What is psychological safety and how to implement it.

We have known for many years that a healthy work environment is essential for a team's productivity, but this environment is often understood only as the physical space, which is a big mistake.

American research concluded that professionals who believe they work in safe environments were 50% more productive, 76% more engaged and 50% more likely to stay in the same company. This data reaffirms the importance of leaders who promote the psychological health of their teams.

It is the role of HR to implement care and measures that seek to increase the psychological safety of employees, however, without leaders also making an effort to promote safety, it is useless.

Some very simple measures can help to promote a psychologically safe environment, such as exchanging feedback, listening to employees' ideas, and showing feelings.

Feedback culture has several positive effects, and psychological safety is one of them. In this case, it is important that the feedback is well thought out, not only highlighting points of development of the employee but also strengths. In addition, it is important that the employee can also give feedback on the leadership and on his colleagues so that it is possible to ensure that he is being heard and not only evaluated.

Individual meetings where the leader is able to scrutinize the profile of each employee are also extremely valid, it's what we call 1:1. In these meetings, the leader must seek to understand how the employee felt that month if he had negative and positive points if there was anything that bothered him or any highlights of the month. With these meetings, the leader can understand the profile of each employee and act on interpersonal problems that may arise in the team.

It is extremely important that leaders correctly understand and encourage the expression of emotions within the work environment. Employees are not machines, they are affected positively and negatively by feelings (sometimes not related to work) and this impacts their tasks in the organization. By understanding, emotions and what affects their employees, the leader can avoid emotional contagion in negative situations.

People are increasingly looking for companies where they feel good. As far as salary, positions, and benefits are concerned, it is important that companies care and guarantee the psychological safety of their employees.

*This text reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily of 99Hunters