Want better, faster, stronger teams? Start here …

Psychological safety underpins every successful collaboration.

So, you’re leading a team and you want to work better together. Who wouldn’t? One thing underpins every successful team—no matter who or where they are—and it’s essential if you want to work better, faster and stronger.

It’s called psychological safety. Now, if thoughts like “fluffy” or “safe space” take over your internal dialogue, stop them right there! Psychological safety is definitely not fluffy and it takes some serious guts and determination to make it a reality on your team. Here’s why.

Psychological safety is about being able to rumble. It involves candid, hard conversations between colleagues who treat each other with mutual trust and respect. It’s productive disagreement and open idea exchange without the fear of humiliation or retaliation. It’s candid (not soft) feedback from a place of deep caring.

Psychological safety is how teams get out of the comfort zone so they can have conversations that matter. Whatever approaches or tools your team uses to actually think big and get things done, you will need psychological safety in place first if you want to work well together.

 

continue reading »