Why psychological security is a strategic choice for competitiveness

Psychological Safety, brought to worldwide attention by the studies of Amy Edmondson (Harvard), lies at the heart of the culture of every social system and in business it has a strong impact on performance. Investing in psychological safety is strategic. The topic is becoming mainstream but, along with its diffusion, confusion is increasing. So, let's understand what it is, why and how it affects performance and what concrete benefits it generates.

Psychological safety is the perception we have, while working, that we can expose ourselves to contribute to the common goal. We expose ourselves, for example, to say "I don't understand", "I don't agree", to ask questions and proposals, take initiatives, assume responsibility, share mistakes, fears, doubts. We might think that these are normal gestures. Indeed, they are. But only when we perceive psychological security. When in doubt, "do I say it or not?", we keep silent. Everyone, at every level, knows this experience. We keep silent to avoid being judged incompetent, inappropriate, weak. And so we feed the epidemic of silence. The urge to speak or remain silent, which characterises the climate and is at the heart of every organisational culture, influences behaviour around the clock. Mind you, psychological safety is not saying the first thing that pops into one's head. The issue arises when whether or not exposing ourselves impacts on the quality of collective performance.

Because working having understood (or not), having the information (or not) makes a big difference, and going out on a limb to say 'I don't agree' or make alternative proposals can change an outcome, the fate of a project or the entire company. So many companies have failed because many, out of fear, kept quiet. Others, flourishing, have made frank and transparent confrontation their working method. Think of how many in your organisation keep quiet about an unclear objective, well-founded doubts, proposals, ideas and mistakes... Thousands of little missed gestures make an avalanche. Is the effect on business performance clear? Corporate investments to improve competitiveness are huge and, most of them, go on technology, products and services, reorganisations and acquisitions. Good. But how do we manage the returns if people do not make the best use of technology, do not participate and contribute to improvement and innovation, do things the same way so as not to make mistakes, and feed barriers? In short, psychological security is the precondition for making these investments pay off (or not). So, what can we do to spread it? Let's bear in mind that psychological safety is a product of the team, not the individual, and it spreads (or not) within the perimeter of the everyday environment through transparency, the richness of confrontation, feedback and the sharing of mistakes. Does the culture of our companies stimulate people to go in this direction? Is management ready to create safe spaces in their teams? Are people motivated to step out of their comfort zone and actively contribute to the collective result? We know very well that this is not the case.

Psychological security is the elephant in the room we live with every day, without seeing it. So it is useful to develop awareness in management, starting with top management, of the benefits it generates (and the costs when it is not there). But, if we really want to transform workplaces into evolutionary centres for competitiveness, we must focus on real teams, that is, on the people who work together every day, including managers. Because it is mainly here that the generation of value is played out: in offices, production units, project groups, sales teams, laboratories... And it is here that we can intervene to increase psychological security. The how is not a problem, we know how to do it. But this approach requires those who govern the company to overturn their minds. We can no longer think that performance is in the hands of individuals. Nor believe that it is enough to act only on managerial populations for them to activate change. Only people working together can join forces, every day, to transform their working methods and corporate culture into a drive for evolutionary advantage.

Marina Capizzi, author of Don't Die of Hierarchy