Psychological Safety

(originally posted on LinkedIn)

Collaboration and creativity are possible only where there is a comfort with ambiguity and “unknown unknowns”, where we can safely learn from failures, in environments that embrace diversity & inclusion. This necessitates “psychological safety”.

“Psychological safety is the biggest distinction in innovative teams” says, Frederik Pferdt, Chief Innovation Evangelist at Google.

In this talk Pferdt and IDEO CEO, Tim Brown come together to talk about fostering creativity and the importance of “psychological safety”.

“They’ve [Google] found it’s not so much who is on the team but how they communicate. It’s essential they have empathy and communicate openly and honestly. To promote psychological safety, leaders can be vulnerable and role model what trust looks like in a team.”  

They include the attached infographic from the World Economic Forum, comparing behaviours when there is “psychological danger” vs. “psychological safety”.

​What are the paradigm shifts needed to ensure “psychological safety” in your workplace?