5 ways to build trust and safety on your team
A few years ago, Google published its results from a two-year study into what makes a great team. The key ingredient to great teams is psychological safety. When I look at the teams I have been on, I have done my best work on teams where
I could ask any type of question
Experimentation was encouraged. We took risk and make mistakes. But we did so on a small scale. At each step in the project, if a mistake Mistakes were okay as long as we all learned from them. It was better to ‘fail small’ in order to ‘win big’
Everyone had a voice and opinion that could be shared
We could trust each other to innovate, collaborate, and not take things personally
According to Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson:
“Psychological safety is a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes.”
In other words, a team culture where people are comfortable making mistakes, learning and taking risks. This type of team fosters innovation and change. How can you build psychological safety in your individual teams without worrying about a large scale HR project coming from the top of the organization?
Here are some 5 ways to build safety and trust within your teams. Note these do not require change initiatives or executive support. They are things you, as a leader, can put in place:
Break the golden rule: The golden rule says treat others as you want to be treated. In psychologically safe environments, the opposite needs to be true. Treat others as THEY want to be treated. Know your employees. Know what drives them. Know their communication styles. If you understand how your employee wants to be treated, then you can adjust your style and make your employee be comfortable and build trust.
Acknowledge YOUR mistakes: Whether you are an individual contributor or a leader, lead by example. First, acknowledge your mistakes. Tell others when you have made a mistake and look for their input on how you could have done things differently. By starting the process of owning and learning from errors, you make it safe for others to begin to discuss their mistakes as well.
Listen: Active listening requires that you can focus on what the other person is saying. It means minimizing distractions. It means not only listening to what the other person is saying, but their tone and body language. It means shutting down your computer and phone to be fully present. When this happens, it indicates to the people you are talking to that they matter, you see value in them as human beings.
Premortem: Have a premortem before projects. Brainstorm about everything that ‘could’ go wrong so you can plan. It makes talking about failures less scary and it builds trust and confidence in the team to tackle the challenges that may arise. Talk about the crazy things that could happen and what you would do. It creates collaboration on the team, connection, and alignment.
Remember we are all human. Leaders need to remember that, regardless of the titles, everyone is a human being who deserves respect. As a leader, speak last. Make sure everyone contributes comfortably. This creates collaboration and trust. Also encourage all ideas. Do not shut down the opinions of others. Ask open-ended questions to learn more. It is okay to not agree with an idea but do not shut down the idea as it makes it fearful for others to bring up their ideas.
When team members are comfortable being their authentic self and can innovate and participate with their being heard, they will do the best work of their lives.