Do we need Psychological Safety within Groups and Teams (IET presentation 25th June 2020)

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Do we need Psychological Safety within Groups and Teams?

rod.willis@assentire.net Images copyright Assentire Ltd, all rights reserved

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Studies have revealed that the highest performing teams have one thing in common:

Psychological Safety and Accountability

WHAT does Psychological Safety help us achieve?

Definitions of terms is helpful here

Psychological safety, is a psychological state of being safe and protected from danger or harm (no reprisal or reprimand for speaking up)

Accountability, the fact of being responsible for your decisions or actions, being confident and competent, able to explain when asked to do so

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Where can I find out more about Psychological Safety?

How do you know if Psychological Safety is in play?

Latest research by Professor Amy Edmondson (Harvard)

Book: The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth

Video: Building a psychologically safe workplace by Amy Edmondson https://youtu.be/LhoLuui9gX8

WHY do we need to care?

The implications of no or low Psychological Safety?

People may NOT speak up

Innovation will be suppressed

Columbia Space Shuttle disaster

Limiting the group’s potential

*Defensive-Reasoning will be maximised Keeping ‘politically’ safe

*Productive-Reasoning will be minimized

Low performance from one or more groups

Limiting organisational adaptability

Limiting value creation

* Defensive-Reasoning and Productive-Reasoning are defined at the end of the presentation

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A puzzle for the engineering mindset What’s at play within us as we consider, do we feel Psychologically Safe?

We can explore using the Ladder of Inference Photo by Tim Trad on Unsplash

Do you know of the ‘Ladder of Inference’?

Poll #1

• YES • NO • NOT SURE

Select one option ONLY 7

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Photo by Tim Trad on Unsplash

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The feedback loop we all have

Photo by Tim Trad on Unsplash

Many individuals are NOT aware of the ‘Reflexive Loop’

But what about Groups and Teams?

Photo by Tim Trad on Unsplash

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Psychological Safety within the team setting

Photo by Tim Trad on Unsplash

-v Inhibiting

+v Enabling

One View

Many Views

Individual

Collective

Tell

Ask

Manipulate

Collaborate

Closed

Open

Mistrust

Trust

Misunderstand

Understand

Degraded work-life quality

Enhanced work-life quality

OUTCOME: Defensive-Reasoning Lower Performance

OUTCOME: Productive-Reasoning Higher Performance

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But what about at the organisational level?

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Teams and groups within context

(No reprisal or reprimand for speaking up)

Psychological Safety

+v Enabling/Encourages Trust and Openness

-v Inhibiting/Discourages Trust and Openness

Productive-reasoning High-performing Team

Productive-reasoning High-performing Team

However, potentially constrained by the Organisation

Fully supported by the Organisation

We see this from time-to-time

This is what’s needed for an agile organisation

Defensive-reasoning Team

Defensive-reasoning Team

Possibly reinforced by the Organisation

Out of character when contrasted with the rest of the Organisation

Very common in our experience

Not very common in our experience

-v Inhibiting/Discourages Collaboration

Organisational Environment

+v Enabling/Encourages Collaboration

(A culture that discourages or encourages collaboration between groups)

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What do you see in the workplace?

Poll #2

• • • •

+v Enabling Psychological Safety +v Enabling Organisational Environment -v Inhibiting Psychological Safety -v Inhibiting Organisational Environment

Select the option(s) that apply 21

Bringing it all together Psychological Safety within the team setting -v Inhibiting

+v Enabling

One View

Many Views

Individual

Collective

Tell

Ask

Manipulate

Collaborate

Closed

Open

Mistrust

Trust

Misunderstand

Understand

Degraded work-life quality

Enhanced work-life quality

OUTCOME: Defensive-Reasoning Lower Performance

OUTCOME: Productive-Reasoning Higher Performance

Individual(s)

Group(s)

Organisation(s)

Awareness of Reflexive Loop Reflection and/or Coaching

Awareness of Group Dynamics Free diagnostic https://bit.ly/2Nth2FV

Awareness of Organisational Culture Free diagnostic https://bit.ly/2CHtGPB 22

Further resources Free to use - this may help you Agile Pulse Survey https://getagilemindsets.com/agilepulsesurvey

If you do use this, please click here

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Further Reading

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Some people use defensive and productive reasoning

Productive reasoning

PRODUCTIVE REASONING

(1) (2) (3)

produces valid and validatable knowledge, creates informed choices, and makes personal reasoning transparent in order for the claims to be tested robustly.

The core of productive reasoning is that the parties involved are vigilant about striving to avoid unknowingly deceiving themselves and others. — Reasons and Rationalizations: The Limits to Organizational Knowledge by Chris Argyris https://amzn.eu/cZe2r0L

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Some people use defensive and productive reasoning

Defensive reasoning (1) (2)

DEFENSIVE REASONING

(3) (4)

The objective is to protect and defend actor(s) The primary reasoning processes include making the premises explicit (on the assumption that they are valid) and testing them by the use of selfreferential logic (see definition).

Transparency is avoided in the service of protecting the self and denying that one is protecting the self.

Self-deception is denied by cover-up. In order for the cover-up to work, it too must be covered up.�

— Reasons and Rationalizations: The Limits to Organizational Knowledge by Chris Argyris https://amzn.eu/5D85SHJ

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Q&A Time

Questions after this session rod.willis@ietvolunteer.org

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