Human resources plays an important role in shaping organizational culture. A culture of psychological safety and resilience is essential if you want your employees to feel safe adapting to change, taking risks and speaking up in the name of innovation.
Psychological safety is the belief that sharing ideas, questions, concerns, and opinions will not make you feel degraded or shamed. Having a culture of psychological safety and support is especially important when companies face challenges such as economic uncertainty.
In the episode, HR morning In the Voices of HR podcast, Anna Galstrand, chief people and culture officer at presentation engagement software company Mentimeter, shared some ways to build such a culture.
Understanding and building psychological safety
According to Galstrand, there are two levels of psychological safety. The first is a baseline where, for example, recently hired employees detect a spirit of inclusion and feel valued, welcomed, and respected.
“True psychological safety is [differences of] When you have an opinion with someone, or a disagreement about what to do or how to do it…and then you manage to have it in a constructive way, and in the end, you understand each other and come to a better decision. I can. Input from the entire team. … [You realize,] “I expressed contradictory opinions…and I’m still here. People respect my abilities and I still feel valued in this company.”… “If you want to have a really high-performing team, you have to get past that stage,” she said.
Here are some practical steps to share with your manager.
- Promote open communication. Encourage employees to share ideas, questions and concerns without fear of judgment or retaliation. Leaders must actively listen to and acknowledge feedback.
- Treat mistakes as opportunities to grow and learn. This gives employees the confidence to take calculated risks and innovate.
- Model vulnerabilities. Leaders need to be willing to admit their mistakes and show vulnerability. This sets an example for others and builds a cultural foundation of openness and trust. “We want to show that transparency is very important to us. And we want to show that this is a company where you can be yourself. Bringing your full self to work. “We can do that,” Galstrand said.
- Add the SCARF (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relevance, and Fairness) model to your internal toolbox.. Galstrand said his confidence waned when he returned to his regular human resources role after serving as Mentimeter’s interim CEO. She took her SCARF assessment to better understand what she was going through, and she openly shared her feelings with her CEO, who responded in a supportive manner. He gave it to me.
Team building to foster resilience
Companies become more resilient when they engage and motivate their employees. “[People] People are more resilient when they feel safe in a group, but they can also feel supported and, in some ways, supporting each other. And we know that the deeper our relationships are, the more resilient we are. People will be better able to cope with stress. …If people were happier and enjoyed life and had more gratitude, they would perform better,” Galstrand said.
To strengthen working relationships and improve collaboration, Mentimeter allocates quarterly budgets to each department for team-building activities such as dinner parties, cooking classes, pottery classes, and kayaking outings.
Promoting resilience to changing circumstances
An innovative approach that Mentimeter takes to achieve a sense of inclusion is an optional annual temporary relocation program. The program gives employees the opportunity to work in another location for up to a month, with the company covering travel and living expenses.
According to Gullstorm, the benefits of this program are worth the investment for the following reasons:
- Improving employee engagement and retention.
- Stress test for your business. “If we manage to move our entire business somewhere else…and just keep operating…we know all our systems are on the cloud.” [and] everyone has [effective] “Communication channels are available wherever they are,” she said.
- It encouraged innovation. Staying in another city or country can stimulate your creativity and lead to new solutions.
