When Google sought to find out the key to high performing teams, they discovered the number one driver was Psychological Safety, the belief that one could speak candidly about what needs to be discussed.
Research by Harvard’s Amy Edmunson, PhD has shown the impact Psychological Safety has on patient mortality in healthcare, accident and injury reporting, and whether employees demonstrate the creativity and resourcefulness needed to face today’s many workplace and marketplace challenges.
For managers, knowing how to create Psychological Safety will play a major role in their ability to prevent turnover, re-engage employees, and attract new talent. For individual contributors, understanding how to foster Psychological Safety increases their ability to productively bring up difficult issues to colleagues and to their supervisor.
In this program, participants will learn:
1. What psychological safety is and what it is not
2. Why it’s important at both the individual and organizational level
3. How understanding the human nervous system’s hard-wired need to feel safe can be a game-changer, both for coaches and counselors and for the people they guide
4. How to help others feel psychologically safe so they are able to interact as their best self and are willing to talk about what needs to be discussed
5. How to address situations where they do not feel psychologically safe
David Lee, the founder of HumanNature@Work, works with employers who want to improve employee engagement, productivity, and customer service through his consulting, coaching, and training. He has worked with organizations and presented at conferences both domestically and abroad. An internationally recognized thought leader in the field of employee engagement and performance, he is the author of over 100 articles and book chapters published in the US, Europe, India, Australia, and China. He is the author of Dealing with The Difficult Co-Worker, Managing Employee Stress and Safety (published by MEMIC) and Powerful Storytelling Techniques (published by ATD Press). Both the second and third editions of the business classic, The Talent Management Handbook, feature a chapter of his about the topic of Onboarding. In addition to his research and work with both struggling and “best in class” organizations, David Lee’s work draws from a wide range of scientific disciplines that seek to understand human nature. Taking this research which typically doesn’t find its way into the business world, David translates these principles of human nature into practical leadership and managerial strategies that optimize employee performance. To capture the impact understanding human nature makes, David borrows from the popular TV show The Dog Whisperer, and explains “Understanding human nature helps you become a People Whisperer, and by doing so, dramatically improves your ability to get the best results from others (and yourself).” Recently, his work on what makes organizations resilient and employees perform at their best has focused on the central role productive relationships and productive conversations have on these outcomes, with this being the take away message: “Every better business result you want requires having a better conversation.”
