Encouraging Diverse Perspectives Starts With Psychological Safety

When the Google Aristotle Project uncovered psychological safety as the primary factor that differentiates high-performing teams from low-performing ones, it was considered a landmark finding. In these kinds of environments, employees can speak up, challenge the status quo, take risks and make mistakes without fear of retribution or other negative consequences.

Psychological safety has always been essential, but it might be more critical now than ever as the diversity, equity and inclusion movement experiences backlash. Fostering a safe workplace can be a highly effective way to encourage diversity of thinking in a way that people on both sides of the DEI debate can get behind.

What does psychological safety look like?

Perhaps the easiest way to illustrate this concept is through an example of what happens when psychological safety is lacking in a workplace.

During an executive team meeting, a VP suggests a novel idea for solving the company’s persistent service quality problems. However, the CEO immediately dismisses the idea, saying “That will never work here,” and asks if anyone else has a better suggestion. No one speaks up, so the topic gets tabled for another day.

By demonstrating that new or different ideas aren't welcome, the CEO has created a psychologically unsafe environment. Whether through criticism, ostracism or dismissal, they've discouraged others from offering perspectives that could help solve problems or advance important objectives.

Unfortunately, this scenario is common—both in the C-suite and in teams across the enterprise. Often, members’ best thinking goes unheard because speaking up and out is considered risky to current and future success.

Why is psychological safety so essential to high performance?

While the Google study findings came as a surprise at the time, today’s organizational leaders recognize how creating a culture that welcomes and encourages diverse views is paramount to success. Much like DEI, the concept of psychological safety recognizes the value of tapping into the unique creativity, experiences and perspectives of everyone. When organizations face complex, multifaceted challenges—the type that impact multiple functions and stakeholders, both internal and external—they can’t afford to squash ideas, limit thinking or inhibit innovation.

More recent research by Amy Edmondson on team psychological safety has borne out Google’s findings. The study examined the impact of this construct on 62 development teams at six large pharmaceutical companies, with a particular interest in determining how well psychological safety unlocks the benefits of diverse teams. The researchers found that teams with high psychological safety had higher performance; those with low psychological safety demonstrated performance that was far below the average. In other words, the effects of teams with low psychological safety are more detrimental for organizations than high team psychological safety is beneficial—think "One step forward, two steps back."

How can companies foster a psychologically safe environment?

As with any aspect of culture, psychological safety starts with the senior leadership team. Before executive leaders can move the needle on this important organizational characteristic, they need to create that dynamic among themselves. This requires using mechanisms that encourage them to speak freely and candidly.

Oftentimes, companies use industry-standard assessment tools to determine whether C-suite leaders possess the characteristics and aptitude to foster psychological safety. For example, are they open-minded, curious and collaborative? Do they have a fixed mindset or a learning mindset? After that, 360-degree assessments may be conducted to help each leader understand how others view them on these critical traits. Interviewing team members can also help identify key themes related to how the group manages conflict, makes decisions and encourages cross-functional collaboration by determining the differences in perspectives within the team.

These assessment results inform how much work it will take to improve psychological safety and what support leaders need to reach the desired state. To move the initiative forward, some organizations enlist an executive coach to develop personalized plans so every leader can productively mediate conflict, improve decision-making transparency and hold themselves and others accountable. For organizations on a budget, getting HR professionals and other leaders certified in executive and/or team coaching can be a practical, effective way to use internal resources to achieve the same goals.

Because psychological safety is deeply rooted in group dynamics, it's important for teams and employees across the organization to adopt behaviors that encourage a safe environment. That might involve developing effective cultural norms—or ground rules—that guide how people work and interact collaboratively.

Psychological safety is a success imperative.

For organizations that are committed to developing a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment, psychological safety is a critical component that cannot be overlooked. Creating a culture where people feel safe to express diverse views, take risks and apply creativity is an important step to ensuring every employee can contribute to company values and objectives.

Originally published: 4/5/2024 on Forbes.com