VoxxedDays Bucharest - The 3As of Psychological Safety

Transcript

1. The 3As of Psychological Safety Magda Miu | @magdamiu Engineering Manager @Adobe Android Google Developer Expert
2. • WHY => Research & Define the concept • HOW => Apply the 3As of Psychological Safety • WHAT => Concrete actions to do from today WHY HOW WHAT Agenda
3. WHY Research & Define the concept
4. Psychological Safety is a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. Harvard professor Dr. Amy Edmondson
5. Psychological safety was by far the most important of the five key dynamics we found. It's the underpinning of the other four. Julia Rozovsky “The five keys to a successful Google team”
6. f(Psychological Safety ) = Trust* + Permission + Respect Trust = Character + Competence 10-12% of Romanians believe that others are trustworthy, and 85% believe that they are trustworthy. This translates into the fact that each of us believe that we are a country of thieves, populated by honest people. “I'm trustworthy, but I think you're not.” [info from decoder.ro] *
7. YAY This is Psychological Safety NAY This is NOT Psychological Safety Freedom to share thoughts Saying anything you want Expressing concerns Letting your emotions go as you please Allocating tasks and coaching when needed Leadership taking a laissez-faire approach A space where people feel a sense of ease and support A space free of any inner discomfort Taking measured risks after considering possible scenarios Taking risks and hoping for the best Everything is considered Everything is tolerated
8. What happens behind the scenes We seek to avoid, not always in a conscious way, the interpersonal risks: • We don’t want to appear ignorant, so we don’t ask questions • We don’t want to look incompetent, so we don’t admit mistakes • We don’t want to be intrusive, so we don’t offer ideas • We don’t want to seem negative, so we don’t question the status quo We tend to discount the future in favour of today. This is also called the present bias, and explains why we shut down and disengage.
9. A 2017 Gallup poll found that only 3 in 10 employees strongly agree with the statement that their opinions count at work. By moving the ratio to 6 in 10 employees it results: – 27% reduction in turnover – 40% reduction in safety incidents – 12% increase in productivity Researchers around the world have found that psychological safety offers benefits for learning, engagement, innovation, and performance in a wide range of organizations. 50% of employees are more PRODUCTIVE in a psych safety teams 76% of employees are more ENGAGED in a psych safety teams 50% of employees are more LIKELY TO STAY in a psych safety teams Why it matters
10. HOW Apply the 3As of Psychological Safety
11. The Performance Quadrant COMFORT zone People are open and collegial but not challenged. They will not reach their potential for performance. This team may be long lasting, because there is low incentive to change, and will achieve at least some of their goals. 😌 LEARNING zone People collaborate and learn in the service of high performance, getting complex and innovative work done. The team demonstrates a strong drive to deliver results. This zone is also called “High Performance Zone”. 🤩 APATHY zone People show up at work with their hearts and minds elsewhere. This team will not achieve anything meaningful, and may demonstrate a relatively high turnover of team members. 🥱 ANXIETY zone People are reluctant to offer ideas, try new things, or ask for help, putting the work at risk. These teams are often characterised by high turnover of team members, high burnout, high stress levels and conflict. 🥺 PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY PERFORMANCE STANDARDS low low high high The good teams, I suddenly thought, don't make more mistakes; they report more.
12. Stress Level & Performance Dopamine Pleasure & Motivation Cortisol Awake & Active Adrenaline Survival Functions The Yerkes-Dodson Law & Amishi Jha Stress test https://www.mindtools.com/auhx7b3/burnout-self-test
13. The challenge… ⭐ Situation: the team members are afraid to speak up and to share half-ideas Task: to improve the psychological safety inside of my teams Action: plan, do, check Result: improved engagement and collaboration
14. The 3As of Psychological Safety From idea to a scaled concept Address the results Assess the context Advertise the concept
15. The Framework: The 3As of Psychological Safety
16. The Workshop
17. WHAT Concrete actions to do from today
18. Assess your personal impact 7 questions/areas to assess your personal impact on Psychological Safety by Timothy R. Clark 1. Presence: Does your presence has an impact on the tone and tenor of a meeting? 2. Collaboration: How do you influence the decisions? 3. Feedback: Fear breaks the feedback loop. Does your influence increase or restrict the flow of feedback? 4. Inquiry: Does your influence draw people out or shut them down? 5. Dissent: It is critical to making good decisions. Do you encourage and reward dissent or discourage and punish dissent? 6. Mistakes: They are clinical material for learning and progress. Do you celebrate mistakes & the lessons learned or overreact & marginalize those who make them? 7. Unvarnished Truth: Can people tell you what you don’t want to hear when you don’t want to hear it?
