Mentally Injurious Workplaces Becoming Increasingly Common: Part 2
Editor’s note: This is the second story in a two-part series on psychological safety in the workplace. It will provide supervisors and managers with some guidance on how to combat it.
Meet Phil, the president of a mid-sized company that has a huge safety problem. Phil would scoff at the suggestion that there’s any sort of problem with safety and he’d proudly produce his company’s OSHA records as evidence.
But his problem has nothing to do with his workers’ physical safety on the job—and everything to do with their mental safety.
Phil’s workers know better than to question his ideas or orders. Anyone who has spoken up and suggested that what Phil is asking for is unworkable has suffered a steely glare, a verbal outburst or an order to “make it happen.”
“The employees at Phil’s company have decided that speaking up doesn’t pay. So they stay silent. They’ve learned that it’s not safe to voice concerns, so they plod along, trying to turn half-baked ideas into productive business ventures,” says Jennifer V. Miller, a former corporate training manager who runs SkillSource, a Grand Rapids, MI, consulting firm specializing in helping companies improve workplace interactions.
Miller says maintaining a psychologically safe workplace is every bit as important as maintaining a physically safe one.
She offers this advice to supervisors and managers:
- Don’t mistake silence for agreement: When addressing your workers, watch their body language. Are they “open” to what you’re telling them, giving you eye contact and leaning slightly forward, or are they “closed”—looking away, doodling or otherwise not connecting with you?
- Learn to ask “What am I missing?” Asking this simple open-ended phrase will help begin a conversation and it shows that you are open to input on your idea.
- Reward differing viewpoints: If someone offers a different view, begin with “I hadn’t thought of it that way.” Ask follow up questions such as “What has to happen in order for you to get comfortable with this idea?”
- Reflect on past interactions: If people have stopped giving you feedback, ask yourself what has changed. Think of possible reasons why people are suddenly clamming up.
- Ask for feedback: The best way to get people to open up is to ask for, and then listen neutrally to their feedback. Be sure to thank the first person who offers feedback, even if it’s misguided, poorly worded or irrelevant. You want to reward the act of speaking up.
- Don’t underestimate the impact your words and actions have on employees: A work team leader may brush off initial employee complaints, saying, “She just needs to toughen up” or “He’s overly sensitive. I was only joking.” This only serves to undermine your relationship with your workers and oftentimes leads to an escalation of events that could turn into a filing with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Info to go: Read more about psychological safety in the workplace by clicking on the Info to Go safety links here
