Psychological Safety or We Are Still in High School

A common phrase that I’m hearing quite a bit in the organizational space is psychological safety. It means to feel emotionally comfortable at work. Comfortable enough to speak up when you disagree and comfortable enough to make suggestions to your team, boss, or other co-workers. Psychological safety means people will take risks at work and delve into more creative and unique work. The lack of psychological safety leads to a decline in productivity and often an increase in turnover. It’s an expensive problem for organizations and it’s miserable if you work somewhere in which you don’t feel psychologically safe.

So why does the lack of psychological safety feel an awful lot like high school days? Because often in high school we would hide, play small, avoid, and disengage in order to avoid being teased or belittled. Adults will do the same things to avoid similar outcomes. It turns out that those high school bullies seem to grow up to be organizational bullies and the pain is equally as significant. It’s not at all uncommon for me to work with individuals and teams who have just given up because the lack of emotional safety keeps them from trying new things and growing at work.

What are organizations to do about this situation, and what can you do if you are feeling that you don’t have psychological safety? Organizations can learn to recognize when this might be the case by noticing when teams are not taking risks or thinking innovatively. A good leader will notice when their team is not producing the way they used to or if some members of the team seem to be disengaged. Stepping in and changing the dynamic will help redevelop emotional safety, which benefits many.

How to Stop a Workplace Bully

If someone is afraid to speak up, it’s important for others to support that person and to speak to human resources or their leaders about the lack of safety on the team. People who respond out of fear of repercussions or emotional abuse won’t be showing up in ways that are most beneficial to them or the organization. Workplace bullying must be addressed immediately and with strong motivators to change the behavior of the bullies.

The best way to manage a lack of psychological safety at work is to own your worth, believe in your talents, and stand up to the bully. #PsychologicalSafety #bullying #leadership Click To Tweet

As an individual, one of the best ways to manage the lack of psychological safety is to stand up to the bully. This is, of course, challenging to do, but ultimately empowering. To do this requires us to have total faith in our ideas regardless of the response of others around us. Again, not always so easy to do. It also means that when someone is treating us inappropriately at work, we tell them that their behavior is unacceptable. Seek out support from other employees, a mentor, a sponsor, a coach, or a consultant. Possibly consider seeing a therapist to discuss the emotional reactions you are having to an emotionally unsafe work environment.

Ultimately, changing a psychologically unsafe work environment takes courage from leaders, peers, and especially the person who is being treated wrongly. Sometimes it helps to remember that we all have the option to choose how we respond to people in our environment. What if you decided not to give your power away to a workplace bully and instead decided to own your own confidence and your ability to stand up for yourself? Maybe it’s time to shut that high school bully down once and for all

Love,

Lisa Kaplin Psy. D. PCC