According to Amy Edmondson, a professor at Harvard Business School, in some organizations, professionals are hesitant or reluctant to speak up for fear of projecting a negative image. However, in an increasingly collaborative world, this impacts overall performance. Indeed, the most productive teams need a safe environment that allows them to express their opinions, take calculated risks, and be creative. To improve a work team’s performance, its members must feel confident enough to speak up without fear of judgment. Psychological safety, in the service of well-being and performance. Amy Edmondson defines psychological safety as “the shared belief among team members that the team is safe from an interpersonal perspective.” She wrote a book titled *The Fearless Organization*, published in 2018, in which she explains how to establish psychological safety step by step within a team or company. In other words, psychological safety is “an environment that allows employees to express themselves and in which they feel comfortable: they can freely share their ideas—even in draft form—their concerns, their questions, and their mistakes, without fear of judgment or reprisal.” However, withholding thoughts is a natural defense mechanism. This mechanism comes at a cost. When people hold back, they deprive themselves and their colleagues of valuable learning opportunities. Example of a situation where communication would have been necessary: A nurse working the night shift at a hospital is concerned that the dosage of a medication is incorrect. She considers calling the doctor at home to verify the prescription. Then, she recalls the disparaging comments he made about her abilities the last time she called him at home. Deciding the dose is probably correct (the patient is on an experimental protocol, after all), she takes the medication from the cart and heads to the patient's bedside. This behavior carries many risks for the patient, and this is precisely when communication should have been necessary! When people don’t ask questions or offer ideas (they don’t take interpersonal risks), their organizations face far greater risks: patients are harmed, avenues for improvement are lost, business opportunities are missed, and so on. In healthcare, psychological safety is essential to ensuring patient safety. It allows caregivers to speak up when they are unsure about something, when they need help, or when they have an idea that could improve the quality of their work. Amy Edmondson has spent part of her time exploring psychological safety within several corporate teams, as well as within medical teams performing innovative and complex surgical procedures. Thus, working in a company that ensures psychological safety is crucial. It is an essential condition for fostering collective intelligence and performance. Amy Edmondson even concluded that psychological safety is fundamental to increasing group productivity. How can psychological safety be fostered within your organization? In a psychologically safe environment, professionals have a framework that encourages initiative and the freedom to make mistakes. There are no constraints; people can freely discuss any topic. More broadly, concerns are shared by both healthcare providers and patients. To summarize, psychological safety is the conviction that one’s voice is welcome, that interpersonal risks are worth taking because of what’s at stake. To develop psychological safety within an institution, it is essential to implement the following points: src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/61f1c5bbc327ec3679e7457c/626ba76dff4d1a37123dd80c_DkhFxsYEpGqHzbNsFjYqA5mAQ334ptfqUCbo4IvYstm9pNyK9s3y4mg-pNTLxidEkl7I7INtHON-m80Ef5hWmLuSAOjffKQwlrZ9HY65ZRitwrmJw5xbH0N0PCTkYXh3TAIeksYv.png" width="auto" height="auto" loading="auto">
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SafeTeam Academy and Psychological Safety in the Workplace.
SafeTeam Academy has made psychological safety a recurring theme because it is important to address this aspect of teamwork. It is explored from various angles and in nearly all of SafeTeam Academy’s immersive video courses, from both perspectives: for example, a nurse who feels uncomfortable with a doctor who is not following hygiene protocols, or a doctor whose authoritarian leadership stifles any opportunity for teammates to voice their concerns about a situation. In the daily work of healthcare professionals, ensuring psychological safety is paramount because it creates a trusting environment for the patient. Like all SafeTeam Academy training courses, the goal is to encourage learners to reflect on areas for improvement—individual, collective, and institutional. If you too wish to contribute to improving the quality of care within your organization, SafeTeam Academy training courses are for you! For more information, please contact us at: contact@safeteam.academy.
