Transforming Work with Sophie Wade 136: Mehmet Baha - Showing Curiosity and Sharing Mistakes: Cornerstones of Psychological Safety
Mehmet Baha is the author of “Creating Psychological Safety at Work” and a psychological safety trainer and speaker. Baha, as he is known, discusses the critical role of psychological safety in team performance in the modern workplace. He shares insights about how open dialogue about mistakes and a strengths-based approach enhance trust, collaboration, and results. Baha explains the importance of curiosity and empathy, and giving autonomy. He offers leaders actionable tips for cultivating vulnerability and fostering safe spaces that support innovation.
TAKEAWAYS
[01:59] Baha’s childhood in Cyprus—a divided island—prompts his interest in conflict resolution.
[03:28] Assisting his father, facilitating leadership training shapes Baha’s career path.
[04:30] Music influences Baha’s innovative approach and teamwork skills.
[06:22] At Facebook early on, Baha experiences a psychologically safe workplace.
[08:05] Google’s Project Aristotle shows psychological safety is key for high-performing teams.
[09:00] Psychological safety becomes central to his training and consulting work.
[10:40] Clarity, purpose, and high standards are other key elements driving team success.
[11:28] Collaboration and openness drive better than hidden mistakes.
[12:20] Amy Edmundson’s 1990’s study connecting reported mistakes and successful outcomes.
[13:33] Research shows learning from mistakes boosts team performance.
[14:46] Sharing mistakes, building upon ideas, and appreciating employees’ strengths create psychological safety.
[16:25] Five points for leaders to model the vulnerability vital to foster psychological safety.
[17:40] Examples include creating "failure reports" to promote organizational learning.
[18:53] Openness helps leaders improve team trust and psychological safety.
[19:45] One leader fosters openness that enables company-wide sharing of team mistakes.
[20:50] Team performance is seen when participants are willing, open, and ambitious.
[21:33] Leaders must be role models for sharing and learning from mistakes.
[22:05] The ratio of positive to negative feedback plays a crucial role in creating psychological safety.
[23:38] A case study about an award-winning practice of quarterly “mistake breakfasts”.
[26:32] How innovation and a turnaround at a bank is stimulated by psychological safety.
[28:08] Traditional organizations benefit from psychological safety, also enhancing physical safety.
[29:15] Leaders' role in co-creating safe work environments.
[31:05] Why to encourage employees—closest to the work—to share and implement their ideas.
[32:12] Psychological safety supports creativity and sharing of innovative ideas.
[32:43] How employees’ silence in meetings indicates an environment lacking psychological safety.
[33:19] The seven points demonstrating Fearless Organizations.
[35:08] Baha connects empathy with conscious listening which is key for safe workspaces.
[35:56] Curiosity is crucial, starting with curiosity about ourselves.
[38:06] Leaders can support safe work environments despite more pressure and workload.
[36:55] Leaders need to encourage open dialogue about challenges and mistakes.
[39:21] How AI can help us work with more humanity, compassion, and authenticity.
[39:27] Empowering employees through autonomy enhances psychological safety.
[40:22] Autonomy is important as micro-management greatly hinders psychological safety.
[40:35] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: To improve psychological safety, show curiosity, share mistakes and give employees autonomy.
RESOURCES
Baha’s book “Creating Psychological Safety at the Essential Guide to Boosting Team Performance”
Baha’s book “Playbook for Engaged Employees: Practical Insights to Master Leadership, Agility, Teamwork, Learning, and Psychological Safety”
QUOTES
“Sharing mistakes, learning from them, and improving is one key element of creating psychological safety.”
“In a psychologically safe team, mistakes are seen as opportunities to learn, not as reasons to blame.”
“If we cannot listen well to others, we cannot really talk about psychological safety.”
“One of the biggest barriers to creating psychological safety is micro-management behavior.”
“As leaders, managers, we can share a mistake we made, what we learned from this, and what we did later to improve it.”
“In high-performing teams, there is a ratio of three to five positive feedback for every negative feedback.”