The Fearless organization – creating Phycological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation and Growth
Author- Amy C Edmondson
In the organization, employees always waited for the much-anticipated event – Townhall Meeting. It was one of the event where free and frank exchange of conversations would happen. Most of the questions that was raised in the townhalls was very relevant to both employee experience as well as for the organization growth, the method adopted to raise was through Slips without names – anonymous. The leadership refused to respond to these questions, reasoning that employees do not have trust and questions will be responded only, when they are asked directly. Few gathered strengths and raised their concerns, after a month there was a gossip that the employee was transferred. Next townhall, there was silence and even though leadership requested to raise the questions, the hall filled with people, but all were silent. Might be the fear of raising the question / concern will hit the ego and get reprimanded. Fear in the organization, even to raise the needs. A culture of silence is a dangerous culture.
The
fearless organization is one where interpersonal fear is minimised, allowing a
freer flow of knowledge. It’s an environment where a person feels able to
express their views on something openly and honestly without fear of
recrimination, abuse, putdown or humiliation. Google study on team
effectiveness – Project Aristotle observed that the psychological safety was
the key factor that led to high performing teams. Teaming is the art of communicating
and coordinating with people across boundaries of all kinds – expertise, status
and distance. This was supported by four
other features:
1. Clear goals
2. Dependable colleagues
3. Personally meaningful work
4. Belief that the work has impact
Psychological safety is not about
being nice. It’s about being able to speak the truth. And it’s okay to
disagree. Psychological safety is crucial source of value creation in organization
operating in a complex, changing environment.
Fearless organization is not only a better place for employees, it is
also a place where innovation, growth and performance take hold.
Psychological safety is essential for
communicating, collaborating, experimenting and ensuring the well being of others
in a wide variety of teams and organizational settings. Lack of psychological safety
can create an illusion of success that eventually turns into serious business
failures.
Today’s leaders must be willing to
take on the of of driving fear out of the organization to create a condition of
learning, innovation and growth. Leaders need to take two vital steps to achieve
fearless organization
1. Build phycological safety to spur learning and avoid preventable failures by
a. Setting stage
b. Inviting participation
i.
Situational Humility
ii.
Proactive Inquiry
iii.
Designing structures for input
c. Responding productively by Focused Event Analysis
(FEA)
i.
Express Appreciation
d. Destigmatize Failure
i.
Reframing the failure
e. Motivating the efforts
