Employee motivation and engagement are essential for a productive workplace – but it isn’t as easy as hosting a few employee events. Fostering a healthy workplace culture means building trust with your employees and enabling them to feel comfortable at work. This is otherwise known as psychological safety. In this blog, we’ll discuss psychological safety, its benefits, and some tips for encouraging it in your workplace.
What is psychological safety?
In the workplace, psychological safety is a shared belief held by members of a team that it’s OK to take risks, to express their ideas and concerns, to speak up with questions, and to admit mistakes – all without fear of negative consequences. This type of workplace safety is directly tied to workplace culture and how members of an organization value and interact with one another. This is not just a top-down approach – psychological safety practices must occur between higher-ups and personnel, as well as employee-to-employee, to create a successful work environment.
What are the benefits of psychological safety?
There are numerous benefits of psychological safety in the workplace. Feeling safe and supported to take risks, share ideas, and discuss mistakes creates trust between team members, allowing productivity and job satisfaction. Shared trust also makes employees feel more comfortable at work. This often means they feel more engaged and motivated – the best ideas often come from a healthy working environment.
Further, shared trust and comfort among staff members allows teams to cooperate and collaborate more effectively, with everyone feeling comfortable contributing their strengths for a better result. Employees who feel that their contributions are valued and supported will be more engaged and successful! Individual and overall performance and well-being can be improved through fostering workplace psychological safety.
How can I encourage psychological safety?
While leading by example is the best way to encourage psychological safety, it is ultimately up to each individual to contribute to this workplace culture. That being said, here are some behaviours you can start practicing to help encourage others:
Be open-minded and willing to listen in groups and one-on-one situations
Encourage learning from mistakes rather than disciplining them
Promote open dialogue about workplace culture and psychological safety
Use predictability and fairness in your responses to situations and ideas
Establish clear guidelines for how you are implementing psychological safety
Show appreciation when others implement psychological safety
Workplace culture doesn’t change overnight, but hopefully, these tips can help point your business down the path of success! Creating an engaged and motivated team involves many moving parts. The above is only ONE of them. Get all the tools and strategies you need to understand and address these moving parts. Enroll on the Employee Engagement Booster Program today or contact us at phil@rpmc.solutions for more information.
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