Latest news with #AmyEdmondson
Fast Company
02-06-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
High-performing teams all have this one thing in common
As a manager, it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day grind of fixing processes, eliminating bottlenecks, and streamlining workflows. We focus on reducing friction—the things that get in the way of people doing their best work. And sure, that's important. But here's the thing: Reducing fear is just as, if not more, important. A comprehensive two-year study by Google identified psychological safety as the most important factor in high-performing teams. This environment allows team members to take risks and be vulnerable without fear of negative consequences. Harvard Business School professor Amy C. Edmondson emphasizes that psychological safety enables employees to speak up, make mistakes, and learn from them, which is essential for innovation and growth. Let's face it. The best processes in the world won't help much if your team is afraid to speak up, take risks, or challenge the status quo. Fear can stunt creativity, shut down communication, and make people avoid the very risks that lead to growth. So, as leaders, we need to think beyond just fixing processes. We need to also focus on creating an environment where people feel safe and confident enough to act—even if it means making a mistake along the way. Why Fear Matters More Than You Think Fear is a powerful force. It can make people double-check their work, avoid taking risks, and be extra cautious. But when fear becomes the driving force behind decisions, it also leads to silence. When people are afraid to speak up, they hold back good ideas, overlook problems, and avoid making necessary changes. Neuroscience backs this up. When we experience fear, our brains go into 'fight or flight' mode, which limits our ability to think clearly and make rational decisions. When we're scared, we become reactive instead of proactive. This is why a culture of fear isn't just uncomfortable—it's downright unproductive. As a leader, it's your job to create a culture where people feel safe to speak up, ask questions, and challenge the status quo. That's why reducing fear should go hand in hand with reducing friction. Fixing Processes Doesn't Fix Everything Let's look at a real-world example: the United States Postal Service. In the early 2000s, the USPS faced a significant drop in productivity, rising operational costs, and declining employee morale. To address these issues, management introduced new technology, upgraded processes, and streamlined workflows to improve efficiency and reduce errors. They invested in automated sorting systems and revamped scheduling to make operations run more smoothly. However, despite these process improvements, the results weren't as dramatic as expected. Productivity wasn't increasing, and employees still seemed disengaged. The reason? Fear was still very much present in the workplace. Employees were afraid to speak up or share concerns about the new processes. If workers noticed something wrong with the new systems or had ideas to improve efficiency, they didn't feel comfortable offering suggestions or challenging the way things were done. This is a perfect example of how reducing friction—by fixing processes—didn't have the full impact it could have had because fear was still holding back the team. How could USPS have tackled both issues at once? They could have started by actively working to reduce fear within the organization. Management needed to create an environment where employees felt safe to make mistakes, raise issues, and offer constructive feedback. Employees who feel safe and supported are more likely to speak up when something's not working and more likely to suggest creative solutions. They become partners in progress rather than passive participants. Balancing Both: Reducing Friction and Fear SEB, a Nordic financial services group, implemented a five-month training program focusing on psychological safety and perspective-taking for its investment banking leadership team. This initiative aimed to overcome transformation challenges and foster open communication. As a result, the team achieved revenues 25% above their annual targets in a strategically important market segment. A multi-industry case study followed businesses whose team members were hesitant to voice concerns. All participants implemented psychological safety workshops emphasizing active listening and constructive feedback. This initiative led to improved conflict resolution, enhanced communication, and increased productivity, positively impacting the company's bottom line. To be an effective leader, you can't just focus on fixing processes. That's a quick fix, but it doesn't address the deeper issues that impact team dynamics. Reducing friction is important, yes. But reducing fear is essential if you want to create a truly high-performing, innovative, and engaged team. Simon Brown, global learning and development leader at EY, has spent years building critical skills and behaviors in high-performing teams. He shares: 'You can't automate courage. While systems help things run smoothly, it's the culture that inspires people to run toward challenges instead of away from them.' Real-world application So, what does this balance look like in practice? • Reduce friction: Simplify workflows, cut out unnecessary steps, and ensure your team has the tools and resources they need to do their jobs efficiently. • Reduce fear: Foster a culture of psychological safety, where mistakes are treated as learning opportunities, where feedback is welcomed (not feared), and where team members feel confident enough to take risks and innovate. • You/me/we: Adopt a decision-making framework that defines what decisions employees can make on their own without fear or reprisal. This cuts down on back-and-forth decision-making bottlenecks and helps people feel more empowered in their roles. • Model a hands-off approach: Is your leadership decreasing the number of mandatory meetings but still attending themselves? Making outdated rules 'optional' instead of obsolete? Without buy-in from the top, team members will be too afraid to take action on simplification initiatives that can free up time and decrease unnecessary mental distress. Leadership isn't just about improving processes—it's about improving people's ability to act within those processes. If you want your team to truly thrive, you've got to focus on both reducing friction and reducing fear. When you do, you'll create an environment where people feel empowered to make decisions, try new things, and speak up when something's not working. That's when the real magic happens.
