3 ways to create a safe and open work environment

3 ways to create a safe and open work environment3 ways to create a safe and open work environmentHow important is it to have awork environment that encouragesemployees to voice their concerns?Consider the following examples.David is an associate at a professional services firm.He is part of a project team for an important client led by one of the fruchtwein well-known partners in the firm. In the morning meeting, the team makesa quick but consequential decision for the client. David isa bit surprised because he thinksthe data suggests another route, but hes hesitant to state his opinion. After reviewingthe data, he still thinks the team may have missed something, but he is worried that if he speaks up, hemight not get invited onto another project. He decides tostay quiet.Meanwhile, Kevin is a technician in a hospital operating room. During the close of a routine operation with a high-status surgeon, Kevin counts the sponges and notices that one seems to be missing. He is not entirel y sure, but he immediately notifies the lead surgeon of the possibility that there may be a sponge remaining in the abdominal cavity of the patient. The surgeon is tired and eager to complete this final surgery of the day, but immediately checks the patient cavity in search of the sponge.Why does Kevin voice his concern while David hesitates?David spendshis time fearing negative consequences of voicing his concern and questioning the validity of his point. This sense of perceiving or fearing negative consequences based on taking interpersonal risk is what organizational scholars call a lack of psychological safety. Studies have shown that a teams level ofpsychological safety can affectteamwork and the overall health of an organization.Building on a concept originated in research in the 1960s, a Harvard psychologist named Amy Edmondson conducted astudyin the mid-1990s to understand the factors that affect errors in administering drugs to hospitalized patients. She interviewed a range of health care providers - nurses, physicians, and pharmacists - across eight teams from two urban teaching hospitals. Contrary to her hypotheses, teams where members felt safe to examine and report their behavior hadmoraerrors.At first, she scratched her headhow can these findings make sense?Thenshe discovered thatthe best teams wereadmittingto errors and discussing them more often than other groups did. These teams didnt want to make mistakes, of course. But they werent afraid to say aloud that they had. The best performing teams felt psychologically safe with one another. They werent afraid of the negative interpersonal consequences of speaking up, so they spoke up when they noticed an error. They werent as daunted by the worrying about the negative consequences of stating their opinion, be it a decrease in their self-image, status, or career trajectory.Two decades of research since then have shown that if people perceive a safe harbor, they are more likely to work well with one another by sharing information and ideas, suggesting improvements, and exploring new avenues for the enterprise. Employees need to know that their well-intentioned actions will not lead to punishment or rejection by their organization and their team.Work environments that are psychologically safe not only produce strong organizational performance, but they are also often described as more satisfying places within which to work.It turns out that leaders are particularly important in thepresence or absence of psychological safety. There are three main waysthat leaders can facilitate psychological safety on the job.1. Frame work as an environment for growthIdeally, not only are good leadersable to hire and retain capable people, but those people become even more skilled and capable at their work over time. The organization and the individual have a shared interest in promoting skill and capacity development. As each employee becomes individually more capable of handling complex work w ith less supervision, the company needs to devote fewer resources to supporting and overseeing the work of that person.Over time, that person may come to supervise the work of others, thereby moving from being an individual producer into the role of management and leadership of the work of others. In a workplace that encourages growth and development, employees can take the long view, looking to increase skills over time, rather than just looking to check the pckchen of task performance.2. Model openness and fallibilityNo one is perfect. Why should anyone pretend that they are?Having anexpectation of perfectionismonly makesothers look at you as unrealistic, unattainable, or inhumane. Showing that leadersmake mistakes, can take responsibility for them, and make adjustments in theirway of thinking and behaving iscrucial for others to understand that learning from failure is part of the process of excellence.Part of getting better means risking errors, learning how to avoid those types of errors in the future and learning from the experience. Too often, is it difficult to see how leaders have learned along the way. In an organization that wishes to promote an employee who takes initiative and learns from experience, it is important for that employeeto see the process in action.3. Embrace inclusivity and curiosityLeaders can do this byasking questions, and inviting and appreciating others contributions. Leaders can showthat people are not kicked off the teams for making a mistake based on a risk worth taking.On the contrary, an effective leader invites people to bring up problems and tough issues and to take the rick to innovate. They encourage thinking differently or outside of the box. They value and utilize unique skills and talent.All of uscantake a page from the psychological safety playbook and try to create cultures of openness. If we stick our necks out there (maybe a little each time), if we show willingness to contribute of our ideas and actions, if we a sk for input and help, and if we give others the benefit of the doubt, we might not only model for others that they should try the same but we will also likely be more engaged at work.