In this episode Tim and Junior discuss the seven misconceptions surrounding psychological safety. Some organizations and some leaders dismiss psychological safety because they believe that it means a whole host of things, that it doesn't mean. So they dismiss it and they ignore it. When helping leaders understand the topic of psychological safety, defining what psychological safety is not can be just as helpful as defining what it is. (03:19) What is psychological safety? Psychological safety is a culture of rewarded vulnerability. It is an applied discipline that requires effort and a high bar to create this kind of culture. Individuals and teams progress through four successive stages of psychological safety. (10:06) Psychological safety is not "niceness". Tim wrote an article featured in Harvard Business Review titled, "The Hazards of a Nice Company Culture". Sometimes a thin layer of niceness is spread over a thick layer of fear. We're not saying, don't be warm, hospitable, or caring. When we are collegial to a fault, what happens? We create false harmony and false compassion. A barracuda may smile at you, but don’t pet it. Niceness without pure intent is counterfeit. It still induces fear and mistrust.(26:03) Psychological safety is not consensus decision making. Yes, psychological safety should do much to neutralize the power differential created by hierarchy, titles, and position, but I’ve seen employees who believed that their organization’s emphasis on psychological safety invested them with veto power. Psychological safety should give you voice, but it does not change decision making authority. (42:13) Psychological safety is not rhetorical reassurance. Some leaders try to enact psychological safety with words. They mistakenly believe they can decree it into existence by simply saying, “Psychological safety is a priority for our organization. Please speak up. Give us your honest feedback and candid input. It’s now safe.” Just making a declaration won’t make it so.Important LinksHBR - The Hazards of a “Nice” Company CultureWhat Psychological Safety is NotThe Complete Guide to Psychological SafetyWhat is Psychological Safety - Podcast EpisodeWhat is Psychological Safety - Website

There’s a power dynamic in every room. If you’re the CEO and you’re in the room, you control that dynamic. Positional power is consolidated in your hands, and what you say and do can draw people out or make them recoil with anxiety and fear. In this weeks episode Tim and Junior discuss 10 ways CEO's can create higher levels of psychological safety in the room. (11:48) Hierarchies often create inequality and that inequality can foster some of those negative outcomes. Leaders should strive for cultural flatness. Cultural flatness is a condition or an environment where people as they're interacting they become agnostic to title and position and authority and therefore they're able to debate issues on their merits. The best ideas in the room win rather than the hierarchies in the room.(21:58) As the CEO you can re-distribute the power dynamic in the room. Two concrete examples are 1) by delegating the conducting of the meeting and 2) by not sitting at the head of the table. You've got to disrupt the power dynamic by avoiding the head of the table and sitting next to someone different. (35:35) Rewarding challenges to the status will bring more psychological safety to the room. The premise of this recommendation to stimulate inquiry before advocacy. It's not enough to ask for feedback you have to respond positively to feedback and buffer strong personalities to encourage everyone's participation. Important Links:HBR - How a CEO Can Create Psychological Safety in the RoomThe 4 Stages of Psychological Safety Behavioral GuideWhy Some Leaders are Afraid of Psychological Safety

This episode is part five in our five part series on "What's Driving Demand for Psychological Safety". When individuals feel psychologically safe at work, they are more likely to report positive mental health outcomes such as increased job satisfaction, higher levels of well-being, and lower levels of stress and burnout.(05:20) What is mental health? Mental health includes our emotional, psychological and social well-being. It affects how we think and feel and act, and it also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices. Previously organizations looked at individuals as "units of production" and only recently are we finally beginning to recognize individuals humanity.(13:56) Employers have a duty of care towards their employees. This is certainly the case for employee physical safety. How far does this duty of care reach? Does it encompass mental health? Ask yourself, "Do you bear some level of responsibility for the mental health and well-being of the people you employ, the people you associate with, and look even more broadly in association, just any social collective." The answer is yes, you do bear some of the responsibility. (20:34) More than 264 million people of all ages suffer from depression worldwide according to World Health Organization. 76% of US workers in 2021 survey reported at least one symptom of a mental health condition, including anxiety and depression, which is an increase of 17% from just two years ago. According to the American Psychological Association, stress levels in the United States have been steadily increasing over the past decade, with almost two-thirds of Americans reporting that their stress levels have increased in the past year. Mental health and wellness is a growing category that deserves deliberate attention.(26:38) ISO, The International standards Organizations Standard 405-003 is a new standard that recognizes that employers are responsible for protecting not just the physical health of their employees but the psycho-social health as well. This means managing psychosocial risks, which are defined in that regulation as risks related to how work is organized. Not risks related to the work itself but also risks related to how work is organized. (39:31) Psychological safety and a positive workplace culture can help to reduce the stigma associated with mental health making it more likely that individuals will seek the support they need. When individuals feel psychologically safe at work, they are more likely to report positive mental health outcomes such as increased job satisfaction, higher levels of well-being, and lower levels of stress and burnout.Important LinksWorld Health Organization - Mental health: strengthening our response.Current Priorities of the U.S. Surgeon General - Workplace Well-BeingEmployee Retention Statistics And Insights 20222021 Employee Wellbeing Mindset StudyNYT - The Rising Tide of Global SadnessWorld Health Organization - DepressionAustralian Bureau of Statistics - National Study of Mental Health and WellbeingNational Institute of Mental Health - Mental IllnessAmerican Psychological Associate - Stress in America Mental Health Commission of Canada - National Standard

