Facing Fear

Courage to Speak Up and an Inability not to

While psychological safety is the foundation for a functional work environment, there is still an onus on us to have the courage to speak up. Leaders can encourage this behaviour by listening without judgement, allocating time to hear what their people have to say and having some mechanism in place to take action based on what people share. While the organisation and leadership have a major role to play in setting the stage, it ultimately comes down to us as individuals. Will we stand up and have courage? Will we speak up when it matters most?

The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth – Amy C. Edmondson

This episode offers practical guidance for teams and organisations who areĀ serious about success in the modern economy.

With so much riding on innovation, creativity, and spark, it is essential to attract and retain quality talentā€”but what good does this talent do if no one is able to speak their mind? The traditional culture of “fitting in” and “going along” spells doom in the knowledge economy.

Success requires a continuous influx of new ideas, new challenges, and critical thought, and the interpersonal climate must not suppress, silence, ridicule or intimidate. Not every idea is good, and yes there are stupid questions, and yes dissent can slow things down, but talking through these things is an essential part of the creative process.

People must be allowed to voice half-finished thoughts, ask questions from left field, and brainstorm out loud; it creates a culture in which a minor flub or momentary lapse is no big deal, and where actual mistakes are owned and corrected, and where the next left-field idea could be the next big thing. Today we explore a culture of psychological safety and provide a blueprint for bringing it to life.

We explore the link between psychological safety and high performance Create a culture where it’s “safe” to express ideas, ask questions, and admit mistakes nurture the level of engagement and candour required in today’s knowledge economy How can we fertilise creativity, clarify goals, achieve accountability, redefine leadership, and much more.

Psychological safety helps bring about this most critical transformation.

We welcome the author The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth and the mother of the concept of Psychological safety, it gives me great pleasure to welcome Amy C. Edmondson

More about Amy here: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=6451

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