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    Julia Wood posted an update in the group Improving Joy in Work 1 week, 3 days ago

    Please help

    Some of you may know that I’m writing a book about happiness at work. 

    Here is a question I’m grappling with for my book, and I wondered if you could help:

    There is a lot of talk about the importance of psychological safety and what leaders can do to create the right environments. However, what if you are not a leader and don’t feel psychologically safe either with your manager or your team? What advice would you give? Any insights would be much appreciated.

    Thank you. 

    • Profile picture of George Dellal
      George Dellal replied 1 week, 3 days ago

      Hi Juila – I like this framework from Amy E. although more about an episodic meeting rather than an ongoing relationship I think there are some useful tips for how to intervene when not in a formal leadership role

      https://hbr.org/2024/03/how-to-improve-a-meeting-when-youre-not-in-charge

      The helpful workaround is useful when there is low psychological safety on the team or with the person conducting the meeting. Here, you don’t explicitly name the thing that bothers you, but you ask a question that can help resolve the feelings of frustration you may be experiencing in the meeting.

      The solution-centric proposal works when there is moderate psychological safety. Here, you are to point to the problem area by asking a question that demonstrates how resolving the issue will increase the effectiveness of the meeting.

      The constructive confrontation is for high psychological safety situations. With this approach, you decide to explicitly name the problem and give feedback to forge a productive solution.

      • Profile picture of Julia Wood
        Julia Wood replied 1 week, 2 days ago

        Hi George
        I hadn’t thought about this framework – yes, it absolutely could help.
        Thank you for sharing – this is great.
        Julia

    • Profile picture of Matthew Mezey
      Matthew Mezey replied 1 week, 3 days ago

      Hi Julia,

      Just a thought, but we could easily organise a Zoom chat on this topic, see what people come up with that you could use in your book? And people would love to discuss this!

      We could do it via Q’s ‘Psychological Safety in Health and Social Care’ SIG.

      I talked with Amy Edmondson at the IHI conference and she is working on a practical fieldbook for growing Psychological Safety. Could take years though, it’s a big collaborative effort.

      I had previously talked with her about developing a card-set on Psychological Safety, to make it easy for teams to start work on this challenging area. I should take another look at that possibility….