 Psychological safety is a misunderstood concept – HR professionals often equate the concept to employees feeling secure and protected or bringing their whole selves to work. Just 16% of respondents are clear on what psychological safety really means – as “an environment where employees balance comfort and discomfort to take well-calibrated risks”. Those in education had the best understanding (38%), whilst the finance sector (13%) lagged well behind in its understanding. Once the concept was defined for them, HR leaders were very clear that it is critical for their organisation’s success. Key results:
The report surveyed 206 UK-based senior HR leaders, representing companies with anywhere between 50 and 500-plus employees. The overwhelming majority (80%) of leaders surveyed believed psychological safety will be important in coming years but that limited understanding (23%) and difficulties in measurement (32%) are significant impediments to successful implementation. Dr Alexandra Dobra-Kiel, Innovation & Strategy Director at Behave, said: “Psychological safety, while a critical factor in our professional lives, is currently poorly defined by the wider business community. It is in some ways a misnomer, with the emphasis on ‘safety’ naturally leading to people equating the phrase to mean being ‘nice’ to each other. And its definition is fundamentally contradictory – how can it be safe to take risks? This inherently means that it’s hard to translate into concrete enablers for companies to nurture it.” “We need to embrace the true meaning of psychological safety; balancing comfort and discomfort. It is about people and businesses stretching their comfort zones to drive both personal and company growth. To assess and improve psychological safety, benchmarking and sharing best practices are essential, allowing HR professionals to better understand and embed this vital concept within their organisations.” More than 80% of HR leaders believe that psychological safety is going to become more important for organisations. This rises to 89% in organisations with more than 500 employees, suggesting that the bigger brands will lead the charge on psychological safety. However, for this to be enacted credibly, organisations need to align behind it. HR leaders call out this as currently lacking, with 88% of respondents saying more support and commitment is needed from the leadership within their organisations. Hybrid work is also high on the list of HR leaders’ concerns when implementing psychological safety: nearly a third (32%) believe it is a key barrier, with the record pace to hybrid environments seen as amplifying the challenges of delivering Psychological Safety.Tom Laranjo, CEO of Total Media and Behave added: “It’s important to acknowledge that organisations have moved to hybrid working at record pace with huge enthusiasm, but actually with limited organisational capability to support it, so we’re all learning on the job,” Laranjo says. “As such, the challenges of delivering a psychologically safe workplace are amplified in an online context.”Psychological Safety Is A Widely Misunderstood Concept, With Just 16% Of HR Leaders Clear On Its Meaning - HR News |
