Tag Archive for: Psychological Safety

How to Lead your Team Successfully at Work by Building Trust

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building team trustTrust is foundational to a successful team. Being able to trust that your coworkers and employees will perform to the best of their abilities enables not only more productivity but also engaged employees. The Harvard Business Review found that people who work in places with high trust levels reported 106% more energy at work, 76% more engagement, 74% less stress, 40% less burnout, 50% higher productivity and 29% more satisfaction with their lives compared to those at a low trust workplace.

The report also found that low trust workplaces often mean that people have to spend time navigating office politics. There have been decades of research into all aspects of the workplace, team performance being a dominant one. One person who has researched trust and dysfunction in teams is Patrick Lencioni who wrote the book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

The book lists these dysfunctions as absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. Absence of trust focuses on the lack of vulnerability based trust which leads to team members not willing to be open with teammates on things like admitting mistakes or weaknesses. Fear of conflict connects to trust as it involves team members being comfortable contradicting a teammate and debating topics. Lack of commitment happens when members’ ideas aren’t being taken into account. Avoidance of accountability is when peers don’t hold each other accountable for living up to the standards of the team. The final dysfunction is inattention to results in which individual team members are more focused on their own results than the team results. Many of these dysfunctions can be addressed by making sure psychological safety is present in the workplace.

The current definition of psychological safety was coined in 1999 by Amy Edmondson and is defined as, “the belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes, and that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking.” In a recent study by Yuanqin Ge, it was found that employees that felt a sense of psychological safety in their workplace could speak more openly and often, provide their opinions to help decision making in teams and feel comfortable enough to share their ideas with managers. All of these outcomes are based on trust.

How can you apply psychological safety? According to Timothy Clarke, whose model is based off Edmondson’s 1999 research, there are Four Stages of Psychological Safety which include:

  1. Inclusion Safety – Inclusion safety involves making sure team members feel as though that can be their most authentic selves and will be accepted for that.
  2. Learner Safety – This stage includes making sure the workplace is an environment where questions are not frowned upon. The workplace needs to become a space where people feel they can ask questions to learn, give and receive feedback and even make small mistakes without fear of repercussions.
  3. Contributor Safety – In this stage, the team should feel as though they can share their ideas without the fear of being ridiculed or embarrassed. This stage can be the most difficult stage as bringing your own ideas in front of peers can be a very vulnerable position to be in.
  4. Challenger Safety – In the final stage, team members should be able to question or challenge coworkers’ (include authorities’) ideas and offer suggestions to plans or ways of working through a project.
What Can You Do to Encourage Psychological Safety In Your Own Team?

 

  • Don’t Worry about Being the “Perfect” Team

Don’t put all the emphasis on being the “perfect” team where no mistakes are made and everything is always right. It’s understandable to strive for that as a leader, but it’s not exactly feasible. All of your employees are human and humans cannot be perfect all the time, as much as we may want to be. Studies show that a perfectionist boss has negative effects on motivation, effort, and willingness to work. Let go of your perfectionism a little and allow your employees to make mistakes and learn from them. Try to avoid anger in blaming the person and instead look for ways to rectify the situation. In doing so, you not only show your employees that you trust them enough to learn from this and not do it again but also show your team that coming to you with a mistake will not result in being berated by authority.

  • Encourage All Voices

Try to create a space where everyone can say what they believe needs to be included in a discussion. Remind your team that their input is appreciated and cherished. Attempt to hear people out when they are sharing, instead of dismissing them with answers like “yes, but…” or “You don’t know enough context to understand this situation.” Instead, ask them questions and invite participation in a non threatening way such as “What point of view could we be missing?” and be willing to accept criticisms. It may help to even set up meetings with a portion for playing the devil’s advocate and addressing those concerns as a group. Making sure that your employees feel as though they are being heard can encourage them to continue speaking up and bringing unique ideas and solutions to the table.

  • Focus on Building a Team Culture

Build a team where no one is afraid to ask each other for help. Make it the norm that coworkers encourage each other and have that begin with you. Try to schedule times for your team to spend time together and focus on feedback and appreciation. Make sure you let your team know you appreciate them and are supporting their development personally and professionally. Do this as well as events like happy hours or fun team building activities so your employees can let loose a little. You are with these people 35+ hours a week. Knowing more about them and feeling safe around them will make working with them more enjoyable and productive.

