Psychological safety includes all sorts of elements in work, hybrid work, training, remote training – the details might be different, but the essence is the same.
The Wikipedia definition is:
"Psychological safety is the ability to show and employ oneself without fear of negative consequences of self-image, status, or career. It can be defined as a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking. In psychologically safe teams, team members feel accepted and respected. It is also the most studied enabling condition in group dynamics and team learning research."
Dr. Amy Edmondson, of Harvard Business School, coined the phrase 'psychological safety' and a definition from her is:
“A belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes, and that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.”
We think that the idea of being able to ask question and take those risks in a learning environment is absolutely key. The sessions we run have resulted in participant feedback such as:
There are lots of different ways to create this psychological safety in your sessions, including the following:
This approach avoids some of the things that could make participants feel unsafe, or uncomfortable, including:
- Forcing them to interact
- Imposing webcam use
- Directing people to use the microphone
- Too much interaction
- Making them feel stupid on a question
