Are you fostering confidence and connection, or fear and complacency in your team?

Happy Thursday! We’re back with more on Connection Disruptors, our theme for this month. If you’re following along on LinkedIn, or read the last issue, you know we focused on the “monsters in the closet”: imposter syndrome, ego, fear of failure.

Today I want to highlight something that’s a prerequisite for connection: Psychological Safety.

What is it? How do leaders cultivate it? Why does it matter?

These are questions we’ve wrestled with at P2 as we prioritize psychological safety and a sense of empowerment for every single team member, knowing all too well that when we put the human first and stay humble, results follow.

Of course, we don’t do it perfectly—if you do, can you tell me how?—but we’re learning each day. I’ve got some insights from our experience to share with you, and I sincerely hope you’ll respond to this with any thoughts or ideas you might be willing to share with me.

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Welcome back to the Leader’s Playground. Let’s dive in!

What to Check Out This Week

I loved this episode of the Tim Ferris Show with James Clear.

You must know by now that I absolutely love James Clear’s work in Atomic Habits, as well as his 3-2-1 newsletter. His work around building sustainable systems and habits has changed my life for the better, and I think my leadership, too.

In this episode, James shares how he uses Asana to keep ideas and thoughts together, how it’s important to look to 3- and 4-star reviews for candid and nuanced feedback (rather than willing to look only at the 5-stars as we all tend to do!), and how his habit of an “annual review” is far more useful than setting New Year’s resolutions.

I hope you give it a listen!

Leadership Lessons

A recent Harvard Business Review article quotes Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, defining “team psychological safety” as “a shared belief held by members of a team that it’s OK to take risks, to express their ideas and concerns, to speak up with questions, and to admit mistakes — all without fear of negative consequences.”

I really like this definition, as it seems like a common misunderstanding about psychological safety is that it means simply being “nice.” Of course it’s incredibly important for leaders to be kind, empathetic, and understanding, but “niceness” is not what leads to safety and confidence in teams.

Rather, psychological safety in an organization looks like all team members feeling empowered to speak up, offer ideas, and put their foot on the accelerator and take it off the brake just a bit. This requires the leader creating an environment where teams feel their insights are valued, and they aren’t going to be “in trouble” for experimenting or offering an idea that isn’t in line with the leader’s plan.

And for a leader to achieve this, he or she must be willing to take off the “expert” hat. Looking back to our conversations about imposter syndrome recently, we know that if a leader has the misguided belief that he or she is expected to have all the answers, then what room is left for team members to offer anything at all?

This makes me think of my favorite quote of all time, which Brené Brown shares in her TedTalk on vulnerability (a must-listen!):

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.” —Theodore Roosevelt

A leader who leads from this place is one who instills psychological safety in their team—showing by example that success is not about never failing or getting it wrong, but about failing and learning, growing, and continuing to shoot for the stars and have our hands in the mud.

If we as leaders are unwilling to admit mistakes, how is our team supposed to allow and own their failures and wrong turns?

There is always learning to be done, but I believe personally that cultivating a psychologically safe workplace starts with assessing our own beliefs and fears as leaders. What are we afraid of that might impact how our team feels allowed to show up?

My team at P2 put together a brilliant article on creating psychological safety in your team, and I want to highlight some key takeaways and tips here:

👂 Listen: Are you only hearing good news? Is your team asking questions? How energized is your team? It’s easy for people to hide when working remotely and your job is to connect, engage, ask questions, listen to the answers and then do all that again, and again and again.

🚨 React like a grown-up to bad news: How do you respond to bad news? What emotional reaction do you give? How loud is your face? Irrespective of your response when things are going well, your team will actually remember how you react when things aren’t great.

👏 React positively to challenge: Your team will see how you react to challenge or alternative ideas and opinions. They’ll learn quickly whether it’s welcomed or not. This will shape their choice on whether to speak or to remain invisible.

💩 Admit when you make mistakes: Share your mistakes and your learning. Show how you’ve worked through errors and come out of the other side. Role-model that it’s safe to share your own vulnerability.

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These are a great starting point for cultivating psychological safety—and ultimately better outcomes—among your team.

Amy Edmondson and Mark Mortensen authored another insightful article in the Harvard Business Review about cultivating psychological safety in a hybrid work environment, which is especially critical these days! Check that out along with our P2 article.

The safer people feel to think with curiosity, experiment and learn, and share wild ideas, the more vibrant your problem solving and creative process will be. The more solutions you’ll discover in unexpected ways, and the more value you’ll find in each unique individual you work with.

The Leadership Tales Podcast

“To build those social relationships, you have to have a healthy relationship with yourself. You have to be able to have those internal reflections that will help you move forward.”

This most recent episode of The Leadership Tales features Emma Weber ("Em"to many), as we discuss how individual growth and learning impacts organizations, developing a relationship with oneself, and Em’s personal journey to founding her company.

Emma is the founder of Lever – Transfer of Learning and developer of the Turning Learning into Action™ methodology. In 2002, Em left a successful corporate career in London to start her own business in Australia, following her passion for coaching and learning.

Be sure to check it out and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts—and if you can, please leave a review. Each review helps put our show in front of more listeners, which means more opportunities for those who need them.

Finally, if you know of someone you think would be a great guest on the show, reply and let me know about them. I want to share stories from leaders making a positive difference in the world—and the more tales we tell, the better.

Until next time...

As we close out March and our focus on Connection Disruptors, I hope you’ll take some insights away about the value of psychological safety in your organization. And I hope even more that you’ll send your wisdom and insights my way to learn from, too!

Building a culture of safety, trust, and connection is a lifelong and ongoing process, and we’re never “done.” But we can move toward our ideal organization (and world) one small step and habit at a time.

As James Clear says, “Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity. This is one reason why meaningful change does not require radical change.”

Thanks again for joining me, and please do forward this on to a friend who may enjoy it—the best way to gain wisdom is in community. The more, the merrier!

See you in two weeks!

Cheers,Colin

To learn more about my book, Be More Wrong: How Failure Makes You an Outstanding Leader, click here.