Are you free to speak?

Do people feel free to speak up?
Here is a summary of what happened this week when Internal Communication professionals discussed how to tackle psychological safety to ensure that the employee voice is heard and valued.

And… my thoughts on how to support Human Leadership that nurtures a climate of psychological safety and freedom to speak.

Do you hear senior leaders say things like this? “I hope that was clear”, “my door is always open”, “does everyone agree?”

These quick, simple statements and questions could be toxic.

Ask yourself? Is the culture where you work steeped in silence to avoid shame, fear of failing, a performance of professionalism as protection?

Psychological safety is becoming a more common phrase in conversations about culture, along with a growing desire to learn about the doubts and hesitations that employees have that prevent them from doing their best work. That is because it is the way to unlock inclusion and belonging at work, innovation, confident experimentation to solve impossible problems. Let’s talk about Psychological Safety!

Amy Edmondson in The Fearless Organisation describes, “Psychological Safety is broadly defined as a climate in which people are comfortable expressing and being themselves … they feel comfortable sharing concerns and mistakes with out fear of embarrassment or retribution”.

This is not an easy climate to create or maintain because we have systems and deep socially and culturally embedded norms that tell us it is unsafe to disagree, bad to get it wrong or not know. Amy shares a helpful toolkit for leaders to;

1) Set the stage by framing clear expectations and meaning,
2) Invite participation with confidence that voice is welcome and
3) Respond productively in the interest of learning.

A recent, lively CIPR Inside book club discussed Amy’s book. Here is a summary:
Communication professionals play a key role in setting up communications environment that allow for ‘safe space’ but importantly emphasised the importance of leadership at the most senior levels for setting the tone. Here are some IC pro’s suggestions :

• Getting the communications channels right. Oh you might have Yammer or an internal social application, your internal broadcasts all have the ability to provide comments, there is time allowed in meetings and events to ask questions. But often there is not much feedback. Some describe “zero questions” from the audience.
  It seems that the most success comes from getting delicate balance of small informal conversations and anonymous polls amongst the mass communication. But also the cadence right, the ‘broadcast’ followed by listening- then listening followed by a broadcast.

• Use storytelling- we can connect purpose and strategy through human and authentic stories, it creates better connections and deepen meaning.

• Address the Say-Do gap. People pick up when your actions don’t match your words and trust is easily broken. Don’t say my door is always open when your diary is full and you are never in your office. Be clear how to request time with you that gets through and set up easy processes to do so.

  • I would add, there is often a Think-Feel gap at play… I might think the boss’s decision is a bad one but I feel afraid that I might be wrong, or it will make me or him look bad. So my feelings extinguish those valuable thoughts.

• THE BIG ONE! LEADERS Communicators can and must coach leaders. We can hold up the mirror and help leaders to set up that climate by addressing the language and tone. Coach leaders to be more inclusive, approachable and accessible. Create spaces for leaders to invite involvement and respond appropriately.

I would like to offer another of my favourite writers on the topic; Tim Clarke defines “Psychological safety is a condition in which human beings feel included, safe to learn, safe to contribute, and safe to challenge the status quo – all without fear of being embarrassed, marginalized, or punished in some way.” Here are his four levels:

1. INCLUSION SAFETY

2. LEARNER SAFETY

3. CONTRIBUTOR SAFETY

4. CHALLENGER SAFETY

I find Tim’s Four Stages really helpful to appreciate the progress that is needed step by step toward freedom to speak up. Tim says that “if it’s emotionally expensive, fear shuts us down.”

The strongest message in both these books it this: Leaders hold the key

The call for Human Leadership- Here are my final thoughts and tips:

• Get clear about the real intention, set a purposeful goal for building the culture in your teams and organisations.

• Start small, local and small conversations, test it and learn

• Be ready for discomfort- it is a sign that it is working. It will still be difficult until it is not difficult anymore

If you would like to talk to me about coaching - check out more about coaching

If you want to learn more about Human leadership - check out the Human Leadership Collective

And of course… read Amy and Tim’s books!