2022 – the year of uncertainty in the workspace
2022 was the year of unprecedented changes in the workspace. Amidst Covid, the war in Europe and the impending recession the workforce is facing challenges, such as the Great Resignation and Quiet Quitting. Many companies are facing financial challenges, struggling with layoffs and dealing with dramatic changes in ways of working. The shift to hybrid and virtual work has taken it’s toll on employees’ sense of belonging. These changes combined with inadequate change management can result in exceptionally high turnover rates and burnout, increased absenteeism and plummeting productivity and performance.
When the outside world exerts unusual trauma on your life, the last thing you need is more of it from your work environment – Forbes, 2022
With rising rates of burnout and pre-burnout, many employees are no longer willing to put their wellbeing on the line to cope with their work tasks. With over 47 million people having quit their job in 2021 (which, according to research is 36.8% more than the previous year), it is evident that employee’s dissatisfaction with working conditions and poor leadership is pushing them to take action.
The single, conclusive lesson we can all learn from this is that we can no longer afford to ignore, dismiss or undermine the role of psychological safety. The data is clearly showing, that the importance of psychological safety will only continue to grow, and it is quickly becoming a non-negotiable to employees. Psychological safety, diversity, equity, and inclusion are quickly becoming self-explanatory principles among employees. Money, benefits and status are great, but clearly no longer worth socially unsustainable conditions in workplaces. According to Forbes, Millennials and Gen Z, especially, prefer autonomy and contribution over status. Surveys show them to want work-life-balance, purpose in their work, social and interpersonal connections on their team and most of all, the employees need to feel valued by their work organisations. These changes are likely to persist and demand a change in the way employees are hired and retained. There is no better place to begin than by addressing psychological safety. Why is that?
The role of psychological safety in 2023
According to Amy Edmondson, psychological safety, in essence, means the shared ability to share emotions and experiences that can be perceived negatively by others. In psychologically safe teams the individuals are able to be themselves and to share their ideas, feelings and mistakes openly, without fearing embarrassment or shaming from others. Numerous studies have shown that psychologically safe teams perform better, have lower talent attrition and suffer from lower rates of burnout and pre-burnout.
Having psychological safety ensures that the employees are expressing their feelings openly, that they can express when they are facing difficulty or challenges- either professionally or personally. This benefits everyone from the team members to the managers and organisation, too, with an increased awareness of each other’s state and more understanding of how to support one another better.
The only way through a crisis is with open communication. This will help the organisation move through changes as a unit, and enable for the problem solving to happen as a team. Moving through crisis with low or poor psychological safety will cause the individuals to feel isolated, whereas fostering psychological safety will enable for the team to innovate solutions and to enjoy each other’s support while doing so. At best, with the help of psychological safety, the workspace can provide a community and a safe place for the employees when the world feels uncertain and full of fear mongering.
We arrive at the million dollar question – How can team members and team leads support the team’s performance while simultaneously prioritising everyone’s individual wellbeing?
So what can I do?
The great news is that supporting psychological safety in a team is possible despite any hierarchies- you do not need to be a team leader in order to have a significant impact on your team’s psychological safety! In fact, creating psychological safety is a team effort. Everyone can and should participate in creating a safe workplace, where everyone feels comfortable expressing themselves as they are.
Here are some things you can do to support your team’s psychological safety:
- Acknowledge the challenges and the challenging times – show your colleagues that you are there for them even when organisations are facing difficult times.
- Reflect on your behaviour at work – are you emphatising with your colleagues when they share their feelings?
- Pay attention to your communication – are you expressing things openly, do you feel safe to express when there are issues or mistakes? Are you contributing to creating a safe space for others to do so?
- The most efficient way to support and increase psychological safety is to ask questions. Start asking openminded (and open ended), engaging questions and watch your organisational culture change! The power of engaging questions is that by explicitly asking you create the safe space for others to respond. Also, the teams that share learning behaviors together, thrive together!
For leaders:
- If you haven’t yet, get proactive on learning about and meeting your employees needs for purpose, impact, connection and communication.
- When it comes to team-level challenges, include your whole team in problem solving. This will increase everyone’s sense of agency in a situation that might have otherwise felt helpless or hopeless.
- Recognise that not hearing news is not good news. If issues are not being brought up on your team, you need to address psychological safety and learn why your team is not feeling safe to express difficulties or challenges.
Understand and measure the level of psychological safety in your teams. Use behavioral data to raise awareness about the things that make or break psychological safety in your team and support behaviors that build thriving team dynamics. The change is made in everyday behaviors.
