The Association Blog

We got your feedback on the Fall Virtual Conference, and we hear you—Josh Vaisman rocks! We’re cooking up some new Josh content–stay tuned! In the meantime, here’s a recap of his session, “Safe to Soar: The Secret Sauce of Effective Teams.” Josh explains psychological safety and shares 5 steps for creating a psychologically safe and healthy work environment. 

What is psychological safety?

As Josh explains it, “Simply put, psychological safety is the perception within a team that it is safe to both make honest mistakes and/or ask for help, without risk of fear of being punished.” In psychologically safe work environments, employees know that their voices are heard and respected by their peers and superiors. Psychological safety creates healthy work cultures where employees are able to learn from their mistakes.

Workplaces with high levels of psychological safety have 27% less employee turnover than environments with low levels of psychological safety. The real magic, Josh says, is when workplaces have both high levels of psychologically safety and high standards.

5-step process for growing psychological safety in your workplace

Survey your team to determine your starting point and find out whether or not your team feels psychologically safe at work

• Encourage your team to view failure as an opportunity to learn
• Underline the importance of every team member’s voice
• Rethink the role of the “boss”
• Emphasize your team’s purpose

• Normalize workplace behaviors that reinforce psychological safety
  • Some helpful example activities: Ask Me Anything (AMA), Moonshot Forums, Error Audits
• Create formal opportunities for your team to ask for help, share shortcomings, admit mistakes, contribute and challenge ideas, and be human

• Express appreciation when team members contribute their voices and ideas
• Celebrate the behavior of speaking up
• Sanction violations of your team’s cultural values
• Emphasize the importance of continuous learning

• Re-measure your workplace’s psychological safety levels—check in with your team
• Identify areas for continued learning
• Celebrate your team’s progress!

Leave a comment and let us know if you have been exploring psychological safety at your agency.

More from Josh

Webinar Recording: Positive Perseverance: Leading During Crisis
Webinar Recording: The Practices of Purposeful Leadership