Three Elements within a Safety Culture:
Psychological Safety
Safety Culture starts with psychological safety.
In many ways, building a Safety Culture starts with psychological safety. To draw on the wisdom of Harvard’s Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management Amy Edmondson, psychological safety is “permission for candor.” It describes a team’s shared perception that – with candor and respect as a precondition – anyone can:
- Ask questions without looking stupid.
- Ask for feedback without looking incompetent.
- Be critical without appearing negative.
- Suggest improvements without being appearing disruptive.
Psychological safety is a key component to problem-solving.
Our decisions in child welfare work matter, but determining the best decisions for children and families is not always easy or obvious. Cultivating psychological safety in the context of decision-making is paramount. It involves the intentional consideration of divergent perspectives and an orientation towards constant learning and improvement (Edmonson & Banby, 2023). Psychological safety requires us to engage in candid, clear, and sometimes vulnerable conversations.
Why do we need psychological safety?
We need psychological safety because we want to train and retain a professional workforce that has the cognitive orientation and emotional capacity to meaningfully assess and support children and families. Among child welfare professionals, higher psychological safety has been positively associated with that professional’s intention to remain at their workplace, and it is negatively associated with secondary traumatic stress (Riley et al., 2023) and emotional exhaustion.
Psychological safety requires energy, thought and attention to operationalize. It is a shared group experience that requires us to step outside of our comfort zones to describe a mistake, concern, or different point of view, and it also requires us to respect, honor and learn from those same experiences in others.
Psychological safety is positively associated with high-quality teaming practices and the connectedness that coworkers feel with one another. In addition, moral distress may be a common experience in public child welfare work. It happens when a professional thinks they know what a child or family needs but also thinks they cannot meet that need due to personal or systemic constraints.
According to a recent study on moral distress among caseworkers, low psychological safety is the main factor associated with moral distress. Creating team-based cultures with a shared sense of accountability and constant mindfulness to making the workplace more accessible and safe to “speak up” with concerns of moral distress is paramount to engaging in child welfare practices that both professionals and families agree can help them safely thrive.
Learn More about Psychological Safety
Consider viewing the resources below for more information about psychological safety in practice:
PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY APPLIED PRACTICE