is expected to support the employees till the completion of the task. This model also helps improve the psychological safety of employees in an organization.

Challenging leadership

A challenging leadership model will only work towards achieving psychological safety if there is a positive work environment in place. It is a leadership model where the employees are asked to do more than they initially think they can. When the employees work in a positive environment and are challenged to achieve more, they would feel more satisfied at the finish line. This model also helps in improving the level of creativity in the organization. The leader should create a positive team environment, using supportive and consultative leadership styles and challenging their team to achieve more than their expectations.

What can leaders do for increased psychological safety?

Leaders can take several initiatives to promote psychological safety in an organization. Here are some of the ways with which you can work towards improving the psychological safety of the employees:

Focus on performance

Leaders need to realize that the end goal for the activity is to improve the performance of the employees and, eventually, the organization's performance. Measures to improve psychological safety like helping people feel safe or become better listeners are a medium to the goal of improving performance. Setting the right goal in front makes it easier to stay focused and makes the senior management understand the importance of psychological safety.

Train both individuals and teams

For any organization to succeed, the individuals need to attain the goals assigned to them and work as a team to get real work done. The training programs in the organization need to be divided into two segments – individual training and team training. Individual training can focus on employees' skills to learn to grow in their roles. In contrast, team training needs to focus on the necessary skills to work together to achieve the organization's objectives. Both these skills are necessary to have a high-performing team and a consistently growing organization.

‍Incorporate visualization

It is important to incorporate visualization in taking feedback from the team. As an employee is asked to visualize themselves in a particular situation and explain the challenges and psychological factors that can play an active role, it gets easier to identify the factors involved and take corrective action. It may be tough for the employee to come up with details at first. Still, as the activity progresses, it becomes easier to focus on the involved challenges and notice positive examples in the day-to-day work ecosystem.

Normalize work-related vulnerability

Leaders need to normalize work-related vulnerability in the organization by holding meaningful dialogues with the team and asking them to be genuine in their conversations. For example, as employees talk about the anxiety they face due to job-related vulnerabilities, it is essential to recognize that this is normal, which helps get the right information from the employees and would result in better psychological safety.

What can organizations do to ensure leadership development for psychological safety?

The leaders alone cannot guarantee psychological safety in an organization. There needs to be a structured approach in the organization to plan employees' psychological safety. Here are the steps that an organization can take for increased the psychological safety of the employees:

Develop leaders at all levels

It is important to have leadership at all levels rather than relying on top management for psychological safety. It is important to have leaders at all levels that can support and adopt a consultative approach in the organization. It would help develop a robust chain of leaders in the organization and, at the same time, meet the psychological needs of the employees. By relying on the top management to ensure the psychological safety of all employees in the organization, it may burden the senior executives.

Reorient skills in leadership programs

To ensure leadership development for psychological safety, organizations must be able to reorient skills in the leadership programs that the senior executives go through. As important topics related to psychological safety would be covered in the leadership programs, there is a high chance that the leaders would display positive leadership behavior that would help improve employees' psychological safety. For instance, open-dialogue skills, developing high-quality social relationships, and situational humility would help a leader cater to the team's psychological needs. At the same time, other essential skills like cultural awareness, situational awareness, and situational humility must be included in senior executives' leadership programs.

Focus on development at the top

Psychological safety is such a topic that needs to be driven top-down in any organization. An organization must provide enough focus on development at the top so that the leaders promote a positive team environment. As the behavior of the top leaders also influences the behavior of the other team members, leaders must come with an inclusive mindset in an organization to achieve psychological safety for the employees. This helps in setting the right culture for the organization.

How do start the process of enhancing psychological safety in the organization?

Organizations need to start the process of enhancing psychological safety in the organization. Here are the steps that you can take to meet the psychological needs of the workforce:

Develop a system

As human behaviors do not change overnight, an organization needs to implement a proper system that handles individual, team, and enterprise requirements. It is better to go beyond the one-off training program and develop a system of at-scale leadership development. This system would provide a roadmap to improving employees' psychological state via various initiatives, including training programs.

Invest in leadership-development experiences

It is important to have the right learning experiences for the senior team to understand the importance of psychological safety. Although all senior leaders have the right theoretical knowledge about the importance, these learning experiences can provide an environment that drives meaningful change in the organization.

Build mechanism for daily progress

Formal training and learning experiences can set the foundation for improved organizational psychological safety. However, there needs to be a mechanism in place for improvement in the behavior of the leaders as they perform their daily tasks. As leaders use the learning experiences and training, they may create a process to practice, fail and improve to develop a better model for meeting the psychological needs of the team.

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To wrap up

As the business ecosystem is changing rapidly with all the technological advancements and evolving consumer behavior, organizations need a creative, innovative, and highly motivated team ready to handle all the challenges. Organizations that can meet the psychological needs of the employees end up with increased innovation levels, high agility, and better experimentation which results in overall improved health and performance.

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