Psychological safety team assessment
Psychological safety team assessment – what is it and why do you need it? Read on to find out.
In 2012, Google embarked on a Project to find the answer to the question – what makes teams effective.
Google spent two years, millions of dollars, and threw all of its resources –algorithms and analytics at the problem. They conducted over 200 interviews, studied 180 real work teams, considered over 250 variables (team composition and dynamics), and used Google’s immense intellect and computing power to run statistical and other analytics models to hone down on factors that impact team effectiveness.
Which of these Factors Impact Team Effectiveness?
- The co-location of teammates
- Consensus-driven decision making
- Extraversion of team members
- Individual performance of team members
- Seniority of the team members
- Diverse and/or complementary skill sets
- Team size
- Tenure (how long the members had worked together)
What Google found was surprising. None of the above factors mattered a whole lot – they weren’t in the top 5 factors that impacted team effectiveness!
To confirm, Google ran several statistical models to ensure validity and reliability. They conducted double-blind studies to eliminate any biases.
So if those factors didn’t matter? What factors really matter? These are the 5 factors according to Google’s research
What Google found was that – Who was on the team didn’t matter a whole lot!
How the team interacted – The team norms – the unwritten rules made all the difference.
Even at Google – where the work is highly technical. So let’s discuss the 5 factors that mattered.
If you want more details – watch the webinar here on Google’s secret recipe to build high performance teams
1. Psychological safety:
Do I feel safe to be myself on this team Or do I have to hold back – Do I feel comfortable to ask silly questions, express opinions freely, share my half-formed ideas, admit if I made a mistake, share honest feedback with a colleague, – without the fear of being embarrassed, ridiculed, rejected or punished. If I can do that on my team – then there is a high level of PS on the team. As psychological safety is the key factor we have a psychological safety team assessment – more details on that are later in the article.
2. Dependability
When team members say that they will do something – can I depend on them to keep their promise and do the work with quality and on time. Or are they unreliable or not dependable?
3. Structure and clarity
As a team member, am I clear of what is expected of me and do I know how to do it?
4. Meaning
Does my work give me a sense of personal and professional fulfillment?
5. Impact
Does my work make an impact for a greater good – It can be in terms of the impact on the team, to the dept., company, customers, or a larger purpose or calling, etc
Psychological safety – the most important factor
Psychological Safety is the most important factor. Julia Rozovsky (core member of the Google project) said that “Psychological safety was far and away from the most important of the five dynamics we found — it’s the underpinning of the other four“.
Psychological Safety creates the culture in which the other four factors can either flourish or suffocate. Psychological Safety is like the soil in which you plant seeds.
When people don’t speak up – everyone loses and without Psychological Safety people hold back and stay silent. Every time it happens you lose a potential learning and course correction opportunity.
Over time, lack of psychological safety can cause underperformance, resistance to change, lack of innovation, higher attrition, and even unethical behaviors. And hence the psychological safety team assessment is essential to gauge the current level of your teams.
You hire the best people and yet you don’t capitalize on their talents – what a colossal waste!
How to Foster Psychological Safety?
Based on extensive research on psychological safety by Dr. Amy Edmondson, here are the three areas of psychological safety.
- Individual Safety
- Team Respect
- Team Learning
We offer Psychological Safety Team assessment based on these 3 factors. This anonymous assessment allows your team to understand their strengths and improvement areas. And establish a starting point.
Sample Report Psychological Safety Team Assessment
Next steps post Psychological safety team assessment
The next step after the psychological safety team assessment is a discussion around the assessment results. Now there is a caveat. Unless managed properly by a trained external facilitator – these discussions may sometimes open up a can of worms and end up doing more harm than good. Google found that an external facilitator or a skilled coach is ideal to facilitate this conversation. Internal people have an emotional history (baggage) and consequences (impression management, performance issues, etc.) These issues prevent team members from opening up, speaking freely, or be objective about the discussions. External facilitator, a skilled coach can help set the right mindset and guide the team through a structured process and healthy practices.
Team coaching for improving psychological safety
Our team coaching process – provides guaranteed and measurable improvements around the three factors of psychological safety. And the improvement is rated anonymously by your team based on the improvement areas identified by the psychological safety team assessment. The team coaching process is both time and resource-efficient. The team doesn’t need to leave work to attend “training programs” or go for an outbound team-building retreat. It takes about 1 to 1.5 hours to time per month. In fact rest of the time, the team is applying the learning at work and improving team effectiveness.
Free Psychological Safety team assessment
We are happy to offer this psychological safety team assessment for your first team complimentary – Normally a $299 value. You can gauge the health of your team and establish a baseline. We can deliver this anywhere in the world – wherever your team is – in the office, at different locations of working from home.
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