The addition of psychological safety can do wonders for increasing trust in your team. Trust and safety go hand in hand in making sure your workplace is one that can flourish and perform to its highest standards. Applying these few examples can make huge strides towards a more productive and happy work environment for your team.

By Chloe Williams

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The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and How to Address Them

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five dysfunctions of a teamHigh performing teams, and the desire for them, is a common occurrence in corporations. While teams and groups are commonly used as synonyms, they are different from each other. Oxford Dictionary defines a team as a group of people who work together at a particular job while a group is defined as a number of people or things that are together in the same place. As common as teams are, it should come as no surprise that some work better than others. Dysfunction in teams is all around. Behnam Tabrizi found that nearly 75% of cross-functional teams were dysfunctional. In his book, The Five Dysfunctions of A Team, Patrick Lencioni describes the most common dysfunctions in a team. These dysfunctions are as follows:

  1. Absence of trust
  2. Fear of conflict
  3. Lack of commitment
  4. Avoidance of accountability
  5. Inattention to results

Lencioni argues that trust is foundational for teams. Without the basis of trust, dysfunctions will not be able to be resolved. Research from the Harvard Business Review found that people who work in places with high trust levels reported 106% more energy at work, 76% more engagement, 74% less stress, 40% less burnout, 50% higher productivity and 29% more satisfaction with their lives compared to those at a low trust workplace. Low trust workplaces often have to deal with, and navigate, office politics. Resolving the absence of trust dysfunction is crucial to resolving the later dysfunctions. Each dysfunction is based on the resolution of the previous dysfunction and cannot be mastered out of order. For example, if your team shows lack of commitment, it is likely that there is also a fear of conflict from some, if not all of your team members. When a member doesn’t feel as though they can disagree and create conflict with a coworker, they will not be fully committed to the solution proposed because they were never able to weigh in their own opinions.

So how can you tell which dysfunction your team is stuck at and what can you do to resolve it? Here are some examples for each level:

Dysfunction #1 – Absence of Trust

Teams with absence of trust may:

  • Not own up to mistakes made
  • Not admit that they can’t do something to hide their weaknesses from other team members
  • Be unwilling to go out of the realm of their job descriptions to help a coworker

What can you do to address it?

  • Have team members be vulnerable and tell the team something about themselves then discuss as a team what you learned. This increases vulnerability between the team and makes it easier to continue to be vulnerable.
  • Focus on everyone’s strengths. Doing this will help team members gain confidence in themselves and their work. This could inspire coworkers to appreciate the strengths and talents of their peers.

Addressing lack of trust can:

  • Lead to quicker reaction to issues, now that mistakes can be admitted more openly
  • Prevent mistakes before they happen if coworkers feel comfortable to ask for assistance on projects
Dysfunction #2 – Fear of Conflict

Teams that fear conflict may:

  • Not listen to understand during a disagreement, rather listen to win the disagreement and argue their point
  • Not converse with a coworker they disagree with and speak behind their backs
  • Let leaders dominate a meeting and leave the meeting
  • Display artificial harmony in which there is no conflict at all

What can you do to address it?

  • Suggest an obviously bad idea and see if anyone in your team argues. If they don’t, there is a blatant fear of conflict.
  • Show your team that having opposing views can be productive and helpful.
  • Have a “devil’s advocate” portion of the meeting in which an opposing view can be argued.
  • Thank team members for bringing up different points of view that may conflict with the consensus.

Addressing fear of conflict can:

  • Lead to quicker resolution of issues
  • Lessen the amount of office politics
  • Allow more diverse views and lead to innovation
Dysfunction #3 – Lack of Commitment

Teams that have a lack of commitment may:

  • Have members who don’t commit to an idea because it’s not their idea
  • Have the false impression everyone is on the same page after leaving a meeting
  • Mean members don’t contribute to the discussion because their ideas differ

What can you do to address it?

