5 Creating Psychological Safety

Now that you’ve briefly learned what psychological safety is, this section explains some suggestions on how you can create it within your groups (or anywhere). You may notice that there is some overlap between what is suggested below, and the information in previous sections on increasing trust in the group.

Establishing a psychologically safe environment typically becomes the responsibility of the leader, but in a group project where there may be no established leader, this responsibility falls on each and every member. See Module 4 for more information on leadership. 

Be Engaged 

Be engaged with others in your group, and demonstrate your understanding of what they are saying (Barnett,, n.d). This is especially important when taking an online course. Removing distractions, being fully present (physically and mentally) and using other active-listening techniques is important to show your group members that you value what they are saying.

Avoid Blaming

(Barnett, n.d)

Mistakes will happen during group projects, but there is a productive and less productive way to handle them. Try taking a forward-looking approach (“how can we improve this next time?”) to focus on getting better results, as opposed to dwelling and making the perpetrator feel badly. Look at this from the point of view of Learner Safety, making mistakes is part of the learning process.

Include everyone in decision-making 

(Barnett, n.d)

This is an important action that can sometimes be overlooked in group projects. When making a decision within a team, make sure that every member has the opportunity to be part of the process. Decisions in a group project could be about interim deadlines, delegating work, emailing a professor, and many more. This is important to ensure that all group members feel valued within the group.

A common issue in group projects (mentioned by respondents in our student survey) is a lack of motivation based on interactions with the group. Consider if you would feel motivated to contribute and be engaged within a group project if decisions were made without your involvement or input. Sometimes (especially when working virtually), a decision may be time-sensitive and groups may have trouble getting a hold of one team member. Try to address this proactively, by setting communication expectations ahead of time in your group charter. For example, you may set the expectation that all group members will respond to a group chat every 12 hours (and if they do not, they may be excluded from decision-making)

Be open to feedback 

(Barnett, n.d)

One great outcome of a psychologically safe environment is that group members feel comfortable to challenge each other. Remember that this feedback is important to get better team results, and is not a personal attack. Make sure to use constructive feedback best practices described in Module 2.

Be Vulnerable 

Admit when you don’t know something (CCL, n.d). This indicates to the rest if the group that this is okay to do so. Once you’ve shared, it also means you can move forward by learning the missing information (with the help of the group) and continue doing great work.

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OPTIONAL VIEWING 

What is Psychological Safety, and How do you create Psychological Safety at Work?

This 8 minute video discusses psychological safety once more, and describes some ways to build it within the workplace.

REFERENCES 

Center for Creative Leadership (n.d). What is Psychological Safety at Work? https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/what-is-psychological-safety-at-work/

Barnett, G. (n.d). 8 ways to create psychological safety in the workplace. https://www.predictiveindex.com/blog/psychological-safety-in-the-workplace/