This week I became a certified psychological safety coach in partnership with Noomii.com and Amy Edmondson’s The Fearless Organization.
Amy Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership a the Harvard Business School and author of The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation and Growth.
Leaders, you may already be aware of the term psychological safety. According to Amy Edmondson, Team Psychological Safety is defined as “a shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking.”
It can be risky to try new things, knowing they might fail. It can be risky to be unique and stand out. It can be risky to have a thought that’s not just like everyone else’s on the team. It can be risky to bring up problems or tough issues. It can be risky to ask for help. Trusting team members to work with you and not undermine you can be a big risk. It’s risky to bring the best of your gifts and talents to a team and know they might not be valued or utilized by the team.
When team members are free to take interpersonal risks they are free to innovate, create, and grow. This is especially important in VUCA environments (where there is volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.)
Amy Edmondson has developed seven questions to test the psychological safety of a team, and these questions form the basis of a new assessment that I’m now certified to share with teams and to use to debrief and coach teams that want to foster a creative, innovative growth culture.
Contact me to learn more about the PSI (Psychological Safety Index) Assessment and creating or growing psychological safety in your organization.