This episode is part four in our five part series on "What's Causing Demand for Psychological Safety." Tim and Junior dive into the data behind the great resignation and the link between workplace culture and employee retention.  (04:30) Before employee engagement there was employee satisfaction. We learned that employee satisfaction was not the right measurement. You can have satisfied employees that are not productive so we graduated from employee satisfaction to employee engagement. (07:41) Recent data suggests that only 32% of the workforce is considered engaged while 52% are "just showing up" and 16% are "actively disengaged". These numbers feed into the employee turnover.(15:24) Not all turnover is bad. There are cases where a certain amount of turnover is healthy. You don't want disengaged and unproductive employees to stay if they are not a good fit and they are not contributing. What we are hoping to avoid are the regrettable losses.(26:37) The Work Institute Report shared that 40% of employee turnover occurs within the employee's first year with the organization. Retaining and engaging our top talent is becoming a bigger and bigger challenge. (35:48) "52% of voluntarily exiting employees, say their manager or organization could have done something to prevent them from leaving their job." Gathering this feedback in an exit interview is too late. We need to be proactive in retaining our top talent. (45:44) Just as we have seen a graduation from employee satisfaction to employee engagement we are beginning to see a graduation on to psychological safety. Psychological safety is the lead measure for employee engagement and can help leaders be proactive in resolving cultural issues.Important LinksPsychological Safety Stay Interview GuideThis Fixable Problem Costs U.S. Businesses $1 TrillionU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - Table 4. Quits levels and rates by industry and region, seasonally adjusted.Deconstructing the Great ResignationEY Global Survey DataThe great executive - employee disconnectWork Institute 2020 Retention ReportState of the Global Workplace: 2022 ReportGlassdoor’s Diversity and Inclusion Workplace SurveySHRM Global Culture Research Report 2022The 4 Stages Team SurveyYour engagement survey isn’t telling you the whole story about your company culture.  Find out how your culture is really doing and how to improve it by measuring psychological safety.https://www.leaderfactor.com/psychological-safety-survey

This weeks episode is part three in our five part series on "What's Driving Demand for Psychological Safety". Tim and Junior discuss why the need for innovation sparking demand for psychological safety and how innovation is just as much cultural as it is technical.(01:11) How do you win in a competitive landscape? In short, you can win one of two ways differentiation (product, market, model, operations) or you can win on price. Both of these require innovation. (05:48) Whose job is innovation? There is a myth that innovation lives at the top of the organization with a select few individuals who meet around a big long table and decide the future of the organization. That is an old mindset that is handed down from the industrial revolution. In reality, it's much different than that. Innovation is the responsibility of everyone. (14:21) Innovation is a cultural competence. Innovation is just as much part of an organization's cultural competence as it is an organization's technical competence. Some may think about innovation and they think about tools, they think about infrastructure, they think about new technology, new software, whereas they don't spend as much time thinking about the culture of the organization and all of the enabling factors that must be in place in order for the organization to accept any deviations from the status quo (innovation).(26:36) Most innovation comes from creating marginal gains not big breakthroughs. There are fundamental disruptive or major innovations, but most of it's incremental, most of its derivative, we're talking about marginal gains, we're talking about the 1%, we're talking about these little things that we can get better at. (31:31) Extending challenger safety and the removing personal risk from challenging the status quo can enhance the speed of innovation. Without it you will be defensive and fail to innovate at or above the speed of change in the market. Important LinksDon't Let Hierarchy Stifle Innovation PodcastThe Intersection Between Diversity, Inclusion, and InnovationDon't Let Hierarchy Stifle Innovation Article5 Steps to Create Innovation with Your TeamStage 4 Challenger Safety PodcastStage 4 Challenger Safety ArticleSurfing the Boundaries of Chaos and Innovation with Professor James Evans Podcast