  • Ask members if they have anything to add, any other ideas or (especially) differing opinions on the topic at hand.
  • Encourage team members to ask questions for clarification.
  • Set a team goal and have objectives for everyone to commit to.

Addressing lack of commitment can:

  • Help the team understand why a goal is being addressed in a certain way
  • Help members commit to an idea after being heard out about their own
  • Show the main goal of the team and what is expected of team members
Dysfunction #4 – Avoidance of Accountability

Teams that have an avoidance of accountability may:

  • Have peers who won’t hold each other accountable on performance and behavioral aspects
  • Have leave leaders with the sole responsibility of discipline
  • Include members not performing to the best of their ability

What can you do to address it?

  • Start at the leadership level and call members out on their behavioral mistakes and let this trickle down to peer level.
  • Regularly review team members’ individual performance and remind the team of the high standards expected.
  • Have the team come together and share one thing for each member that could be improved to promote accountability between team members.

Addressing avoidance of accountability can:

  • Lead to quicker and higher quality performance from the whole team
  • Urge poor performers to improve performance
  • Take some of the strain off of leaders
Dysfunction #5 – Inattention to Results

Teams that have an Inattention to Results:

  • Don’t focus on the team as a whole when working on projects
  • Attain personal goals more often than team goals.
  • Fail to develop as a team

What can you do to address it?

  • Have regular meetings to review key metrics
  • Keep a scoreboard of some type that keeps the team updated on tasks that have been completed.

Addressing inattention to results can:

  • Increase the amount of team goals hit
  • Increase team work and minimize individualism in these settings
  • Increase development as a team

All of these dysfunctions take time and effort to resolve. You have to start at the beginning of the five dysfunctions and work your way through them all to create a truly functional team. If you find that your team is exhibiting dysfunctions of one stage and they can’t seem to be overcome, try taking a step back and looking at the dysfunction level before it. You may find that your team’s problem lies there. Sometimes moving backwards is the only way to avoid an obstacle (or dysfunction) and move forward. Use these tips and ideas to work on creating the trusting, highly functioning team that businesses should aim for and see if the research done by the Harvard Business Review rings true for you.

By Chloe Williams

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Shattering the Glass Ceiling Is Great But Why Are We Ignoring the Fallout?

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shattering the glass ceiling Shattering a glass ceiling has become synonymous with success for the working woman. Many individuals, groups and even some organizations dedicate energy, attention and resources to helping women do exactly that. But what happens when these women finally do break through the glass ceiling? What comes next?

Anyone who has ever had the surprise of dropping a glass cup or bowl knows that shattering the glass is only the beginning. React too quickly or carelessly and someone ends up with a cut or, worse, in the E.R. for stitches. Yet we aren’t reacting with the same care and caution for women who shatter the glass ceiling only to be left bearing the weight of the damage.

We expect the struggle to be over when a woman breaks through a glass ceiling but even when it looks positive on the outside, the fallout from breaking through continues to perpetuate harm. Even when women reach the proverbial top, many aren’t psychologically safe, which can lead to more damage and harm.

We see this as evidenced by an increased lack of inclusion and belonging often coming from both the team they have left and the new team they’ve just entered. Health and wellness suffer. Feelings of isolation and loneliness increase while the pressure to perform increases. Despite their achievement, they are still expected to work twice as hard to keep their new status and prove they deserve that status to the people who aren’t used to seeing a woman at the top.

The implications of leaving this reality unchecked are too high—it’s time to expand our care for women in the workplace to include those at the top of their teams, departments and organizations.

1. Acknowledge the harm.

Most women who shatter the glass ceiling have had an arduous journey. Acknowledging what they likely went through due to systemic injustices is a great way to show “I hear you and I see you.” This helps build the trust required to provide additional care for the aftermath of their journey.

2. Provide a mentor.

The journey does not stop once a woman gets into their first leadership role or rises in the ranks. It will be important that women are intentionally matched with those who can support and sponsor them as they heal and settle into their new roles.

3. Amplify women’s voices.

It’s critical that when a woman enters a new team, their voice is welcomed and valued. One great way to welcome any new team member is to prompt them for their feedback and opinions in meetings first. This will allow them to genuinely share their perspectives without feeling they must agree with others.

