The notion of 'psychological safety' has been around since the '90s. It is becoming the buzzword again as tech-giant Google's Project Aristotle reinforces the concept as one of the leading factors for team success in innovation. This post will name drop the resources along the way, so you can read further about what is being said. However, this post is here to discuss what happens if the question is flipped on its head - what is innovation and technology's answer to 'psychological safety'?
We live in an era that is seeing the boom of mental health app downloads stemmed by awareness and the eradication of social stigma behind mental health issues at a social level. COVID-19 has made jobs that were previously thought to be impossible through telecommuting or work-from-home, possible now to secure the physical safety of its employees. But, what would it take for firms to begin investing in employee engagement strategies for lower turnover, higher productivity and better job satisfaction? To ultimately invest in creating a psychologically safe environment?
What is 'psychological safety'?
Psychological safety is the ability to be one's true self in a group, to have opportunities and the ability to speak up, address issues, errors or failures as well as take risks together. It can be contrasted to trust which is an expectation of matching another entity's interests. Thus, psychological safety translates into faster learning for teams, leading to growth and development, building a better competitive advantage for companies. The World Economic Forum identifies the traits opposite to psychological safety, 'psychological danger' at the workplace.
How does a team's mental resilience attribute to psychological safety?
Mental resilience can be defined as the ability to positively adapt to stressful or adverse situations. But, psychological safety addresses the environment which reduces the prospects for a person acting in flight or fight mode, because they are relaxed and comfortable in communicating while being themselves. If I were to pinpoint employees on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, they would go from the bottom of the pyramid to the apex of self-realisation which is where higher thinking and great ideas come from. TheWellbeingProject addresses this beautifully, "employers need to foster cultures in which individuals feel supported to talk about mental health openly, without fear of judgement or other negative consequences—in other words, psychologically safe cultures".
Innovation and technology's answer to psychological safety
Deloitte addresses the most prominent feature of mental resilience, the ability to seek support and technologies role in improving communication channels between different professional carers and patients as well as peer-to-peer support. It also identifies the latest technologies - artificial intelligence using a tailored machine learning algorithm in the form of a chatbot. "Other new virtual therapists can now analyse nonverbal clues in addition to verbal ones, such facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures and posture to deliver a more precise, personalized intervention".
Psychological safety for COVID-19's recession
Fostering psychological safety in COVID-19's inevitable recession is vital for business success. Three strategies to implement this might be:
1. Offering your employees access to free mental health resources - Samaritans, YourDost, or a Mental health chatbot or equivalents in your country
2. Set up Mental Health First Aid support
3. Have an honest open-table discussion of inequalities at the workplace and standing issues including support staff as well.
We are all coming together as a community and care about each other's well-being and safety. So, why not also address issues like mental health that truly matter?
Wonderfully put
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