This weeks episode is part two in our five part series on "What's Driving Demand for Psychological Safety". Tim and Junior sit down to discuss exclusion and social injustice as a driving force for psychological safety and ask each of us to consider our own behavior patterns as it relates to fostering cultures of inclusion. (01:53) What is social injustice? The basic definition of social injustice can be described as "when humans don't treat other humans the way they should be treated". There are all kinds of manifestations of social injustice but this is the most basic definition. (02:29) Consider your own behavior by asking the following questions:Do you truly believe that all humans are created equal, and do you accept others and welcome them into your society simply because they possess flesh and blood even if their values differ from your own?Without bias or discrimination, do you encourage others to learn and grow, and do you support them in that process even when they lack confidence or make mistakes?Do you grant others maximum autonomy to contribute in their own way as they demonstrate their ability to deliver results?Do you consistently invite others to challenge the status quo in order to make things better, and are you personally prepared to be wrong based on the humility and learning mindset you have developed?(07:24) Inclusion safety is an entitlement. The right to inclusion is not earned it is owed. There are no justifiable grounds for exclusion, save only one, and that is the threat of harm.(09:35) "Throughout our nervous history, we have constructed pyramidic towers of evil, ofttimes in the name of good. Our greed, fear and lasciviousness have enabled us to murder our poets, who are ourselves, to castigate our priests, who are ourselves. The lists of our subversions of the good stretch from before recorded history to this moment." - Maya angelou(20:21) We must elevate humanity as our highest level of loyalty. All other characteristics, similarities, or differences are subordinate to our shared humanity. (31:45) Are your behaviors congruent with your beliefs? Do you acknowledge the humanity of others in the way you behave? Would your friends, co-workers, and acquaintances say the same about your behavior?Important LinksThe 4 Stages of Psychological Safety BookHow to Create a Deeply Inclusive Culture WebinarStage 1: Inclusion Safety Podcast Episode

We're kicking  the new year off with a five part series on "What's Driving Demand for Psychological Safety." Today's episode will kick off the series and give us an overview of where we've been, where we are, and introduce the key drivers. In the following episodes of this series, Tim and Junior discuss exclusion and social injustice, and innovation, engagement and retention, mental health and wellness. Each of these paths lead back to the need and the demand for higher levels of psychological safety. (0:02:16) The way we work has changed. The 2020s are the decade of culture and we are able to hold conversations about psychological safety that can be productive and actionable. (03:35) The concept of psychological safety has been around since 1965 when Warren Bennis and Edgar Schein at MIT coined the term in their academic research.  (18:41) A global survey conducted by SHRM shows that workplace culture is the difference between success and failure in a post pandemic world. A good workplace culture was more important than salary for job satisfaction. Wellbeing is up 147% in mentions in the share of job posts and the number one reason for attrition was toxic corporate culture. (36:10) Introducing the drivers of psychological safety such as employee engagement, physical safety, growth and development, mental health and wellness, innovation and competitiveness.  (40:24) Younger generations like GenZ are more sensitive to workplace culture than the generations before them. You cannot treat workplace culture the same as we have treated in the past and expect to succeed as a business in 2023. Important LinksLinkedIn Global Talent Trends 2022 Report Key Findings LinkedIn Global Talent Trends 2022 ReportMIT Sloan Management Review "Toxic Culture is Driving the Great Resignation"Glassdoor "Culture over Cash? Multi-Country Survey Finds More Than Half of Employees Prioritize Workplace Culture Over Salary"SHRM "Healthy Workplace Culture: The Cornerstone of All Business Objectives"What is Psychological Safety?The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety by Timothy R. Clark 

In this podcast Tim and Junior discuss the importance of bridging the gap between diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Diversity alone is not enough, and true progress comes from creating a culture of inclusion. To do that we must "cross the lines of natural affinity," or find common ground and build relationships with coworkers who may be different from ourselves. DE&I spending is projected to reach 15.4 billion by 2026 (02:05). There are questions that come with increased spending such as, "Are these dollars effective? Are they working? Are we learning how to do this better than we have in the past?" The results are mixed at best.You cannot command and control your way to diversity and inclusion (06:58). You cannot declare your way to an inclusive culture, and awareness campaigns are not enough. You'll need parallel tracks of awareness and behaviors to make a difference. The real question to answer is, "are you modeling inclusive behaviors day in and day out, or not?"The importance of bonding and bridging (10:34). Bonding is creating connections with people like you or those inside your natural affinity groups. Bridging is connecting with people who are not like you or outside your natural affinity groups. To create inclusion you need both. Organizations can assist in the process with discussion guides. Interaction is not connection (19:43). In order to form a genuine connection you must be willing to engage in inquiry with the other person and be willing to share yourself. The right intent combined with those two elements will help you move from interaction to connection.Commit to practicing inclusive behavior (35:53). There are many opportunities for inclusive behavior. They usually fall into one of these seven categories. 1) Greeting, 2)Asking, 3) Listening, 4) Sharing, 5) Inviting, 6) Helping, and 7)Protecting. Chose one of these categories of behaviors to practice over the next week.We need accountability to succeed (41:22). If we want to move through cycles of improvement we need to practice behaviors and reflect on how we've done. Additional ResourcesHow to Bridge from Diversity to Inclusion: Helping Employees Cross the Lines of Natural Affinity5 Ways to Create Inclusion SafetyDiversity is a Fact, Inclusion is a ChoiceThe 4 Stages Behavior GuideAdditional ResourcesLeaderFactor.com/Resources