4. Applaud women publicly.

As important as amplifying a woman’s voice is celebrating their voice. When a woman comes up with an innovative solution to a long-standing problem or gives an amazing presentation, give credit where it’s due. Often women’s accomplishments are not uplifted or celebrated. Worse, their credit may be taken by someone who is more vocal. Applauding women is not limited to when they are in the room; coworkers should be as willing to provide credit when they are not around.

5. Check in.

This may be the simplest yet most important of the actions. Once a woman “makes it,” it’s often assumed that she will no longer face the problems that other women face early in their careers. Unfortunately, it can be just as hard at the top, and support from a supervisor will be an essential part of feeling a sense of inclusion and belonging. This support can look like scheduling quarterly career conversations outside of performance reviews, scheduling a lunch with the sole goal of getting to know the woman better and asking about how the employee would like to receive feedback and respecting that preference when possible.

6. Advocate for equitable resources.

Individual efforts like the above are great and they help, but we also need to advocate for company policies that support women after they shatter a glass ceiling. These policies include complementary safety measures that not only encourage women to grow and advance in the workplace but also guarantee continued protection and care as they move along their career path. Measures like mental health and pregnancy support for women pre and post promotion can help ensure that women and those in underrepresented groups safely reach their leadership destinations whether they’re working toward a C-Suite or the White House.

The harm many women experience after shattering the glass ceiling is not something we can ignore. Progress has not kept pace with changing demographics, and we are still seeing too many instances of women being in a role for the first time, especially those in underrepresented groups.

Women need our help now. It is not enough to fix this problem for future generations or plan to have a solution in the next 30 years. Whether you are in a leadership role or not, we all have a responsibility to ensure that women are celebrated, not just tolerated, and given equal opportunity to learn, grow and thrive. It’s not enough for a woman to be invited to a room to sit at the table; their voice needs to be heard and valued even after they shatter the glass ceiling.

By: Antoinetta Mosley is the CEO and Principal Leader at I Follow the Leader LLC, a strategic consulting firm specializing in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategy, initiatives, and education. As a Certified Diversity Professional (CDP), Antoinetta has worked on a range of projects for organizations of all sizes, including small to global nonprofits as well as Fortune 500 companies and travels the country as a sought-after speaker on DEI, courageous conversations, and belonging in the workplace. She teaches DEI for Arlan Hamilton’s Arlan’s Academy, has been featured in The New York Times.

The opinions and views of guest contributions are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com

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Seven ways to make 2020 a year without harassment of women at work

Guest Contributed By Dr Galina Goncharenko

In 2017, an American actress, Alyssa Milano, tweeted: “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet”. The Twitter message went viral and triggered one of the largest contemporary movements against abuse of power, assault and harassment. The #MeToo movement provided visibility and continuous public scrutiny to the cases of abuse of power, sexual harassment and misconduct in the workplace. However, it has also highlighted the paucity of options open to women to report problem behavior in the office. Even though, it was effective for celebrities to use their public profile and social media to highlight their appalling treatment, it isn’t necessarily an option for everyone. Here are the seven ways to spend 2020 and the years ahead without harassment and sexual misconduct at work.

Call out inappropriate behavior if you see it in the workplace

We still need to deepen our understanding of the nature of sexual harassment and identify all types of inappropriate behavior that should be no longer tolerated in the workplace. According to the UN survey (2018), less than 2% of the sexual misconduct cases contain attempted or actual sexual assault in the workplace. The remaining 98% include being subjected to sexual stories or jokes, offensive remarks about body and appearance, attempts to draw into a discussion on sexual matters, gestures or use of body language of a sexual nature and touching. Be aware that all these actions belong to sexual misconduct in the workplace as even the least severe of them can cause long-lasting psychological damage and harm your productivity and wellbeing at work.

