Part 1: Creating the conditions for innovation – Psychological safety and some pointers from Behavioural Science
Being vulnerable feels risky and uncomfortable – particularly at work. Psychological safety is a concept that plays a crucial role in fostering a positive and productive environment in individuals, teams, and workplaces and can aid ideation and innovation.
The Harvard Business Review features an article on ‘How diversity can drive innovation’ which is written by Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Melinda Marshall and Laura Sherbin, who state that there are ‘six behaviours’ for unlocking innovation:
- ensuring that everyone is heard;
- giving team members decision-making authority;
- sharing credit for success;
- giving actionable feedback;
- implementing feedback from the teams; and finally;
- making it safe to propose novel ideas.
What is psychological safety?
For individuals, psychological safety refers to a person’s belief that they can express themselves, share ideas, ask questions, and even make mistakes without fear of negative consequences or personal embarrassment. It’s about feeling comfortable – being yourself without worrying about damaging one’s self-image, status, or career.
In a team setting, psychological safety is the shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. It means your team’s members feel confident that they won’t be punished, humiliated, or rejected for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes.
At an organisational level, psychological safety refers to a workplace culture where employees feel secure in taking risks, voicing their opinions, and being their authentic selves, without fear of negative consequences to their self-image, status, or career.
Amy Edmondson, Harvard Business School professor and author of ‘The Fearless Organization’, coined the phrase “team psychological safety”. This 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 — all without fear of negative consequences. As Edmondson puts it, “it’s felt permission for candor.” As colleagues, it is permissible and encouraged to take calculated risks and enjoy the process. Candour is the quality of being open and honest; frankness – without retort.
Candour encourages risk-taking and promotes open communication. Team members are more likely to share their ideas, no matter how unconventional or ‘out-of-the-box’ they might be. This open exchange of ideas is the lifeblood of innovation. When people feel psychologically safe, they’re more likely to take calculated risks and propose bold ideas, which is essential for breakthrough innovations.
How can psychological safety support us to inspire innovation in the Government Communication Service?
Psychological safety is crucial for innovation, both within the Government Communication Service (GCS), and across the public sector for several key reasons.
- In a mission-led government, it enhances collaboration. Psychological safety fosters trust among team members in co-designing applied solutions. Innovation often requires cross-functional teamwork and the ability to build on each other’s ideas to ‘make it actually happen’.
- Facilitating ‘learning from failures’ as innovation often involves trial and error. In a psychologically safe environment, failures are viewed as learning opportunities rather than reasons for punishment. This perspective encourages people to experiment and iterate, which is crucial for innovation. They’re more likely to use new approaches or technologies, which is often necessary for innovation. Failures are seen as learning opportunities, which are crucial for iterative innovation processes.
- We talk a lot in the Civil Service about inclusion and diversity. But when people feel safe to express their unique perspectives, it leads to a greater diversity of ideas. This diversity is a key driver of innovation, as it brings together different experiences, knowledge, and ways of thinking (including neurodiverse perspectives). Individuals also feel more comfortable questioning existing processes or ideas. Bresman and Edmondson’s study (2022), found that in teams with high psychological safety, diversity was positively associated with performance.
- Intention. Willingness to challenge the status quo is often where innovation begins. Innovation requires creativity, which can be stifled by fear of judgement. People need to feel free to express creative ideas without worrying about being ridiculed or dismissed. Team members are more likely to give and receive constructive feedback and a positive feedback loop is crucial for refining and improving innovative ideas. When people feel safe to express themselves, they’re more likely to think creatively and propose unconventional solutions. This also requires a willingness to listen, and listen purposefully to hopes, resources, concerns and obstacles.
Monitoring psychological safety in teams
A sense of safety and a willingness to speak up is not an individual trait, even though it is something felt and experienced at the individual level. Dr Amy Edmondson’s Psychological Safety Index (PSI) helps measure the level of psychological safety in a team. It considers criteria such as how safe people feel to speak up, make mistakes, and take risks, without fear of negative consequences.
There are seven statements in the index, each measured on a 7-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). We can use these statements to open discussions with colleagues and understand the level of psychological safety in our own teams.
- If you make a mistake in the team, it is not held against you.
- Members of the team are able to bring up problems and tough issues.
- People in the team sometimes accept others for being different.
- It is safe to take a risk in the team.
- It isn’t difficult to ask other members of the team for help.
- No-one in the team would deliberately act in a way that undermines my efforts.
- Working with members of the team, my unique skills and talents are valued and utilised.
Why not use these statements to, for example, run a quick poll or survey that tests the psychological safety of your own team? You could subsequently explore any changes or have open conversations, which would help the team feel more psychologically safe. Just remember, people should have the option to respond anonymously, to ensure they feel comfortable sharing their authentic views.
The Beckett Group
As we continue to build psychological safety in the GCS, I also encourage you to consider joining the Beckett Group – an initiative inspired by Samuel Beckett’s wisdom to ‘fail again, fail better.’
Born from candid conversations among GCS members, this group addresses an important gap in our professional dialogue. While we readily share our successes, we rarely discuss our failures. Though the pressure to always ‘get it right’ is understandable when managing public resources, this mindset can stifle innovation and learning.
But that expectation, or fear of being honest about things not working, risks losing the essential connection between successful innovation and learning from failure. The Beckett Group therefore provides a safe space for GCS members to share experiences of failure openly, turning setbacks into valuable learning opportunities.
The group meets regularly and is open to all. To find out more about the Beckett Group, a sub group of the Marketing Volunteers Group, please check the 16 January 2025 GCS newsletter for more information.
Coming soon
In my next blog, we’ll explore practical tips that individuals and line managers can use to cultivate psychological safety in their teams, and to create environments where innovation can flourish.
For now, I would like to end with a quote from Esther Derby.
“Psychological safety means you feel comfortable talking about what makes you uncomfortable.”
So – let’s get uncomfortable in 2025!
References:
Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350-383
Bresman, Henrik, and Amy C. Edmondson. Exploring the Relationship between Team Diversity, Psychological Safety and Team Performance: Evidence from Pharmaceutical Drug Development. Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 22-055, February 2022.
Derby, E. (2006). Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great. Pragmatic Bookshelf.
Lisa Sutherland, a qualified Behavioural Scientist, has over 25 years experience working within policy design, strategic behaviour change, digital comms planning and innovation. She started her career working in creative, media and digital agencies and moved to Boston, USA, as Research Director for tech consultancy – Forrester, whose client was the US Senate. Whilst studying her MSc she worked part-time at the Psychology Directorate within the NHS, managing patient safety pilot projects (ergonomics/human factors), and then as a Senior Policy Advisor in Digital Health and Social Care at Scottish Government. More recently she was Head of Behavioural Science in Public Affairs for global research agency Ipsos.
- Image credit:
- Photo by Andrej Lišakov on Unsplash, unsplash.com (1)