In this episode, Tim and Junior discuss the intersection between diversity, inclusion, and innovation. We need diversity but cannot unlock the benefits of our differences without inclusion. When we have a diverse and inclusive environment innovation follows.  Moving from diversity to inclusion is a journey from awareness to action, and many organizations stop at awareness, believing that it will lead to behavioral change. Sustainable behavioral change requires a commitment rather than just compliance. ----What is diversity? (02:38) Diversity is a matter of make-up or the composition of the team. Diversity could refer to gender, neurodiversity, political persuasion, socioeconomic class or all kinds of elements of cultural heritage. No matter how we look at diversity the composition of the team is a fact. Why do we want diversity? (05:10) There are two forces a competitive force seeking innovation and a moral force. Those seeking innovation are working in diverse markets on complex problems with complex systems. They seek competitive advantage and understand that diversity is a component of innovation.Inclusion activates diversity. (08:42) The argument that if we're diverse, we will be able to innovate better, more effectively, faster. The answer is that's not true unless you can activate the power of that diversity through inclusion. Inclusion becomes the activator. Inclusion becomes the enabling condition that allows us to harvest that diversity.The five steps of innovation. (19:43) We all participate in the innovation process, innovation is embedded in everyones role. The five steps of innovation are identify a problem or opportunity, generate ideas, prioritize ideas, experiment with the best idea, and then implement if it is viable. The three categories of innovation. (22:25) There are three basic categories of innovation; 1) product innovation 2) process innovation and 3) business model innovation.Why do diversity initiatives fail? (31:39) The traditional approach to move from diversity to inclusion is we start with awareness moving from awareness to understanding, to appreciation of differences.  What we have learned is that that doesn't work. It's not enough. What we have learned is that you have to jump into behavior at the same time that you are trying to increase awareness, understanding, and appreciation of differences. Awareness alone will never lead to sustained behavior change.Bonding and bridging behaviors. (38:56) It's easier to connect with people who share similar interests and demographics as you do (bonding) but harder to connect with people who don't. We need to engage in more bridging behaviors with individuals who may not share our similar interests and/or demographics if we are to move from diversity to inclusion. Personal examples of bridging from Tim's life. (46:48) Tim shares two examples from his personal life as it relates to bonding and bridging. One example from his time at Oxford and another from his time in Korea.Important Episode LinksForbes: How to Bridge from Diversity to InclusionDiversity is a Fact, Inclusion is a ChoiceWhat is Psychological SafetyThe 4 Stages of Psychological Safety: Defining the Path to Inclusion and Innovation

Agile beginnings and the Agile Manifesto (1:00). 20 years ago at Snowbird Mountain Resort, a group of tech industry leaders gathered together to change the bureaucratic waterfall method of software development, which at the time was linear, slow, and extremely rigid. The group wanted to develop a process that was fast, flexible, and dynamic. From there, Agile became a global movement.Agile’s failure pattern (7:15). Most agile transformations end in false starts and most agile organizations are agile in name only. Why?What is the biggest obstacle to a successful agile transformation? (14:27) Tim and Junior discuss the possible options: Is it skills? Tools? Processes? Training? Money? Or is culture king? Individuals and interactions over processes and tools (16:00). Even though this is the first of Agile’s four values, it often gets pushed to the side. Tim and Junior talk about why this is detrimental to the success of any organization.Make psychological safety the center of Agile transformation (22:15). Once you frame Agile as cultural transformation, the way you approach it fundamentally changes. It’s a workstream that’s never completed. Evaluate your dialogic process post-sprint (38:20). Tim gives his suggestion as to what Agile implementation could look like with a foundation of psychological safety.Mentioned LinksAgile Doesn’t Work Without Psychological Safety ArticleThe Psychological Safety Behavioral GuideWhy Psychological Safety is Oxygen for the Agile Movement Webinar