Forbes
20-05-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Why Psychological Safety Drives Performance In High-Stakes Industries
LONDON - NOVEMBER 03: Production staff. (Photo by) To call psychological safety a strategic imperative across industries is no exaggeration. It is a proven driver of high-functioning teams, yet it remains one of the most misunderstood concepts. In complex, high-reliability sectors like healthcare and technology, where outcomes hinge on rapid decision-making, cross-disciplinary coordination and adaptive learning, creating an environment where ideas and people feel safe to speak, challenge and contribute is vital to cultivating a resilient and high-performing culture. Peer-reviewed studies consistently link psychological safety to greater innovation, more effective leadership, enhanced collaboration and measurable improvements in team performance. But widespread misconceptions often dilute its impact, framing it as comfort over honesty or consensus over constructive tension. This article examines the influence, common misconceptions and high-stakes applications of psychological safety, particularly within the evolving landscapes of healthcare, technology and modern organizational leadership. Psychological safety refers to an individual's perception of the consequences of taking interpersonal risks in a particular context, such as the workplace. It is the belief that one can speak up, offer ideas, ask questions or admit mistakes without fear of punishment or shame. This concept, introduced by Amy Edmondson in 1999, has since been recognized as a cornerstone of effective team dynamics across multiple industry sectors. A prevalent misinterpretation is equating psychological safety with comfort or the absence of conflict. However, proper psychological safety fosters an environment where challenging the status quo and engaging in constructive dissent are not only accepted but encouraged. It's not about creating a conflict-free zone, but about ensuring that team members and employees feel secure enough to express diverse viewpoints and take calculated risks. As a health journalist, I've spent years tracing the ripple effects of emotional environments on the workplace. What I've learned is this: Psychological safety is a significant multiplier of well-being. When people feel unsafe expressing themselves, asking for help or communicating discomfort, the stress follows them into the other areas of their lives; it settles in the nervous system and accumulates gradually over time. The body and mind respond to social threats in the same way they respond to physical threats. It spikes cortisol, disrupts sleep, suppresses immune function and erodes the capacity for recovery, emotional resilience and self-regulation. Research from the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2022) suggests that low levels of psychological safety in the workplace are significantly associated with increased rates of burnout, anxiety and emotional exhaustion, particularly among healthcare workers and employees in high-demand industries. Conversely, when psychological safety is present, teams perform and function more effectively. Individuals report increased levels of self-efficacy, greater emotional resilience and improved job satisfaction. Over time, this translates into better health and well-being outcomes, including lower inflammation, a more stable mood, enhanced relationships and a greater ability to self-regulate under pressure. If we want to future-proof our workforces and protect collective mental health, psychological safety is key in a world that increasingly runs on speed, precision, and pressure. The most humane and high-performing environments will be the ones that make it safe to be human. A study published in Frontiers in Psychology emphasized that healthcare professionals who feel psychologically safe are more likely to voice concerns, ask questions and deliver feedback, leading to improved patient safety and overall care quality. Further, fostering psychological safety can mitigate burnout and enhance job satisfaction among healthcare workers. In the fast-paced tech industry, psychological safety is equally vital. Research indicates that teams with high psychological safety are more innovative, as members feel empowered to share ideas and admit mistakes without fear of retribution. An analysis in PLOS ONE found that psychological safety has a positive influence on employee innovative performance through enhanced communication behaviors. While psychological safety flourishes within teams, its foundation is built by leadership. Business leaders are more than strategic architects; they are cultural stewards. Their behaviors set the tone for what is spoken, what is silenced and how people relate to risk. In psychologically safe environments, for instance, leaders model intellectual humility and leadership competency by inviting dissent, acknowledging uncertainty and rewarding sincerity, even when their ideas can be challenged. A 2023 study in the European Management Journal suggested that leaders who display transformational and servant leadership qualities, such as empathy, empowerment and active listening, inspired their followers to lead themselves. Conversely, fear-based leadership and micro-management can be correlated with team withdrawal, silence and reduced innovation. For executives navigating high-pressure sectors such as healthcare and technology, the implications are profound. When team members feel secure enough to challenge inadequate systems, report ethical concerns or propose unconventional ideas, organizations become more agile, transparent and resilient. And the benefits aren't abstract. Companies that prioritize psychological safety report lower turnover, faster problem-solving and stronger employee engagement. For example, Google's landmark Project Aristotle study on effective teams implied that psychological safety was the most critical factor driving team performance, surpassing expertise, intelligence or even tenure. In brief, psychological safety encompasses not only how people feel and behave, but also how they interact with others. It's about how leaders lead and inspire others to do the same within their organization while welcoming their teams' voices, input and feedback. Psychological safety is a biological, emotional and cultural imperative. In industries like healthcare and technology, where lives are saved and systems are built in real-time, the ability to speak up without fear is a key difference between innovation and inertia, between resilience and risk. And the data is clear: teams that feel safe to share unpolished ideas, ask questions and admit mistakes outperform those that don't. They adapt faster. They solve more complex problems. They build stronger cultures of trust where performance doesn't come at the expense of human fulfillment. Ultimately, leaders who cultivate psychological safety are raising the bar for relational excellence. They understand that creativity is fragile, feedback is transformational and psychological safety is the fertile soil in which both flourish. Whether you're a hospital executive, a tech founder, or a team lead navigating daily pressures, the boldest act of leadership today may be about listening more deeply, inviting more voices and making it safe to fail forward. Because the future of work and well-being depends not only on what we build, but also on how bravely we allow others to co-create it with us.
