You Are Responsible for Your Safety Too

In an article in the Harved Business Review, Amy Gallo writes¹:

Team psychological safety is a shared belief held by members of a team that it’s OK to take risks, to express their ideas and concerns, to speak up with questions, and to admit mistakes…

Creating environments that are safe is often coupled with leadership; the styles and tactics that go into creating an environment where your team feels comfortable in expressing itself and doing without consequence. And rightfully so, leaders set the tone of their team and typically, the most significant consequences in business comes from top-down and there is survey data to prove it². There is no doubt that leaders have the biggest ability to impact the positive shift towards teams feeling safe, but why don’t team members come into a team believing they will be safe in the first place? Team members need to take responsibility for their safety in equal parts to their leaders.

The path to feeling safe

Before getting into what team members should do to feel safe, it is important to understand what it takes to feel safe.

It takes a combination of permission and respect to get to greater levels of safety within a team; start with who you are as a person all the way to what you find important to bring to the team to get their attention in promoting change for the better. This isn’t a straight line, all of generating safety can be worked on independently and in their own timeframes with check-in moments to ensure alignment and optimized flow.

It isn’t leaders alone

In Psychological Safety’s critque³ of Timothy R. Clark’s book The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety, the overemphasis on leader responsibility is highlighted:

While the book acknowledges the role of leaders in fostering psychological safety, it tends to overemphasize their responsibility in doing so. Psychological safety is a shared responsibility among all team members, and the book could do more to emphasize the importance of each individual’s role in maintaining a safe and supportive environment

Team members have responsibility in cultivating safety; for themselves and for the team as a whole. Whether a brand-new team or one that has been around awhile, team members can also take on what is needed to make safety a part of the foundation of the team.

A new team

When things are new, the biggest thing to remember is that they are new; this is uncharted terriority. The entire team has the ability to form however it wants to. Even if you know or have worked with some/all of the other team members before, coming together in this way for a new purpose is new. Team formation exercises can be a really great way to start these relationships off right. Let each other know some key things about who you are and what you are about:

1. Things about you that you either just want to share or that better explain you and how you deal with being on a team; things that make you you
2. How you like to work
3. What you expect from your teammates and what they should expect from you

Exercises like this, whether formal or informal (suggest formal done first if never done before), gives the team a baseline of expectations and guiderails. In order to this to be successful, there are traits each team member needs to embody:

1. Honest | The things said are to be believed
2. Transparent | Whether good or bad, always saying what’s on your mind
3. Open | Accepting of other ideas and the art of the possible
4. Timely | Don’t let anything fester
5. Bold | If you are thinking it, someone else is likely thinking it too. Take chances.

An existing team

Take cues from what new teams do. Existing teams can really do the same thing, there are just more bags to bring on the trip. This just means that some extra sensitivities will likely need to be applied, but the playbook is the same. Breaking up into smaller, more focused ceremonies give each team member more time to digest and process what is going on and therefore more opportunities to bring the best version of themselves. For the team member, it is important to acknowledge that you will need to give this a jumpstart:

1. Take down your walls | Let your guard down and be vunerable
2. Acknowledge your feelings | However these exercises and your team is making you feel, let it flow through you. Important to remember to not let things fester
3. Everyone’s goal is the same | It would be hard to believe that any team member want to support a toxic environment. Give your teammates the benefit of the doubt

This isn’t one and done

Safety needs to be constantly and consistently nurtured. People and their needs change, teams have turnover, and so on. The activities you all partake in to bring safety to the forefront can’t be done and then just left on a shelf. As a team member, you live in the team day-in-day-out. You see what is going on. If the team isn’t operating and/or communicating well, you need to bring this to the team attention. Team members, in partnership with leaders, can do a number of things to ensure safety doesn’t collect dust:

1. Ensuring nothing is left unsaid | Keep bringing safety items and concerns to the forefront to make sure they are addressed as a team
2. Revisit your team formation exercises | Insisting the team come back to their team formation exercises and validating that nothing has changed
3. Always take the higher ground | Be bigger and better, the team will come around

Leaders are accountable for the psychological safety of their team and it’s built with trust. However, they can’t do it on their own nor should they. Team members need to be responsible for their safety and the safety of their teammates as well. Apprehension is understandable, but the reward is so sweet when you can rise to the challenge.