This is the biggest change you can make to create high performing teams

And the research agrees

Psychological safety is not about creating a fluffy environment where everyone is wrapped in cotton wool: it’s about standards and support leading to success.

Even in 2024, mental health can still be a taboo subject in the workplace. But if you really want to get the most out of your team, you need to make sure they feel safe, says Kerry Adams, Head of the CIO Office in HSBC’s Retail Banking Technology division.

Speaking at Computing and CRN’s Women and Diversity in Tech and Channel Festival this week, Kerry cited Project Aristotle: a Google study into high performing teams that first brought the psychological safety concept to mainstream attention.

“Their hypothesis was that a high performing team would have unlimited resources...and high performing individuals: people that individually had contributed and had those kind of top performer ratings.

“But what they found out, the biggest indicator of whether a team would be high performing or not, was how psychologically safe they felt. That is the biggest indicator for high performers.”

"Psychological safety isn't about creating this fluffy environment”

Psychological safety may sound like the kind of term derided by people who like to claim, "You can’t say anything anymore,” but it’s far from the wishy-washy office they imagine.

“Psychological safety isn't about lowering performance standards. It's not about creating this fluffy environment where everyone’s really nice and we pat each other on the back all day, it's about creating a high support environment. You can certainly critique, but it should be positive criticism, and it should be about the project, not the individual.”

Kerry described two important pillars for success: standards and support. Having high standards (for example, challenging targets) is fine – as long as the support exists to help people achieve them.

“A high support environment - so a high psychologically safe environment, with high performance standards and high challenge – leads to high performing individuals. High standards with low support leads to burnout."

What does it actually look like?

There are four main areas to build a psychologically safe environment:

As an example of the importance of psychological safety Kerry cited Wells Fargo, which failed miserably at challenger safety and was fined millions as a result.

Back in the early 2010s, Wells Fargo executives changed its salespeople’s targets to the extent that they felt they had to manipulate figures and adopt shady practices to avoid being fired – and the bank was fined $185 million as a direct result.

“That was all because people felt that they couldn't raise their hand and go, ‘This doesn't feel achievable. This doesn't feel right.’”

Key takeaways

So, we all agree psychological safety is important. Now, where to begin?

Kerry says there are “some really simple things you can do to start helping create that climate of psychological safety.”

First is role modelling vulnerability. Admit that you can make mistakes, too. Speak about times you’ve overcome a challenge or a mistake you made, and what you’ve learned from it. That will help build an environment where people feel they can do the same thing.

Next, ask genuine questions and actively listen to the response. This is hard in today’s environment, where our attention is often being pulled in three or four directions. I broke off writing this article three times to answer a Teams message, and twice to check my emails. But doing that when you’re supposed to be in a meeting can really damage the trust people have in you as a leader.

Finally, start to publicly recognise good behaviours. Celebrate your team members’ successes – not just in their daily targets, but when they open up about a vulnerability, or help a colleague work through a difficult experience.

Starting to follow the guidance on psychological safety set out here will help you build happier, more productive teams – and, perhaps, avoid hefty fines.