Forbes
20-03-2025
- Health
- Forbes
The Leadership Paradox Of Balance: What Equinox Teaches Us About Sustainable Success
Twice a year, the Earth reaches a fleeting moment of perfect balance. The Equinox offers an illusion of stillness—day and night in equal measure, the shifting forces of expansion and contraction momentarily at rest. And yet, equilibrium is not a static state. The world keeps moving, tipping again into longer days or longer nights. Equinox is a fleeting moment of balanced light and dark. For leaders, the same paradox applies. True balance isn't a fixed endpoint or a finish line. It's a dynamic process of adjustment, one that requires constant recalibration across personal wellbeing, professional performance, and broader impact. Yet, many leaders fall into the trap of chasing a version of balance that is rigid, rather than fluid. In a world where the pressures of work, life, and leadership continue to intensify, how do we cultivate balance that is not brittle, but resilient? Research suggests that sustainable high performance comes not from relentless effort, but from knowing when to push and when to pause. As McKinsey's work on peak performance has shown, elite leaders and athletes alike don't excel by doing more, but by optimizing their efforts in cycles of exertion and recovery. Instead of seeing balance as a zero-sum tradeoff, high-impact leaders integrate it across three dimensions: personal wellbeing (ME), team and relational dynamics (WE), and broader societal or environmental impact (WORLD). Each requires its own recalibration—but the most effective leaders understand that these dimensions don't exist in isolation. Personal wellbeing is not just about rest; it's about holistic alignment across physical, mental, emotional, and intellectual health. As Dr. Christine Porath's research on workplace vitality has demonstrated, leaders who prioritize their own energy and resilience create ripple effects across their teams, fostering cultures of engagement and trust. Leaders can ask themselves: This is not about indulgence; it's about effectiveness. Leaders who neglect their own balance often undermine their long-term performance and decision-making, a phenomenon well-documented in studies on cognitive depletion. In organizations, balance is often misconstrued as predictability. But in reality, the most successful teams balance structure with adaptability. Psychological safety—coined by Harvard Business School's Amy Edmondson—allows teams to operate in this equilibrium, providing a foundation of trust while encouraging innovation. Leaders should consider: Replenishing a team's energy isn't just about reducing workload; it's about designing work in ways that create intrinsic motivation. Regular 'win-sharing' rituals, structured breaks, and opportunities for learning can create sustainable engagement without burnout. How do you balance challenge and comfort for your team? Beyond personal and team dynamics, effective leaders recognize their impact on the broader world. Yet, many struggle with balancing engagement and overwhelm, especially in a time of heightened global complexity. Research on 'activist burnout' highlights the importance of pacing advocacy and impact efforts—leaders who integrate purpose sustainably tend to make a greater long-term difference. Key questions for balance in this dimension: Small, intentional shifts—such as integrating purpose into business decisions or making everyday conversations more values-driven—can create meaningful impact without requiring unsustainable effort. Rather than chasing an unattainable ideal of balance, leaders should approach it as an ongoing practice—one that flexes with circumstances. Research from the Energy Project and Harvard Business Review underscores that the best leaders are those who don't try to 'do it all,' but instead invest strategically across personal, professional, and societal dimensions. A few reflection points to guide this recalibration: For example, a leader might align ME and WE by taking a walking meeting rather than another Zoom call, or connect WE and WORLD by incorporating impact-driven discussions into team conversations. Much like the Equinox, balance is never permanent—it is something leaders must learn to navigate in motion. The goal is not to find perfect equilibrium, but to cultivate the awareness and agility to adjust as circumstances shift. In a world where leadership demands continue to accelerate, the most effective leaders are not those who strive to do more, but those who master the art of balancing what matters most. How might you find more balance within or between the three dimensions - Me, We, and World - of your ... More leadership?
