Supporting Psychological Safety

Supporting psychological safety in the work community has been scientifically proven to support learning, creativity, efficiency and satisfaction. In the AV industry, work is often done on a project-by-project basis, which means that teams and work phases change frequently, which emphasizes the importance of trust in the work community.

What does psychological safety mean?

Psychological safety means that everyone can introduce new ideas, talk about their unfinished thoughts, ask questions, request assistance, verify things, challenge others and talk about failures without the fear of embarrassment, punishment or scrutiny. Psychological safety is created by interaction and maintained together.

Psychological safety does not mean lowering the level of requirements or objectives, nor does it mean not requiring any discipline or effort from yourself and others. Safety and comfort are not the same thing. Sometimes people understand psychological safety as comfort, in which case they will lose its greatest benefits. Nobody will become fitter if they only jog up to a level where they feel comfortable. The same logic applies to other matters.

In actual fact, a high level of psychological safety sets the bar higher because it requires openness and honesty during interaction. It also raises the bar for the quality of cooperation, i.e. what you expect from others and what is expected of you. On the other hand, high-quality cooperation increases the productivity of the work community. According to studies, psychological safety combined with a high work ethic is also one of the factors behind successful teams.

How does psychological safety develop?

The development of psychological safety can be examined with the help of four stages. 

1. The first stage is the safety of participation, which simply means that it is safe for you to be a part of the team and its activities. You are accepted and feel that you are part of the team.
2. The second stage is the safety of learning. You are allowed to learn and make mistakes.
3. The third stage is the safety of cooperation. You feel that your contribution to the whole is as important as that of everyone else, regardless of their job title or position. At this stage, cooperation is smooth. It is easy to ask for and give assistance.
4. The fourth stage is the safety of challenging. You dare to challenge the familiar ways of doing things. 

How can psychological safety be improved?

In the development of psychological safety, you should start from the point in which the team, working group or organisation is right now. Starting from a point far away in the future is no use: you must go to where the person, team, working group or organisation is right now. You must be able to recognise the current state and to create hope for a better future – in other words, communicate why it is worth working on things.

The work community may have written rules, but the norms that guide people are based on visible behaviour. The power of example is stronger than any written rule. This means that you should think about what kind of a role model you are based on your behaviour.

The author Sanna Miettinen is a management, organisational behaviour and workplace wellbeing specialist and a consultant who also trained supervisors in the audiovisual industry. Sanna has acted as a coach and support to executive teams, supervisors, teams and employees since 2010.