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High-Performing Teams Need Psychological Safety. Here’s How toCreate It

“There’s no team without trust,” says Paul Santagata, Head ofIndustry at Google. He knows the results of the tech giant’smassive two-year study on team performance, which revealed that thehighest-performing teams have one thing in common: psychologicalsafety, the belief that you won’t be punished when you make amistake. Studies show that psychological safety allows for moderaterisk-taking, speaking your mind, creativity, and sticking your neckout without fear of having it cut off — just the types of behaviorthat lead to market breakthroughs.

Ancient evolutionary adaptations explain why psychologicalsafety is both fragile and vital to success in uncertain,interdependent environments. The brain processes a provocation by aboss, competitive coworker, or dismissive subordinate as alife-or-death threat. The amygdala, the alarm bell in the brain,ignites the fight-or-flight response, hijacking higher braincenters. This “act first, think later” brain structure shuts downperspective and analytical reasoning. Quite literally, just when weneed it most, we lose our minds. While that fight-or-flightreaction may save us in life-or-death situations, it handicaps thestrategic thinking needed in today’s workplace.

Twenty-first-century success depends on another system — thebroaden-and-build mode of positive emotion, which allows us tosolve complex problems and foster cooperative relationships.Barbara Fredrickson at the University of North Carolina has foundthat positive emotions like trust, curiosity, confidence, andinspiration broaden the mind and help us build psychological,social, and physical resources. We become more open-minded,resilient, motivated, and persistent when we feel safe. Humorincreases, as does solution-finding and divergent thinking — thecognitive process underlying creativity.

When the workplace feels challenging but not threatening, teamscan sustain the broaden-and-build mode. Oxytocin levels in ourbrains rise, eliciting trust and trust-making behavior. This is ahuge factor in team success, as Santagata attests: “In Google’sfast-paced, highly demanding environment, our success hinges on theability to take risks and be vulnerable in front of peers.”

So how can you increase psychological safety on your own team?Try replicating the steps that Santagata took with his:

1. Approach conflict as a collaborator, not anadversary. We humans hate losing even more than we lovewinning. A perceived loss triggers attempts to reestablish fairnessthrough competition, criticism, or disengagement, which is a formof workplace-learned helplessness. Santagata knows that truesuccess is a win-win outcome, so when conflicts come up, he avoidstriggering a fight-or-flight reaction by asking, “How could weachieve a mutually desirable outcome?”

2. Speak human to human. Underlying everyteam’s who-did-what confrontation are universal needs such asrespect, competence, social status, and autonomy. Recognizing thesedeeper needs naturally elicits trust and promotes positive languageand behaviors. Santagata reminded his team that even in the mostcontentious negotiations, the other party is just like them andaims to walk away happy. He led them through a reflection called“Just Like Me,” which asks you to consider:

This person has beliefs, perspectives, and opinions, just likeme.

This person has hopes, anxieties, and vulnerabilities, just likeme.

This person has friends, family, and perhaps children who lovethem, just like me.

This person wants to feel respected, appreciated, and competent,just like me.

This person wishes for peace, joy, and happiness, just likeme.

3. Anticipate reactions and plan countermoves.“Thinking through in advance how your audience will react to yourmessaging helps ensure your content will be heard, versus youraudience hearing an attack on their identity or ego,” explainsSantagata.

Skillfully confront difficult conversations head-on by preparingfor likely reactions. For example, you may need to gather concreteevidence to counter defensiveness when discussing hot-buttonissues. Santagata asks himself, “If I position my point in thismanner, what are the possible objections, and how would I respondto those counterarguments?” He says, “Looking at the discussionfrom this third-party perspective exposes weaknesses in mypositions and encourages me to rethink my argument.”

Specifically, he asks:

What are my main points?

What are three ways my listeners are likely to respond?

How will I respond to each of those scenarios?

4. Replace blame with curiosity. If teammembers sense that you’re trying to blame them for something, youbecome their saber-toothed tiger. John Gottman’s research at theUniversity of Washington shows that blame and criticism reliablyescalate conflict, leading to defensiveness and — eventually — todisengagement. The alternative to blame is curiosity. If youbelieve you already know what the other person is thinking, thenyou’re not ready to have a conversation. Instead, adopt a learningmindset, knowing you don’t have all the facts. Here’s how:

State the problematic behavior or outcome as an observation, anduse factual, neutral language. For example, “In the past two monthsthere’s been a noticeable drop in your participation duringmeetings and progress appears to be slowing on your project.”

Engage them in an exploration. For example, “I imagine there aremultiple factors at play. Perhaps we could uncover what they aretogether?”

Ask for solutions. The people who are responsible for creating aproblem often hold the keys to solving it. That’s why a positiveoutcome typically depends on their input and buy-in. Ask directly,“What do you think needs to happen here?” Or, “What would be yourideal scenario?” Another question leading to solutions is: “Howcould I support you?”

5. Ask for feedback on delivery. Asking forfeedback on how you delivered your message disarms your opponent,illuminates blind spots in communication skills, and modelsfallibility, which increases trust in leaders. Santagata closesdifficult conversations with these questions:

What worked and what didn’t work in my delivery?

How did it feel to hear this message?

How could I have presented it more effectively?

For example, Santagata asked about his delivery after giving hissenior manager tough feedback. His manager replied, “This couldhave felt like a punch in the stomach, but you presented reasonableevidence and that made me want to hear more. You were also eager todiscuss the challenges I had, which led to solutions.”

6. Measure psychological safety. Santagataperiodically asks his team how safe they feel and what couldenhance their feeling of safety. In addition, his team routinelytakes surveys on psychological safety and other team dynamics. Someteams at Google include questions such as, “How confident are youthat you won’t receive retaliation or criticism if you admit anerror or make a mistake?”

If you create this sense of psychological safety on your ownteam starting now, you can expect to see higher levels ofengagement, increased motivation to tackle difficult problems, morelearning and development opportunities, and better performance.

QUESTION:

Have you been a part of a High Performing Team in the past? Haveyou witnessed a High Performing Team in Action? What if anybenefits from that team did you see from a sense of PsychologicalSafety? If you have not ... what benefits do you think you wouldget from having that level of safety on a team? Do you think thatis enough to elevate a mid-level team to High? What other thingsdoes Psychological Safety bring to a team? Or just talk about thearticle. Answer in 2 - 3 paragraphs.