Creating a Psychosocially Safe Workplace

The benefits of a psychosocially safe workplace are far reaching; from greater productivity and innovation, to a greater sense of belonging and trust across the team. These in turn reduce the likelihood of attrition, reduce absenteeism and presenteeism and enables your team to thrive.

To create such an environment:-

In the General Workplace,

- Make the Purpose of the Team Relatable to all Team Members

- Be present when you’re with your team. (Ignore email or phone prompts. Close the laptop)

- Ask Questions of your Team. Value their input. Act of their Suggestions.

- Avoid Blame and Encourage Learning and Sharing of Lessons.

- Share information widely

- Be accessible. Ensure your “open door policy” is a welcoming one.

- Recognise and reward good practices

- Promote your team over yourself to senior managers

- Get to know your team members

= Understand their “What’s in it for me?”

= Get to know their lives outside their work.

- Explain the reasons behind decisions.

- Be open to questioning and criticism. Use it as a means to grow and improve you and the team.

- Be confident and decisive when making decisions, but,

- Be Flexible. Invite input from team members.

- Encourage risk taking, and promote mistakes as learning opportunities for all.

- Demonstrate Trust in delegating, don’t micromanage.

- Be Supportive and be available to provide input as required.

- Creating a Psychosocially Safe Workplace

In Meetings,

- Clearly state the purpose of the meeting

= What you intend to achieve

= Follow an agenda

= Allow sufficient time

- Listen to every team members view.

= Don’t interrupt, or allow others to interrupt.

= Encourage the quieter team members to speak. They have important views.

- Validate the speakers comments.

- Be aware of the non-verbal messages you may be sending.

= Lean towards the speaker

= Check your facial expression (what is it telling the speaker?)

= Nod in agreement to show that you are connected

- Make eye contact to show connection and active listening

- Summarise the actions and inputs at the end of meetings.

- Ensure understanding and agreement. If a single team member is not on board, take time away from the meeting to clarify things.