The 1999 campy comedy, Office Space, follows Peter Gibbons through his soul-crushing days at software company, Initech. In one memorable scene, Peter is hounded for forgetting a new policy that requires a cover sheet on the company’s TPS report. Even after Peter corrects his harmless mistake, a slew of superiors still parade by his cubicle to make sure he “got the memo” and won’t repeat the blunder.
Although purely satirical, the beloved movie gives a glimpse into a workplace where a climate of fear and humiliation, with elements of physical safety, has eroded morale and crippled productivity.
Sadly, such unhealthy team environments don’t just exist in fiction.
If team members are walking on proverbial eggshells, always nervous they could be reprimanded or criticized for inconsequential decisions, they become hesitant to make a move at all and their performance potential is hampered to avoid negative consequences. Or, when employees expend all their energies trying to impress unreasonably demanding supervisors, only to come up short, they begin to feel discouraged and dissatisfied. In either environment, eventually employees disengage entirely.
Trust is a critical component to a healthy and psychologically safe team culture – it allows employees to confidently express their ideas and generate creative solutions without fear of retribution.
When individuals feel safe to speak up, be vulnerable, and take risks, the benefits are profound. Innovation is accelerated, collaboration becomes more constructive, and effective teams build greater resilience and strength.
Accelerated Innovation
Innovation has long been viewed as the lynchpin to a company’s success and sustainability, with the “most innovative” being lauded for their prowess. Psychological safety is essential to fostering a culture that promotes innovation, employee engagement and propels an organization forward.
At the heart of accelerated innovation lies the belief that every idea, no matter how small or where it comes from, has the potential to spark groundbreaking change. That means companies need to leverage the collective intelligence and creativity of their teams. Healthy team dynamics help to ensure companies can create this type of organizational cultureeffectively and leverage a learning mindset.
Innovation involves questioning the status quo and taking calculated risks – it requires people being brave enough to challenge convention and communicate their ideas without fear.
A stifling atmosphere, where team members are afraid to voice their honest opinions or take a risk for fear their professional reputation could be tarnished, creates a drought for creative thinking.
Conversely, a psychologically safe culture can be a catalyst for creativity. Innovation flourishes when employees feel their contributions are genuinely valued and they have the confidence to share their ideas and propose new, alternative solutions with contributor safety top of mind.
In today’s fiercely competitive landscape, innovation can be a powerful differentiator. When team members are in a healthy workplace where they can express themselves and their creativity, the results will distinguish an organization from its competition.
Quality Collaboration
Collaboration is the lifeblood of high-performing teams. Quality collaboration occurs organically within psychologically safe environments where trust is the norm.
When trust exists, team members are more willing to collaborate because they feel safe being vulnerable and amplify their interpersonal risk-taking in a positive way.
Their pursuit of a shared objective helps them navigate challenges more effectively and generate solutions together; they feel freer to attempt new things and learn the valuable lessons that come from making mistakes and even failing at times within this team psychological safe space.
A lack of trust can lead to insecurity and collaboration can become stilted. Rather than feeling comfortable to contribute, team members operate out of a sense of self preservation – they remain silent, and the team misses out on their ideas and their unique point of view while the employee experience is less than positive.
Team collaboration is enriched by the collective contributions, and inclusion safety, of all its members. Different perspectives enhance the brainstorming process and lead to smarter decisions. Fostering a safe environment and a culture of inclusion where each team member's voice is amplified rather than silenced is critical to promoting quality collaboration and employee retention.
Team Resilience
In modern organizations, challenges are a given. Tasks pile up. Deadlines loom. Systems shut down. Shipments are delayed. Clients get frustrated. A strong, resilient team can better withstand these and other common workplace challenges.
Emotions of fear, embarrassment, or detachment can negatively impact a team’s productivity and performance. When fear of judgment overshadows a company’s culture – whether it is fear of being chided for a “stupid idea” or fear of being passed over for advancement – individual participation is stifled and teams become weaker while the individuals mental health takes a hit.
Strong teams are cohesive. The bond between teammates can be fragile if workers cannot look out for each other because they have to protect themselves and their position. When employees trust the support of the people around them, teams grow stronger and more cohesive with less employee turnover.
When employees are less burdened by fear, they have a greater sense of personal ambition, and they feel more prepared to take on day-to-day challenges. And because of the interpersonal trust that is developed amongst teammates, someone has their back, when mistakes do occur, they can take them in stride and learn from them. Failure becomes a stepping stone to fuel growth rather than an obstacle to avoid at all cost.
Conclusion
An organization’s boldness hinges on the boldness of its employees. When employees have feelings of distrust, threatened, or continually beat down, they are unable to extend themselves.
On the other hand, psychological safety can be a catalyst for game-changing innovation and creative ideas, seamless collaboration, and unwavering team resilience.
It can help propel teams – and the companies they work for – toward new heights of performance.
Nurturing a culture that provides psychologically safe conditions for employees means casting aside ingrained, but unhealthy, habits that cause fear or humiliation. It requires a collective endeavor to embrace new, healthier practices that leverage diverse perspectives and value everyone's voice.
Birkman’s High-Performing Teams program helps organizations learn to build an environment where team members feel safe showing up every day and bringing their whole selves to meet challenges. By fostering a culture rooted in trust and psychological safety, organizations can fuel both corporate performance and individual achievement.
