Do You Have My Back? The Power of Psychological Safety at Work
“I’ve got your back!”
It is a saying that a lot of improvisers say to each other right before going on stage. It is meant to convey a sense of trust to everyone in the group – be bold, get your ideas out there and they will be supported and explored.
The root of improvisation is “Yes, And”, which at its core is the same idea as having each other’s back. I will listen and understand you, and then build off of your idea with my idea no matter what. Even when we don’t agree, I will hear you and consider your viewpoint and I will be inspired by your ideas to build even better ones together. If we trust each other, we can take chances, we can even look bad and fail from time to time – because we know that in taking those chances and being willing to fail, we might just unlock greatness. Interestingly, the more trust is present, the more we actually succeed.
The reason that this works in improvisation is when a strong measure of “psychological safety” is within the team. We are encouraged to get our ideas out there, and to be open to having those ideas changed as a scene progresses. We assume positive intent when our idea is altered, and we listen and read each other throughout while we keep contributing to the growth of the idea.
Psychological safety is important to be a successful improvisation team. When an actor feels shut down or made fun of by the other actors, the result can be playing it safer and safer – not speaking up with great ideas, so great ideas never happen. Other actors may also see that someone else is not being supported, so they play it safer as well.
Sound familiar? Psychological safety, or lack thereof, is a major determinant of whether corporate teams function well and succeed or stall and fail. How can I say my idea if I know the boss is going to cut me down in front of everyone else? Or a co-worker is going play devil's advocate and immediately jump on why my idea won’t work?
It’s something that Google explored with a project called Project Aristotle. They analyzed hundreds of teams to see what made a team optimal. What they found wasn’t that a great team had all highly intelligent people, or that introverts always worked well together, and extroverts always worked well together – patterns that you might expect. What they found was that a team’s measure of psychological safety – the shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking – was the key to the team’s success. It was a blend of “equal voice time” for each member and being skilled at intuiting how others feel based on their tone of voice, their expressions and non-verbal cues.
Those are the same qualities that make for great improvisation teams. We know how to build those qualities. It is something that you can learn and get better at, as an individual and as a team.
Has there been a time you have felt like your voice wasn’t being heard? Or you were afraid to speak up, so you just sat on a good idea? Or have you had a great experience with a team that thrives on psychological safety? We’d love to hear your experiences, and we’d love to help. It’s one thing to say, “let’s build psychological safety on our team”, and it’s another to equip yourself with the skills to make it work.
Check out our Pod on “Being a Radiator, Not a Drain” on the power of providing support to those most in need: