Driving Performance through Psychological Safety - The role of the Leader

"A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way." - John Maxwell 

In today's fast-paced and competitive business world, leaders are constantly looking for ways to drive performance and productivity within their teams. While there are many strategies and techniques that can be implemented, one key factor that is often overlooked is psychological safety. 

Psychological safety is the belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes. 

It is the foundation of trust within a team and is essential for fostering open communication, collaboration, and innovation. 

Leaders who prioritize psychological safety create an environment where team members feel safe to take risks, share their thoughts and opinions and to be their authentic selves. Creating a safe environment where authenticity and differences are valued leads to increased creativity, problem-solving, and improved overall team performance. 

When team members feel psychologically safe, they are more likely to be engaged and motivated, leading to higher job satisfaction and retention rates. 

This positive work environment also reduces stress and burnout, ultimately improving employee well-being and mental health. 

To create psychological safety within your team, leaders must lead by example by demonstrating the following:

ACTIVELY LISTENING TO THEIR TEAM MEMBERS

• Being of service to others and prioritizing their needs. Empathize you value and respect their input.

• Limit distractions, close the door, put away all your devices, take manual notes if you need them

• Ensure you body language is encouraging, lean forward, nod in agreement, sit in an open manner or lean forward 

• Let them finish their thoughts and ask more open ended questions, your advice or POV can wait until later or another meeting. 

• Respect their time, if there is not enough time for the discussion, explain this clearly and tactfully, make another time that is not rushed and is not when you are running into a meeting you need to prepare for.

PROVIDING CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK

• First ask for permission, particularly if it is not favourable feedback, ensure that the team member is in a position to both hear and process the feedback. You do not want them rushing of to a meeting or to pick up the kids. This is where feedback can go pear shape

• Be problem focussed and be specific, don’t use this opportunity to cover a plethora of issues. Be clear on what the feedback is about and the outcome. 
  

• Be concise, clear and direct in a respectful courteous manner. Give examples so that the team member can see the application of the feedback and understand the actions they need to take. Being too vague or high level may lead to the team member not understanding next steps 

• Offer support and encouragement. This is your primary role as a leader. What resources and development is on offer, what coaching can you offer. How can you play a positive role in the way forward. 

• Give time and space for any questions they may have. Feedback can sometimes be hard to hear and can sometimes take time to process. Ensure there is adequate time available both in the moment and through the next few days 
  

ENCOURAGING OPEN AND HONEST COMMUNICATION

• Create a feedback loop so that there are plenty of opportunities for the open and honest communication to flow both ways - this can look like weekly one on one’s and scheduled quarterly performance conversations. These are not operational meetings, these are opportunities to talk through the week and where the individual is at. 

• Be vulnerable with your own mistakes or fails for the week. When your team see you as fallible and see you able to pick up and move on, they see you as relatable and more likely to share. 

• Ask for feedback on your own performance - ask questions such as “how can i better support you” or “is there any you need from me that would support your performance” 

• Allow your team members to fail with grace. Allow this to be a learning opportunity. Ask them how they would approach it differently next time, what do they think the issue was and ask them how to move forward from here. 

• Stretch your team members, ask them to create goals that make them uncomfortable knowing that you are going to be there every step of the way supporting them, providing feedback in a non threatening, non intrusive way, This both empowers and pushes your employees to test their boundaries is a safe space

ESTABLISHING CLEAR BOUNDARIES AND EXPECTATIONS

• Understand your priorities will help you set boundaries for both you are your team member, this way you know which boundaries you can focus on and which you can compromise 

• Be clear on timelines and what needs to be done should those timelines not be able to be met. 
  

• Set clear expectations on all communications and the appropriate modes, for instance if a team member is sick they know that a call before 8am is required and its not a problem, however a text or whats up at 9.15 is not. If your preferred mode of communication is teams but your organisation uses 4 other modes of comms be clear on where and when you will receive information and when you will review it. For example - I review my teams messages from 8am - 6pm. Anything before or post that will not be seen until I back on line 

• Ensure your team maintains a reasonable workload, this allows them to focus on the priorities you have agreed on. Lead by example, do not use language such as “ I am so busy, there is just so much to do” do not push pressure down. If there is a time of excess work, be very clear about what this entails and renewed expectations. 

• Encourage time off. It is widely recognised that taking leave and time to rest to do things that are important to the individual, kids school plays, taking the pet to the vet or taking some time after a period of increased workload leads to better wellbeing and ultimately better performance in the workplace 

• The trick here is to do all of the above while also giving their team members autonomy and flexibility to make mistakes. 

• It is vital to create a culture where mistakes are seen as opportunities for learning and growth rather than failures.

• By empowering team members and fostering a sense of belonging through psychological safety we move away from group think and limiting growth through fear based decision making to a culture of ownership and accountability and overall all business improvement.

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Want to know where to start - get in touch with us, you can also check out our resource page to your guide to Psychological Safety as a leader.

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