The Art of Volunteer Coordination
Mental Health Support for Volunteers
Dr. May Chi,
Clinical Psychologist
Made it Clinic and PsychLab
What affects mental health?
Health can be a sense of wellness, or a degree of functioning.
Mental health is in the interplay between biological, psychological, and social elements through which a person navigates.
Social
Psychological
Biological
What
is psychological safety?
A shared belief amongst the team that it’s ok to…
Take risks
Express their ideas and concerns
Speak up with questions
Admit mistakes
…all without fear of negative consequences.
“Team psychological safety is a shared and tacit belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. A psychologically safe environment enables individuals to feel safetolearn,whichinturnincreasesworker’s engagement in seeking feedback, sharing information, speaking up, asking for help, talking about errors or concerns, and innovating. This results in workers focusing less on self-protection, but instead being moreengagedwithintheirwork.”
(Edmondson,1999)
How does psychological safety feel?
I don’t have to wear a mask or a ‘work face’.
I can express myself.
I respect my team. I’m willing to give it a go.
I want to share what I’ve learnt, including learning from mistakes. I can keep moving through uncertainty.
I can make some decisions.
I can ask for help.
I can deal with what happens.
I want to check in with my team about what I am doing.
I can disagree.
I want to propose solutions.
I can contribute my ideas.
I like feedback.
I’m not rejected for being different.
How do we create psychological safety for volunteers?
Be available and approachable
“He’s always got time for questions, and he doesn’t make you feel stupid for asking.
Explicitly invite input and feedback
“She explained what we were doing, the kind of communication she wanted, what results she expected, and told us to let her know if anything was out of place.”
Model openness and fallibility
“The boss is usually the first to point out their own mistakes, they’ll say, ‘Ah, I think I screwed that up’.”
( E d m o n d s o n , 2 0 0 3 )
How do we create psychological safety for volunteers?
Emotional carrying capacity
Tensility
Connectivity *
Positive regard
Mutuality
“My team understands, even when I get emotional.”
“It can get really tense when the pressure is on, and we disagree, or we fail, but I know we would all rather hear it and come to a better decision in the end.”
“Seeing things from a different perspective, or trying something new, are different options for adapting to our changing operational environment.”
“I know my team members have different strengths from me. I go to them for some things, and they come to me for my strengths.”
“When it gets really busy, everyone chips in.”
( C a r m e l i e t a l , 2 0 0 9 )
What is most effective?
1) Leader shaping the environment
- Inclusive leadership
- Transformational leadership
2) Work design characteristics/ supportive work context - Interdependence - Peer support - Role clarity
( F r a z i e r , 2 0 1 7 )
Questions and Discussion Where are you, May? www.psychlab.com.au | @psychmay
References
• Carmeli, A., Brueller, D., & Dutton, J. E. (2009). Learning behaviours in the workplace: The role of high‐quality interpersonal relationships and psychological safety. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 26(1), 81‐98.
• Edmondson, A. C. (2003). Speaking up in the operating room: How team leaders promote learning in interdisciplinary action teams. Journal of Management Studies, 40(6), 1419‐1452.
• Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350‐383.
• Frazier, M. L., Fainshmidt, S., Klinger, R. L., Pezeshkan, A., & Vracheva, V. (2017). Psychological safety: A meta‐analytic review and extension. Personnel Psychology, 70(1), 113‐165.
