We hear a lot about psychological safety and the need for it at work. But what exactly is it, and how would you go about creating it?
From my point of view, psychological safety would include an environment where people could have respectful conversations about challenging professional – and personal – issues.
This is important because we are working through unprecedented shifts in markets, and the pandemic that is now endemic.
There are only more and more difficult conversations we need to have, and we need to be able to have them without fear or personal or professional repercussions.
Cathy Presland, my friend from “across the pond,” posted her opinion on this on LinkedIn. I thought it was helpful and thought-provoking, so I wanted to share it with you. (You can scroll down to read the whole post.)
What we don’t need is more hyper PC tiptoeing around the issues that need to be tackled head on. We need to be able to talk about the tough, and possibly contentious, issues in a respectful and productive way.
Professionals at all levels of an organization need to be supported in asking the tough questions and offering solutions that may not be popular, but may be the exact strategy that moves the company forward.
In order for professionals to feel comfortable showing up and presenting their best ideas, there needs to be psychological safety in the workplace.
Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash
