Agile Community: Psychological Safety

In the previous years, the organization never addressed the psychological safety of team members. Research says that due to this unaddressed concern, individuals create unbalanced life and work, preventing them from speaking for innovative ideas and stopping them from collaborating. With these concerns, members find work exhausting, creating a psychological danger. 

So, how can we assure as leaders, as an organization, that we give psychological safety to our organization?

Psychological safety is a person’s ability to be transparent to innovation and to admit failure at work. It is a significant factor that can help the entire team to give solutions to minor mistakes rather than critical issues. As it is resolved immediately, the team’s progress and development will continuously move forward, reducing time and decreasing the risks. It is a must that leaders should create a safe environment for everyone to develop and grow individually within the organization to create a capability at work while securing their mental health. 

Did you notice that many organizations and companies today have a mental health department or consultations? This concept helps these individuals to boost resilience, manage stress, and develop their responsibilities. Still, the most effective way is to create a safe environment for all the team members. 

As a leader, Ola Tunde shared his perspective on creating a safe Agile community environment based on his life experiences and learning how to increase psychological safety in an agile community.

According to him, leaders must show how much they care and share Theodore Roosevelt’s words saying, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” This is absolutely true! No wonder why the leaders who create a bond with their team are more developed and creative.

Leaders should bring humanity to an organization and allow individuals to feel that they are cared for and that their personal life is essential. Not in a way that you tolerate them but to motivate them not because they work for you or you have the same organizational vision, but cherish them and create relationships. That is why an organization has team building or get-together trips. 

With this human mindset, you can create alignment in values and perspective. Build trust and expose your team to the things that can be beneficial at work and in future careers. 

Members of an organization appreciate a leader who is visible towards their work and life, engages in their actions, and treat them right. They also help build psychological safety in an agile community by believing and creating trust in everyone.

Innovate to Develop. Innovation is accompanied by mistakes, but the great thing about mistakes is that we can learn new strategies and techniques and be aware of them. Leaders and members should continuously innovate, develop, and learn from failure as a team and organization.