19. To create the most impactful products and services, as a team member is not your right, is your responsibility to challenge ideas with respect. If you are an IC and not only…
20. 3 Ideas & Practices for IC and not only 1. Have a common understanding/language ◦ “Black Hole Words” and the power of asking stupid questions (inspired by Molly Graham) ◦ Samples: feedback, mistakes, quality, operational readiness, monitoring & alerting 2. Model and practice curiosity ◦ Avoid “why” questions ◦ Don’t mistake silence for agreement ◦ Share your perspective and invite your colleagues to share also theirs: ▪ What are we missing? ▪ What other options might we consider? ▪ Who has a different point of view? ▪ Do you have experiences with things like that? 3. Be inclusive in decision making ◦ Solicit input, opinions, and feedback from your colleagues ◦ Don’t interrupt or allow interruptions (e.g. step in when someone is interrupted and ensure his/her idea is heard) ◦ Acknowledge input from others (e.g. highlight when your colleagues were contributors to a success or decision)
21. The job of a leader is not to protect their team from discomfort. It’s to protect them from harm and motivate them to push through the discomfort and harness it for growth. If you stay completely comfortable at the gym, your muscles will never grow. If you are a Leader and not only…
22. 3 Ideas & Practices for Leaders and not only 1. Run effective 1:1s ◦ Main topics: issues and concerns, give and receive feedback, career conversations ◦ Listen to understand ◦ When you receive bad news from your team members ▪ “Thank you for letting me know” ▪ “What could be done?” (look forward) 2. Frame the work to handle ambiguity ◦ Frame the work as a learning problem(we run experiments), not an execution problem ◦ Define together with your team processes, frameworks, plans and review them periodically ◦ Recognize that new projects/initiatives have uncertainty and risk ◦ Acknowledge your own failures, and the lessons learned 3. A team with purpose is engaged, inspired, and psychologically safe ◦ Define with your team the values, mission and team alliance
23. Speaking up is only the first step. The true test is how leaders respond when people actually speak up. Harvard professor Dr. Amy Edmondson
24. Resources Learn about the concept: • [video] What is Psychological Safety? by Timothy Clark • [video] What Psychological Safety Is Not: How Organizations Miss the Mark by Timothy Clark • [audio] Spotify playlist about Psychological Safety • [research] Psychological safety and the critical role of leadership development • [article] How to Get Your Team to Challenge Your Ideas • [research] The five keys to a successful Google team • [research] New Data Highlights Value of Psychological Safety in the Workplace - Ecsell Institute Shares Empirical Evidence on How Managers Can Improve (Jan 2022) • [article] 10 Red Flags That Psychological Safety Is Lacking In Your Workplace • [article] Why psychological safety is the key to creativity and innovation in the workplace Resources to share with your colleagues: • [video - 12 min] Building a psychologically safe workplace | Amy Edmondson | TEDxHGSE • [article - 5 min] High-Performing Teams Need Psychological Safety. Here's How to Create It • [article - 7 min] Research: To Excel, Diverse Teams Need Psychological Safety • [article - 5 min] Make Your Meetings a Safe Space for Honest Conversation • [article - 5 min] What is Psychological Safety? (FAQ with Management Experts)
25. CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo, including icons by Flaticon, and infographics & images by Freepik Do you have any questions? Website: magdamiu.com Twitter: @magdamiu LinkedIn: /in/magdamiu/ THANKS!