A Courageous Workplace Culture Begins with You
According to CNBC, nearly 50% of companies want workers back in the office five days a week. After many months of working from home or adopting a hybrid work model, workplace cultures face a massive shift. If your organization is facing a similar change, the chances are good that you have had many conversations about workplace culture lately. And for good reason: workplace culture is a significant part of an organization’s health and survival. Surviving and staying competitive in today’s changing landscape may depend on how well your company develops and supports a workplace culture that brings out the best in every team member.
However, when pressed to define it, many leaders often struggle to define their workplace culture because each workplace develops and perpetuates a culture of its own, for better or worse. In a phrase coined by Seth Godin, workplace culture of all kinds can be defined as “people like us, do things like this.” And while this can be helpful guidance, many workplaces struggle to define the specifics of who and what will bring out the best in your team.
As a leader in today’s ever-changing marketplace, it is more vital than ever to invest in defining desired behaviors, building teams that exemplify community, and developing a courageous workplace culture that makes the most of your team’s skills and talents to innovate and thrive.
Psychological safety: the foundation of a courageous culture
Psychological safety is an understanding that the teams we work with will not embarrass, reject or punish us for speaking up or sharing ideas. When a workplace fosters psychological safety, workers are empowered to contribute their ideas and opinions, which makes them invest more of themselves in their work. Effective leaders can leverage the talents and skills of all their workers when they foster a psychologically safe environment.
However, a psychologically safe workplace isn’t necessarily a place where people are kind 100% of the time. It is an environment where, when conflicts and problems arise, because they will, people feel comfortable speaking up and do so with an open mind and with resolution as the goal.
Creating Psychological Safety
A titled leader can do four main things to create psychological safety in their workplace or department. They are:
Speak up – be vocal with your team about the value of creating and supporting psychological safety, as well as its connection to your company’s mission
Set the example – as a leader, you have the power to model the behavior you want to see; be compassionate and respectful when asking others for their thoughts and opinions
Reframe failures and mistakes – within the confines of reasonable risk-taking, learning from mistakes and failures instead of being punished for them can be a powerful teaching and team-building experience
Practice productive conflict – the most influential leaders understand that there are no avoiding conflicts in the workplace. However, leaders can set the stage for constructive conflict by defining the expectation of how disputes will be addressed, such as how team members should express concerns and how to build action plans.
If it seems like examining and addressing the workplace culture of your team or organization is a tall order, that’s because it is! However, you begin moving in the right direction through small but consistent changes. And, everyone at Leadership Delta is here to help. Regardless of your experience as a leader or a team member, we have the practical tools and guidance you need to help you take your team to the next level. Contact us today.