Leadership Behaviours that Create Psychological Safety

As organisations continue to battle the ramifications of the pandemic and implement recovery strategies, employee empowerment has truly moved to the fore. It has long been recognised in strategic HR management that creating an environment where individuals have the means to contribute their best effort at work drives business performance. But in today’s context, the value of employee well-being, engagement and commitment has arguably never been greater, to help organisations adapt to the unforeseen pressures and build long-term resilience.

Providing opportunities for employees to have a voice – whether inputting into organisational decisions, raising personal concerns, or identifying opportunities for improvement – is a key driver of both individual and business-level outcomes including well-being, adaptability and innovation. On the flipside, when people do not feel able to speak up at work, this can lead to burnout as well as potential damage to business reputation. For example, in 2018 Nike’s CEO apologised after reports of inappropriate behaviour and misconduct came to light, which had led to a group of employees starting a small revolt and multiple executives leaving the company. He outlined improvements Nike intended to make, including shifting the culture from one ‘where the loudest voices carry the conversation to (one) where every voice is heard’.

Psychological safety (defined as ‘the belief that the workplace is safe for interpersonal risk taking’) plays an important role in enabling employee voice. Research shows that when individuals feel assured that there will be no negative consequences of taking initiative or making mistakes, they are more likely to speak up and share information. Companies including Facebook recognise the value of this sense of safety in their motto of ‘Move fast and break things’. When people openly share their views, ideas and concerns (within boundaries), the organisation is better able to learn and develop effective solutions for problems.

Psychological safety is an elusive concept, particularly in remote work. So how can leaders and managers build the right climate to instil this? According to a McKinsey global survey conducted during the pandemic, few business leaders demonstrate the behaviours that foster a psychologically safe environment. The study indicated that a positive team climate (where individuals value each other’s contributions, care about each other’s well-being, and input into the way the team operates) has the biggest impact on psychological safety; particularly during a time of significant change or disruption. Leadership style notably influences the level of psychological safety: authoritative command-and-control leadership behaviours can hinder perceptions of safety (since challenging authority is not seen as acceptable), which is then detrimental to employee voice. Meanwhile, supportive and transformational leadership signal openness and trust, which help create a positive team climate. 

The leadership development skills that help to build a team climate that’s conducive to psychological safety and transparency include open dialogue and cultural awareness. The national culture of team members is an important consideration for how voice is enabled, since some cultures (e.g. typically Asian) are inherently more subservient to positions of power, which means individuals from those backgrounds would not feel as comfortable challenging the status quo. In many Western cultures, however, direct communication and openly speaking your mind to people at any seniority level are more expected as the norm. Business leaders therefore need to understand how to tailor their behaviours to be sensitive to cultural differences, in order to create a safe ‘speak up’ climate in a multicultural workforce. The pandemic has made this all the more important, as the rise in remote working opens up opportunities to recruit talent based anywhere in the world.

To develop a team climate of psychological safety that empowers individuals to speak out, leaders can:

1. Recognise that each individual has specific interests and strengths, and address these one-on-one
2. Display openness to change and willingness to act on employee input through open two-way dialogue and active listening
3. Provide supportive coaching and vision-sharing to help team members feel comfortable raising anything on their mind and understand their contribution to performance goals.