One of the primary characteristics of a lean culture – which aligns with the “Respect for People” principle of lean – is a workforce that is engaged in improving processes to add ever-increasing value for customers. And leaders at all levels must collaborate with and listen to employees, so that problems can be surfaced and process improvements made.
However, there is an obvious prerequisite to this act of collaboration that should not be assumed … employees must be willing to contribute and speak up! Reluctance to participate usually has identifiable root causes that need to be addressed. Here we will discuss a few of these issues.
The following are some simple statements that company associates must be willing to openly communicate to assure that problems do not remain hidden, and improvement efforts do not stall.
- I made a mistake!
- I have a problem!
- I need help!
- I have an idea!
- I have a concern!
- I need more training!
Yes, simple statements, but unfortunately, these short pleas aren’t always easy for us humans to express. An arm doesn’t always rise quickly to highlight the fact that we just made a mistake. And someone who has an improvement idea may just keep it to themselves if concerned about negative peer reactions or whether the idea may even work and be labeled a failure.
This is why the concept of psychological safety is so critical to developing a lean culture. It creates an environment that makes it more comfortable to make these statements when needed.
So, what really is psychological safety? The working definition which I propose is simply:
Psychological safety is a belief that enables an individual to openly speak up without fear.
Without fear from what? Without fear of ridicule, reprimand, punishment or any reaction that would cause embarrassment or other negative ramification.
The term “psychological safety” has intermittently appeared on the business radar screen since the 1960s. It is not a new concept. And though management guru Dr. W. Edwards Deming didn’t utilize the psychological safety label, his point No. 8, “Drive out Fear,” of his “14 Points for Management” is laser-focused on eliminating fear that creates a psychologically unsafe environment.
So, how do we make it safe to speak up so that problems don’t remain hidden, or improvement ideas don’t sit idle, locked up in someone’s brain?
As with most cultural aspects of lean, it starts with leadership. Not only formal leaders, but anyone tasked with engaging the workforce to improve company processes. This would include roles such as project leaders and lean facilitators.
The following are a few actions to consider that will help build a psychologically safe environment where employees will openly speak up.
1. Develop an experimental approach to change. This directly addresses the fear of failure since when experimenting, there really is no failure: There’s only learning. Improvement is made by repeated Plan-Do-Check-Act experimental cycles of learning. An attitude of “Let’s try it! Let’s run an experiment!” frees us from the fear that there’s no going back if things don’t work out as hoped. “Failure” can even be considered an expectation when experimenting your way to improvement. Eliminating, or at least reducing, the fear of failure addresses a common barrier that often prevents folks from speaking up and participating.
2. Quit playing the blame game. Mistakes happen. Focus on the process and work with the employee or team to eliminate or reduce the chance of the issue reoccurring. Fear of being reprimanded for mistakes has been ingrained in many individuals due to past experiences with non-lean managers and their policies. Even a well-timed eyeroll from the boss can be damaging. This creates an unsafe environment where problems remain hidden – just the opposite of what we want.
Try this: Next time someone does the right thing and requests help to address a mistake that they made, thank them for identifying a weakness in the process and bringing it to your attention. Hopefully they won’t pass out from the shock of being thanked for highlighting a mistake.
3. Utilize the influence of peers. Engage those few individuals who their peers highly respect and turn to for guidance. Folks often pay attention to these respected teammates to see what they are saying or doing before they’ll also join in. If you engage these influencers, their actions are basically granting permission to their peers. The words may not actually be spoken, but the message is, “Hey friends, this is a safe place to speak up. Don’t be afraid! Go ahead and share your thoughts!” Throughout the lean journey, spend a lot of time with this small group of highly respected individuals who can be impactful allies in your engagement mission.
4. Make it clear that there are no bad ideas or questions. Even if an idea is not feasible and shouldn’t be pursued, it could be extremely valuable by initiating the discussion. Also, it might spark an idea that may actually be feasible. Or it may highlight an out-of-scope issue that deserves attention later. And it might uncover a training/coaching opportunity, a knowledge or skills gap. By making it safe to speak up, valuable information can be gained regardless of the apparent “quality” of the input.
5. Provide multiple mechanisms for input. Not everyone feels that the venue of a team meeting is a safe space. Some folks simply fear speaking in a group. Since we do want team collaboration, this is a coaching opportunity. Continue to try to gain the input of those folks in group settings, but also work with them outside of the public format that they find unsafe. Consider regularly scheduled one-on-one sessions along with informal chats. Find their safe space for communication to gain input and develop their safety in other workspaces. Work with folks where they currently are.
6. Don’t tolerate disrespectful behavior. What do you do if teammates respond in a disrespectful manner to input from a team member? For example, what if a teammate responds that the idea is ridiculous or stupid or makes some other demeaning comment or reaction? To maintain safety, this must be addressed immediately by the leader. Possibly take a break to further clarify expected behavior with the “Respect for People” violator. Otherwise, your silence has condoned the behavior, and safety takes a big hit. In this case, it’s not what the leader said or did that damaged safety, but rather, it’s what they didn’t say or do. Silence sometimes yells very loudly.
7. Model the behavior. As with other workforce behavior changes, leaders must model the desired behavior. If we want open communication but our leader’s style seems guarded and restricted –or the leader frequently participates in the blame game with other managers – not only will employees do the same, but they will lose trust due to the hypocrisy of promoting a behavior but exhibiting just the opposite. This trust violation is a demotivator that will immediately quash any lean culture development efforts.
8. Provide leadership training and coaching. How leaders react when someone makes a mistake, identifies a problem or has a concern (or even an improvement idea) is the most determinant factor in whether these issues continue to be openly discussed. Building and maintaining psychological safety must be a critical responsibility for all leaders and an essential training/coaching topic of your leadership development program.
Surfacing problems and providing improvement ideas are the lifeblood of a lean culture. This will not happen if a psychologically safe environment does not exist. There are too many fears that cause us to pause and keep a low profile. Fear of failure, embarrassment, reprimand, ridicule and the unknown, just to name a few. These fears will cause us to choose silence or another route that bypasses the needed behaviors that drive improvement.
The above considerations are a starting point to engender safety. In a non-lean environment of compliance only, you can probably get away without having a psychologically safe environment. However, if you want to gain a competitive edge by creating a lean culture of continuous improvement, driven by an engaged and fulfilled workforce, psychological safety is a must-have, not simply a nice optional add-on to consider.
