Psychological Safety
At the Nuclear Science Division staff meeting on Tuesday, January 23, Janie Pinterits and Kelly Perce from the lab’s IDEA Office gave a presentation about psychological safety. Psychological safety is defined by Amy Edmondson of Harvard Business School as “the shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking” and is something we would like to foster in NSD. We believe that the best science is done when all members feel encouraged to openly share ideas and bring up difficult topics without fear of embarrassment or rejection so we can grow and learn from our mistakes together.
They led the attendees through an exercise where they broke us into small groups to discuss two scenarios. Both involved situations where a less experienced person’s attempts to contribute were dismissed by a more senior colleague — a psychologically unsafe situation — and we were tasked with brainstorming how to respond or intervene in a way that enhanced psychological safety for the junior colleague. We then rejoined as a group and shared our thoughts.
As Janie and Kelly shared in their slides, the goal of increasing psychological safety requires us all to maintain an environment of civility and respect, to actively listen to one another, to express and be inclusive of each other’s work preferences, and to give and accept feedback well. We also have to accept that we will have to continually work on this goal without expecting to reach a “steady state.”
Here is a list of resources that Janie and Kelly shared with us for further learning:
- LBL IDEA Office: How to foster Psychological Safety on your teams
- LBL IDEAs-in-Action: Psychological Safety in the workplace
- LBL IDEAs-in-Action: Creating a culture of feedback
- LBL IDEAS-in-Action: Allyship
- LinkedIn Learning: Psychological Safety: Clear Blocks to Innovation, Collaboration, and Risk-Taking
- NIH Record: Workplace Civility Increases Productivity
- Harvard Business Review: Make civility the norm on your team
We hope to continue this conversation in the coming weeks and months as we explore this approach to making our workplace more inclusive. Thank you all for your efforts and engagement.