How psychologically safe does your team feel?

Carla has worked in the department for 2 years.  Carla is happy in the team and gets along with everyone, well, nearly everyone.  Her relationship with her own line manager; Martin, can sometimes be a difficult one. 

Martin is excellent at his job and admired by everyone in the company.  He has a good team, with a good team spirit, most of the time.

Whilst Carla feels a sense of belonging, her relationship with Martin means she doesn’t feel 100% psychologically safe.

From time to time, she feels she struggles in certain areas of her role and needs training or coaching.  She can’t ask Martin.  She’s tried in the past and he’s either ignored her request or simply made her feel inferior when she explained what she needs.

Meetings are another issue.  Martin is a strong character and always takes the lead in meetings.  He asks for opinions but very rarely listens.  Carla has spoken up a few times but has been shot down and made to feel stupid.

Carla is one of the more senior members of the team and has ideas and opinions on how the team could be improved.  She has spoken to Martin about this but again, her opinions were brushed to one side.  As a result, she no longer challenges Martin on how the team operates.

Basically, Carla doesn’t feel psychologically safe in her team.  Martin thinks she does, but she doesn’t.  Carla isn’t ticking any of the 4 levels of psychological safety below:

Stage 1: Inclusion Safety

Inclusion safety satisfies the basic human need to connect and belong. She feels part of the team with her fellow colleagues, but not 100% with Martin.  

Stage 2: Learner Safety

Learner safety satisfies the basic human need to learn and grow.  Carla is struggling in some aspects of her role but feels she can’t ask for help from Martin.

Stage 3: Contributor safety

Contributor safety satisfies the basic human need to contribute and make a difference.  Carla has tried to speak up in meetings but has been shot down by Martin in the past so now keeps quiet.

Stage 4: Challenger Safety

Challenger safety satisfies the basic human need to make things better. It’s the support and confidence we need to ask questions such as, “Why do we do it this way?” “What if we tried this?” or “May I suggest a better way?”.  She’s tried this one too, but to no avail!

The consequences of this are that Carla feel shackled and isn’t feeling totally safe at work.

How safe does your team feel?  Are they ticking all 4 stages?  Why not ask them in your next meeting.  You never know, you might be like Martin and not even know it!