1. Why it matters and why now...
Critical foundation for team success
Google researchers set out to answer, “what makes a team effective at Google?” Project Aristotle as it was known, discovered that a team climate of psychological safety is foundational. Without it, a team’s ability to adapt, take risks, experiment, and learn together is severely hampered.
“It was enough proof for what we all intrinsically know – that feeling safe to be yourself as part of a team, where you’re able to contribute your ideas, admit mistakes, challenge others respectably, and try without fear of failure, is one of the most powerful aspects of human performance”.
Psychological safety is now more relevant than ever
With increasing volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity – due to digitalisation, big data, artificial intelligence, robotisation, (de)globalisation, terrorism, financial crises, climate change and global shifts in power – psychological safety has experienced a surge in interest.
Organisations are having to challenge long-held assumptions about productivity and how work happens. Increasing automation is changing what the work is, as well as how people interact and work together.
New ways of working, including an explosion in remote and hybrid working, have changed how we work together – blurring the boundaries between home and work. Managers are having to navigate conversations in new and potentially challenging territories.
“Psychological safety and courage are two sides of the same (immensely valuable) coin. Both are – and will continue to be – needed in a complex and uncertain world” (Edmondson, 2021).