When I was in sales, the general manager of each geographic region was required to submit a weekly forecast to headquarters. These forecasts were a prediction of how much software they expected their team to sell.
The sum of the regional forecasts was reported to the shareholders and by extension, to Wall Street. This was a publicly traded company and the accuracy of these figures was of supreme importance.
One year, the company missed the forecast every single quarter, with most regions not even coming close to achieving the sales figures they had predicted.
How could something like this happen?
The answer is that these employees didn’t feel psychologically safe. They understood that missing their targets was viewed as a failure and that failure wasn’t tolerated.
Their reaction to this culture was to exaggerate their forecast week after week, with the truth only being revealed at the very end of the quarter. These actions resulted in serious consequences.
The absence of psychological safety can have significant repercussions. But how is psychological safety created in the workplace?
Find the full transcript and other resources for women leaders at https://livingwhileleading.com/9.
Why Women Leaders Cannot Ignore the Value of Open Communication and Trust
The notion that organizational success is solely about hitting targets and achieving KPI’s needs to be put to rest —particularly within sales teams.Success is also about the unseen, often unfelt, employees that support the achievement of strategic imperatives.
The term psychological safety refers to an individual’s perception of the consequences of taking an interpersonal risk.
Simply said, in a culture where psychological safety prevails, there’s a belief that one won’t be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, mistakes or even the truth.
As a woman leader you understand that fostering psychological safety isn’t just a ‘nice to have’. Here are a few of the risks of not making it a priority:
- When employees fear reprisal or ridicule for sharing ideas or honest feedback, they go silent. Organizational growth depends on fresh perspectives, innovation and constructive communication. Muting these exchanges of information leads to resistance to change and, with time, reduces competitiveness.
- Employees thrive in environments where they feel valued and heard. Without psychological safety, they become disengaged from their work. They’re also less likely to invest emotionally or intellectually in their roles, which affects performance and productivity.
- Talented employees are more likely to leave organizations where they don’t feel safe or valued. The impact of employee attrition is well understood.
- Employees often hesitate to point out potential risks when they fear backlash. Hidden or unreported errors lead to operational inefficiencies and financial, reputational, and legal risks.
How Psychological Safety Fuels Collaboration and Resilience in Teams
By championing psychological safety, you’re not just enhancing productivity — you’re creating a culture of empathy and empowerment.
Your ability to nurture authenticity and vulnerability will unlock a deeper level of team connection and collaboration. Your employees will understand that “it’s ok to be human here”, and will actively seek feedback and admit to mistakes. This will be a catalyst for trust and change.
You have firsthand experience with being overshadowed in male-dominated spaces. By ensuring that every individual, irrespective of their background, is valued and heard, you’ll benefit from the wealth of the diverse perspectives.
Resilient teams thrive when risk taking is encourage and failure is seen as opportunity to learn and do better. It’s clear that professional setbacks can’t be avoided, however resilient teams bounce back quicker and find their way to better solutions.
Two Practical Steps Women Executives Can Take to Create Organizational Psychological Safety
Building psychological safety in an organization requires intentional efforts and consistent actions that with time will make an impact.
Here are two practical steps for you to consider:
- Open Up and Show Vulnerability: It’s powerful to share your experiences, fears, challenges, and even occasional doubts with your team. Displaying vulnerability humanizes you and sends a message that it’s okay not to have all the answers all the time.
Start by sharing stories from your own journey about times when you faced challenges or made mistakes.
Encourage a culture where mistakes are seen as opportunities for growth rather than deserving of punishment or humiliation.
By setting this precedent, your team will start to feel more comfortable speaking up, asking questions, and sharing their own vulnerabilities.
Displaying vulnerability may be a challenge for you since you’ve had to outwardly demonstrate strength and fearlessness throughout your career. Don’t force being vulnerable. Take your time.
- Actively Solicit Feedback and Act on It: As a leader, your perspective is shaped by your position in the hierarchy and your lived experience. However, individuals at every level of your company have valuable insights.
Make it a regular practice to seek feedback from all levels of your organization. That could mean hosting open forums or anonymous feedback sessions where team members can share their concerns, suggestions, and even criticisms without fear of repercussion.
Keep in mind that it’s crucial to act upon the feedback you receive. Even in those instances when you can’t implement a suggestion —acknowledge and appreciate the input.
Discuss feedback openly, and explain your decisions or any constraints that prevent action. Over time, this practice will build trust and solidify a sense of psychological safety.
These steps represent the adoption of behaviors that will drive cultural change. It may require you to unlearn the individualist, competitive approach embraced by most organizations.
A shift in culture requires consistency, time and patience. It’s worth the effort and will pay dividends if you stick with it!
It’s not sustainable for you to go at everything alone. Demonstrate with your actions that your team matters. That their voices matter. That you need them to move things forward. You’ll find that they’ll support you every step of the way.
Remember, you’re the solution to claiming what’s important to you!