Ensure that your employer takes the threats of sexual harassment seriously

The #MeToo movement advocates changes to the laws, policies and regulations surrounding sexual harassment and assault, for example, instituting protocols that give victims the ability to file complaints and report predatory behavior without retaliation, as well as the elimination of non-disclosure agreements in the cases of sexual misconduct. The practical steps recommended to be undertaken by organizations include the recognition of inappropriate behavior, the declaration of a zero-tolerance culture on sexual misconduct and acknowledgement of male domination and the need to increase the presence of female leadership. Companies are, or at least should be, refreshed to the importance that the reports and investigations of misconduct should be treated proactively and robustly, with feedback to victims, survivors and the general public.

Ensure that your company has right toolkit to raise a complaint

There are social, cultural and practical barriers to reporting sexual harassment, abuse and misconduct. It can be very difficult to report misconduct in the office face-to-face or via email because the unwanted recipient of the harassment may feel awkward about discussing it, may be uncertain about how the complaint will be received or might wish to complain about someone who is in a position of power or authority over them. Fortunately, we have seen the creation of a market for new digital solutions of harassment reporting which hopefully will help make the complaint raising process easier and empower harassment victims to report all levels of inappropriate workplace conduct. For instance, a London-based technological start-up, Vault Platform, designed a “TrustTech” end-to-end platform that includes the employee app, corporate case management hub and data analytics and helps to support accountability and safety in organizations. This product empowers employees to speak up when they encounter misconduct.

Nurture the new working culture

The technical innovations alone won’t eradicate harassment from the office. The implementation of technological solutions to tackle harassment need to be interlinked to continuous improvement of organizational culture and personal accountability. To move forward the change in organizational practices and culture the creation of psychologically-safe and respectful working environments need to be emphasized. The lack of psychological safety in organizations generates fear and prevents employees from being effective, resourceful and creative. Psychological safety of individuals needs to be placed at the center of developing safe, inclusive and non-discriminatory working environments.  The culture of effective innovation in organizations starts from securing psychological safety of employees, valuing human capital and creating transparency for the balance of power, respect, empathy and non-tolerance of abusive behaviors.

Sign up to kitemarks, codes of conduct and professional campaigns
We have also seen increased opportunities for companies to signal their values through schemes like #HeForShe campaign and #OvertoYou kitemark. Launched by UN Women in 2014, the #HeForShe campaign invites people around the world to stand in solidarity with women to create a visible and united force for gender equality. The #OverToYou Kitemark promotes the work organizations undertake to tackle sexual harassment in the workplace. The priority of workplace ethics has also raised in the codes of conducts and standards of many professional bodies, such as the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute.

Find creative ways to learn more and take inspiration

The #MeToo movement, toxicity and complicity in working environment together with the need for further female empowerment were among the main themes of popular culture in 2019. This brought several inspiring movies and TV series to watch to stay tuned for the #MeToo agenda. For example, a powerful TV drama The Morning Show with Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon shows authentically the complexity of workplace power dynamics and the deep psychological damage of sexual harassment. Another inspiring example is Bombshell with Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie, revealing the true story of how the culture of impunity at Fox News has been unchecked for decades and finally tackled by the acquisitions of 23 known victims.  In addition, the New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey published She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement, documenting the origins of the #MeToo movement and their investigation of Harvey Weinstein’s case.

Stay conscious

Despite the obligations of employers, regulators and society to ensure non-violent working environment, your safety in the workplace starts with you. Stay empowered by knowing that feeling safe at work is your fundamental human right and learn about the ways to identify and report on unhealthy power imbalances and misbehavior and the instruments to protect yourself.

 

Guest Bio:

Dr Galina Goncharenko is a Lecturer in Accounting at the University of Sussex Business School. Her research engagement project “The impact of harassment reporting technology on organisational accountability and psychological safety in the workplace”  aims to move forward the change in organizational practices and culture emphasizing creating psychologically-safe and respectful working environments. The project facilitates the LinkedIn community “Organisations Without Harassment”  to share effective practices and develop better methods of reducing workplace harassment.

Guest contributor views that are not necessarily those of the glasshammer.com – all rights reserved.

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Want to be an inclusive leader? Create psychological safety for your team

Several years ago diversity became diversity and inclusion with many putting emphasis on the inclusion part.

How can you walk the talk on being an inclusive leader of a high performing team? Because performance and team happiness is the reward of actually doing diversity right.

