Translated from 日本語 • View original In a study conducted by Google's People Analytics team, which is famous for organizational research, it was concluded that "psychological safety" is the most important factor for improving team performance.
I would like to write about this psychological safety, which many people in the organization hope for.
What is Psychological Safety?
At the organizational improvement seminar held once a month, if you take a questionnaire asking, "Do you know psychological safety?", it seems that about one-third to half of people know. As expected of Google.
Now, the concept of psychological safety was originally proposed by Professor Amy C. Edmondson of Harvard Business School in a paper in 1999.
She defines psychological safety as:
"A state in which the team has a sense of conviction that other members will not be ashamed, rejected, or punished for what they have to say, and the belief that the team is a safe place to take interpersonal risks."
I feel a professional smell in the part where beliefs are shared.
Why psychological safety is important -Individual~
As an individual belonging to an organization, it is important for your daily mental health to ensure that you are psychologically safe and not be rejected or ridiculed. An organization without fear is first and foremost comfortable.
Also, an environment where you can say what you think is an **environment where you can make mistakes. ** You can try and repeat failures, so your growth speed will increase significantly.
Why Psychological Safety is Important - Organization ~
As an organization, there are two main reasons why psychological safety should be there. One is that it increases the possibility of correcting mistakes.
In a fearful organization, it is difficult to argue when the boss is clearly wrong, or to disagree because the business is not going as planned. As a result, the wrong thing goes straight ahead.
How quickly mistakes can be corrected is a source of competitiveness for the organization in the market.
The other is that challenges are created.
In today's world where there are many uncertainties and the future is uncertain, I think everyone knows intuitively that if there is no challenge in unknown territory, we will move towards shrinking equilibrium and the organization will weaken.
In order to become a team that challenges for survival, it is essential to have an environment where failure is allowed.
What is fear in an organization?
So why is there a situation where there is no psychological safety in the organization and that there is a fear of speaking plainly?
First of all, in the short term, if the other party has overwhelming organizational power and the people around you do not correct situations such as power harassment, you have no choice but to put up with any unreasonable things you are told. You will not be able to make drastic statements so as not to have unreasonable conversations.
In the medium to long term, expressing strong opposition to your boss will affect your career within the company (delaying your career advancement). Exceptions are for those who have given up on career advancement or who can survive without being attached to the organization, but for the majority of people, a career in that organization is one of the most important things.
How to Create a Culture and Systems to Ensure Psychological Safety
In order to ensure psychological safety, it is necessary to create a system as an institution and an organizational culture. Here are some of our initiatives at Karakul.
Culture Creation
You can't feel safe just by saying, "No matter what you say, it's safe and secure." It's like a drinking party where you hear that it's a rude lecture, but if you act freely, you'll get angry later.
So how can we trust that everything will be fine?
That is, we have seen many achievements that are not actually scheduled harmony, and that even if you make a drastic statement, it was "okay".
I value people who are not bound by that person's position and boldly say what they think is right. Even if the statement is clearly wrong or thoughtless, we respect that we said what we thought was right.
Of course, you have to respond to misguided remarks, but even then, respect them. Make polite comments in any situation.
This is done online such as internal SNS.
I digress a little, but even if you say you are polite, if you are rude, you will be scared, so try to be as casual as possibleI recommend it.
The reason for doing it online is that many people can witness and experience what is only one person's experience offline, but at the same time. By stacking them, you will be able to truly understand that your team has psychological safety.
"Goalous" is the best service to create such a culture, by opening up the goals and activities provided by Karakul and improving team strength. (Advertising)
System Creation
As mentioned above, the fear that occurs in many organizations is based on the difference in absolute authority between positions. Because of this, in the case of Karakul, we eliminate the hierarchy of titles and eliminate authority as much as possible.
And if there is an evaluation system, the power balance problem between the evaluator and the evaluator will arise. I want to eliminate the fact that the evaluator naturally has power.
So, I decided to choose my own evaluator. As a result, fixed authority no longer exists.
For questions such as "What would you do if you only chose people who would give you a sweet evaluation?", I have written in a past article, so if you are interested, please read it.
▼ Until a burr flat is created (8) - Skip the evaluation system ~
Regarding people who don't speak up even though they have psychological safety
No matter how much psychological safety is improved, there is also a phenomenon of not making positive statements or actions.
It is a "lukewarm" organization. And it is a declining organization.
In that case, it is important to ensure that you do not evaluate people who do not say what you think is right. If you don't say what you think, create a team that feels uncomfortable.
It is the job of management to ensure psychological safety. And it is our job as an organization to actively speak out and act in that environment.
What about your organization?
Is there psychological safety? Are you actively working on it?
We hope this blog will be a hint for those who feel that they are not enough.
▼If you want to know examples of organizations that promote psychological safety, please join the seminar!
