Psychosocial safety is a hot topic.It received more attention during the pandemic, when people felt increasingly anxious, isolated at home and overwhelmed by change. Then, mental health and DEI movements gathered focus on workplace safety. Also younger generations have higher expectations for supportive work cultures.
Now this is all dialled up to a whole to a new level with threats posed by AI, and new legislation emerging. For example, Austraila and some of Europe now require business leaders to provide a psychosocially safe work environment, in addition to physical safety. There are an array of penalties for getting it wrong.
This means that we need to pay more attention to workplace culture, and where we are on the spectrum of unsafe/toxic vs safe/healthy. For example:
- Is it safe for people to speak out? To ask questions?
- Do staff feel their co-workers are supportive?
- Do people feel respected by their boss and management?
- To what extent do leaders encourage people to be authentic?
- How are mistakes handled?
- And importantly, are leaders implementing workplace changes in a safe way?
An ecosystem perspective to strategy
You may have noticed that I take an ecosystem perspective. I regularly say that execution success requires an integrated approach across business strategy, project management and change management, all aligned with culture. This can inspire people to want what you want, so you can deliver your strategies.
This culture-friendly, human-centered approach maximizes BOTH execution success and safety:
- It’s an open strategy process; change management is considered upfront.
- Project governance emphasizes participation by representative stakeholders.
- It increases psychological safety.
- It reduces execution risk and increases success – over the 50 implementations I’ve been involved in, this approach works every time (besides 2 failures in extreme circumstances).
So now let me offer you 3 tips to foster a psychosocially-safe culture, while you’re rolling out significantly new strategies or changes.
3 Tips for how your Strategy Can Foster Psychosocial Safety
- Involve people from the beginning of developing your new strategy – it is never too early.
- Ask not tell – you can always find something about which you can consult, even if the parameters you’re operating in are narrow.
- Listen deeply to the responses, and be prepared to act on some of this information. If you’re only paying lip service, the process will backfire and you WILL be viewed with cynicism and distrust.
Organizations that follow this approach build strong forward momentum for their strategies. I’ve seen these organizations innovate and deliver real change in their culture.
At the end of one of these projects, I went to a Distribution Centre (DC) to ask for some feedback on the changes. Productivity data was looking good and I wanted to gauge the changes firsthand. One of the people I spoke with was a big, burly blue collar worker. He was a hulk of a man, tattoos all over. If I’d met him down a dark alley I would have been terrified.
So I was standing on the DC floor, and he smiled (down) at me. And I will never forget the words he said: “I used to be scared to come to work, if I made a mistake I’d be yelled at in front of everyone. But now my ideas are listened to, and I know my team mates have my back”.
Hearing what the changes meant to him was so powerful. I still have goosebumps when I remember that moment. Such is the joy that psychosocial safety can bring to individuals.
PS If you’re concerned about losing control over your strategy process, read “strategy is not democratic”.
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Quote of the week
“When a work environment has reasonably high psychological safety, …..mistakes are reported quickly so that prompt corrective action can be taken ……potentially game-changing ideas for innovation are shared. In short, psychological safety is a crucial source of value creation in organizations operating in a complex, changing environment.”
Amy C. Edmondson, The Fearless Organization
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About Lisa Carlin
Lisa Carlin is a Strategy Execution Specialist. She works with business leaders to plan and execute their strategies in tough environments. Her clients love having her expertise and guidance to navigate their workplace culture and use AI to achieve success.
Lisa created The Turbochargers Hub, so leaders can master the art of strategic influence and generate momentum for organizational change.
Lisa is author of the globally acclaimed newsletter, Turbocharge Weekly, read by 8,000 business leaders.
Lisa’s career includes roles at McKinsey and Accenture, then running her own business since 1999. Over this time she has delivered over 50 implementations with a 96% success rate.