Why is creating psychological safety the answer?

Studies have been exploring the effects of psychological safety at work for several years now and Google more recently experimented the concept with something they call Project Aristotle. They discovered that just by having genius or two on the team, you are not going to get the best results. However, if you have a team environment where people can feel safe and heard and valued as themselves, then they can think and perform better and the result is productivity. There are many factors to high performing teams for sure but Google’s data indicated that psychological safety, more than anything else, was critical to making a team work. This certainly makes sense if you think about it. Women ( and anyone who does not fit the mold of the traditional legacy work persona /expert) can find space to connect with others talking work and/or any other topic of shared interest.

Where to start?

Tip 1: Recognize the belief system in your team. What is the norm for your team? What are the shared beliefs that you all have? How does that make it easy for people to express ideas outside of the belief set? Is cognitive or thought diversity rewarded or silenced? If an event happens, such as a code problem, then what are the thoughts and actions from this? What emotions are attached and how are they expressed? What happens then?

Tip 2: Social identity diversity- having all types of people on your team is a good start but let people talk, let them tell you about their lives. Find out that diversity is not about noah’s ark and not a collectable set of 2 of each “kind”. People have personalities, traits and behaviors that often not aligned with the stereotypes regarding gender, ethnicity and other identities that so commonly prevail. Let people tell you their interests and likes instead of you presuming who and what they are! You might just be surprised at the results. If people have anxiety over being themselves ( for example, an LGBT person cannot mention their significant other by name or pronoun due to fear of not being accepted equally) then they cannot engage fully in the team as trust is everything. Acceptance and trust are interrelated!

Tip 3: Studies show women are less confident than men. I wonder when people are going to connect the dots on this one. Granted, personality has some part to play but really If women are less confident, it is because culturally, whether its explicitly or implicitly, they have been messaged to not believe in themselves to an equal degree as their male counterparts or simply put others have not endorsed them to the same degree. It is a true fact women experience credibility tests multiple times per day from is that your plane seat to are you sure your budget is right. This tedx tells of a man who became a woman recounting the difference in treatment or we can look to the Heidi Rozen Stanford experiment. Or the 50 year long academic body of work Virginia Schein has done on “think manager, think male”. I have written about this every single day for 12 straight years so the glaring systemic and culture issues that remain unaddressed are getting a little tedious. So, as a leader you have to think about your role in ensuring the women on your team get heard. Tell them to ask, but listen when they do!

If it is done properly however, inclusion is the most powerful tool a leader or manager can have in their toolkit because it can provide something that is the basis for individual and team performance.

Need an executive coach? Work with me on the system and your part in it, why you behave like you do and how you shouldn’t believe all that you think! Email nicki@evolvedpeople.com for an exploratory (free) chat to see if coaching can help you be a better professional, manager or leader.

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How do you become an inclusive manager? Create Psychological Safety for your Team

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diverse workforce featuredSeveral years ago diversity became diversity and inclusion. What does this mean? Well I am not going to lie, for most firms even if they have it in the title of a department, it means nothing just another buzzword.. If it is done properly however, inclusion is the most powerful tool a leader or manager can have in their toolkit because it can provide something that is the basis for individual and team performance. How do you become an inclusive leader , manager or person? Psychological safety at work- yes that’s right and studies have been exploring this for years, as has Google more recently with something they call Project Aristotle. They discovered that just by having a genius or two on the team, you are not going to get the best results. However if you have a team environment where people can feel, as well as think and be themselves (expressing themselves is really key here and being heard) then no matter who is on the team, the result is productivity. There are many factors to high performing teams for sure but Google’s data indicated that psychological safety, more than anything else, was critical to making a team work. This certainly makes sense if you think about it. Women (and anyone who does not fit the mold of the traditional work persona /expert) can find space to connect with others talking work and/or any other topic of shared interest.

So, let people talk, let them tell you about their lives and let them flow. For some of us (I know I am guilty of this) like to stay on task and to draw boundaries around topics when digression and tangents feel out of control, but maybe, just maybe try out this way of being in your next meeting.

By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist.

Contact nicki@theglasshammer.com if you would like to hire a coach to help you navigate your career

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