Part 3 of 3
Welcome back to the final installment of our blog series on Psychological Safety. You can access the
other parts of the series by clicking on the appropriate links below.
- Psychological Safety in the Workplace: Impact Leaders Have on Culture
- Influential Leadership Tips to Enhance Psychological Safety in the Workplace
In part three, will conclude the series with a discussion on practical actions leaders can take to enhance psychological safety in the workplace. Remember to take the self-assessment linked at the end of the blog if you haven’t done so already.
Blaming in open business environmentsWhen something goes wrong in a business, too many leaders ask, “Whose fault is this?” When a new product launch doesn’t meet expectations, it’s the fault of R&D. Or Marketing. Or Sales. Or all of the above.
In many organizations and for most leaders, when errors arise, blaming others seems like a natural reflex. Even leaders trying to create a culture of learning fall into this trap. Once we figure out who’s at fault, we try to find out what went wrong with the supposed offenders. Only when we discover what went wrong, do we feel we have grasped the problem. Clearly, they are the problem, and changing or getting rid of them (or simply being angry at them) is the solution.
This is not the right approach from a leadership perspective. When blame enters the room, it closes open minds, shuts down curiosity, and the desire to understand the root causes disappears. In an atmosphere of blame, people will naturally cover up their errors and hide real concerns. When energy is spent on finger-pointing, scapegoating, and denying responsibilities, organizational productivity suffers because of the lack of information about the real situation. Poor information can never lead to good decisions.
As a leader, if you approach an erroneous situation with an open mind and the capacity to have a respectful dialogue that aims to understand the root causes of a problem, you will also encourage your team to focus on problem-solving vs finger-pointing. Across teams, this will also foster attitudes of ‘us against the problem’ versus ‘me against you.
Action and Resolutions: Ask people around you for open and honest feedback about your approach to the culture of blame games. It's very possible that the responses you get might sting. Once you get that feedback, reflect deeply, and take some action steps. Here are a few practical ideas for you to implement during the New Year:
- Pause and think before speaking. If it feels like it’s going to be a blame, don’t say it.
- Recognize when you're blaming your circumstances or other people. Accusatory words and a fixation on the other (for e.g.: “you did this” or “you did that”) signify blame. Notice if you are using these in public forums.
- Convert blame games into learning lessons by objectively determining the root cause of whatever went wrong and using a team effort to solve for it.
Most leaders are always “crazy busy” and are typically focused on getting work done for the day, week, month, and quarter. If this sounds like you, then you also think that coaching and feedback can wait for weekly one-on-ones or during annual performance reviews. An effective leader will not wait to give feedback but will give it in-the-moment. By providing open, transparent and real-time feedback, you create a safe and trusting relationship with others. Not that the annual performance review hurts psychological safety, but there is something disingenuous about waiting and polishing feedback because it does have a shelf life. In other words, the absence of real-time feedback is really a missed opportunity, especially when done consistently, equally, and fairly across your team.
Actions and Resolutions: Reflect on where you are in terms of giving real-time feedback. Next, it’s equally important to make sure your coaching and feedback skills are up to speed. Do another quick self-assessment and if you need help, seek out some sort of training like Coaching for Business Success® to enhance your skills. Or, read some books and articles, and do whatever it takes to make sure you have embraced the tools and frameworks of great coaching and feedback.
Don’t back away from giving in-the-moment coaching and feedback, embrace it. Look for opportunities to engage with your team, peers, direct reports, and even your manager. Not only does this improve performance, but it also sets the foundation for a psychologically safe culture and environment.
Using “Anonymous Information” to provide feedbackIf you have been following this blog series, you will have noticed that providing coaching and feedback in a timely and equitable manner is one of the most important pillars in the creation of psychologically safe work environments. But what if you are misunderstanding and misusing coaching and feedback? The results can be devastating…
A bad mistake leaders make is to provide coaching and feedback based on anonymous information. We’ve all been there - a member of the team asks to share some information and insights with you about another team member in the context of continuous importance and psychological safety and you use that anonymous information to provide feedback to the person being talked about. This move could destroy psychological safety because nobody likes a snitch and worse yet, nobody likes a manager who uses information from a snitch to provide feedback.
Actions and Resolutions: Determine if you are using anonymous information to provide feedback to others and if you have unconsciously created an environment where this may be encouraged and supported. If you are doing this, you need an immediate plan of action to stop it and fix it. Here are a few ideas:
- Create a culture of giving feedback where it is direct – This is of course harder than it sounds, but a culture where feedback is given directly is the healthiest type of culture, and issues can be resolved in a more productive way.
- Walk the talk – If someone comes to you with anonymous feedback about a specific situation, then you must do everything possible to encourage and support that person to give the feedback directly. Note that this depends on the severity of the feedback. If the issue is that the person in question has broken the rules such as harassment or bullying, then initial anonymity is required.
- Judge for yourself – If someone comes to you with anonymous information, you need to take a moment to ask, “why”? What about the information is so volatile that it needs to be anonymous? Is the information critical? You need to make a judgment call and take necessary actions to create a safe environment for all – including the person who has brought you the information.
Take our Quick Self-Assessment
