The Unseen Superpower: Psychological Safety and Team Collaboration

If you’re reading this, it’s likely because you’re searching for that je ne sais quoi that elevates good teams to great ones. Well, let’s get into it: Psychological Safety. Yes, the term seems ripped from a Psychology 101 syllabus, but trust me, this is the key ingredient to supercharge your team’s collaboration. 🚀

The Birth of Psychological Safety: Academia Weighs In

First things first, let’s give credit where credit is due. Amy Edmondson, a Novartis Professor at Harvard Business School, gave wings to the concept of “psychological safety” in the workplace. Her seminal work, published in the Administrative Science Quarterly, defines psychological safety as “a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes.”

Doesn’t it sound liberating just reading it? 🕊️

Why Does Psychological Safety Matter?

You might wonder, “So, what’s the big deal?” Well, a Google’s Project Aristotle study found that psychological safety stood out as the most important condition for creating a high-performing team among factors like dependability and structure. The tech behemoth with a gazillion talented engineers found that it’s not all about smarts; it’s about feeling safe enough to be smart. 🧠

The Psychological Safety-Collaboration Nexus

Teams with psychological safety dare to be different. They dare to challenge the status quo. They dare to… well, dare! 🌟

A study from MIT’s Sloan School of Management revealed that psychologically safe teams are more engaged, more committed, and even display a collective IQ that’s higher than other teams. Psychological safety fosters an environment where ideas aren’t just generated but debated, molded, and executed. That’s collaboration on steroids! 💪

How to Build Psychological Safety

Here’s where frameworks — our trusty navigators — come in. Techniques like HMWs (How Might We’s) and What-Ifs create a language around problem-solving that becomes a safe space for exploration. If you have already framed the problem using JTBD, the team feels empowered to contribute without the fear of going off on a tangent.

Don’t just take my word for it; Stanford’s Graduate School of Business has research to back up the positive impact of structured frameworks on psychological safety. 👩‍🎓

Wrapping it Up: Safety First!

Leaders, psychological safety is not a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have. When people are free to say, “Hey, I have an idea,” or even, “Hey, I messed up,” that’s when the magic happens.

So, to all the VPs, heads of product, design, and engineering reading this: Yes, you’re grappling with decreased team morale, overwhelming workloads, and urgency around crafting a product direction. But remember, it all starts with creating a space where your team can speak freely and think wildly. Because psychological safety is not the enemy of productivity and excellence — it’s their best friend. 🤗