The Consequences of Psychological and Cultural Safety
Although it is important to learn about the definitions of Psychological and Cultural Safety, the real value is in being able to apply it to our own workplaces and daily lives.
Let’s take some time to learn about the consequences and impact of safe workplaces on employees now.
Thinking About the Impacts of Safety in the Workplace
To begin, let’s take some time to think about the consequences of our workplaces being psychologically and culturally safe or unsafe.
Research tells us that psychologically safe workplaces have:
- Better performance outcomes
- Improved communication
- Enhanced creativity
- More Innovation
- Increased organizational commitment
- Higher work engagement
This means that psychological safety is deeply important for a healthy workplace. It helps us to manage other factors as well, such as work-related stress, and this contributes to overall well-being.
How an organization performs is complex and has many elements. However, what is clear is that psychological safety is a key part of this interconnected web. Psychological safety has many positive effects on individual employees, and organizations can help to foster a psychologically safe environment by:
- Assuring employees the freedom to express themselves without adverse consequences
- Creating a secure environment conducive to learning, risk-taking, and continuous improvement
- Creating self-motivation among employees
- Giving employees confidence to take risks and demonstrate outstanding performance
- Fostering high-quality relationships characterized by shared goals, knowledge, information, planning, and mutual respect among employees
Reflection
Think about the following question on your own or with a colleague.
- Does your organization implement any of these strategies to create a psychologically safe environment? What have been the impacts of these strategies or company policies?
With the importance of psychological safety on individual employees in mind, it is no great leap to understand that psychological safety’s influence extends to knowledge sharing, human resources practices, and overall organizational alignment with employees, fostering strong stakeholder relationships. At the individual level, it empowers team members to express ideas comfortably, encouraging moderate risk-taking and fostering creativity.
