We finished book #1 from this year's BVSSH book club. The Fearless Organisation by Amy Edmondson.
We had a great discussion amongst the BVSSH group who had read the book. Confirming how psychological safety is just as important now as ever! And its role in creating high performing teams.
This was my 2nd time reading the book. This time around, two things stood out to me:
🔇Psychological safety: How silence is a killer.
Amy talks about how sometimes it is more important to understand what is NOT being said and why.
When team members are not comfortable to voice their opinions or share ideas, it is often easier for them to remain quiet. This is beyond being an introvert. This is about having the confidence to speak up knowing that it is OK to do so.
This might happen when team members are told that they are not allowed to speak up to their leader. Or when the power difference in hierarchy / status is made visible and clear. And even when we have excessive confidence in our leader, this prevents us from questioning or challenging as we take what is being said as given. All of these scenarios aren't good for psych safety.
It made me think of the times that I have seen this in the clients that I work with and experienced it myself. All a bit too often.
❓ How much I loved the Q&A in the back of the book.
Simple, straight to the point myth busting of psychological safety covering questions like:
❔ "Can you have too much psychological safety? No!"
❔ "Will psych safety take up too much time? No!"
❔ "If you have psychological safety , do you have to be transparent about everything? No!"
Even though psychological safety has been around for some time, I find that we still need to lean into this myth busting to raise awareness.
We ended our Book Club session discussing what we were going to try in our day-to-day based on our learnings.
For me, it is a reminder to watch out for 'the silence'. It can be an innovation killer.
Interested in joining future book clubs? Connect with community events.