How do you measure the effectiveness of your “Speak Up” efforts?

In today’s workplace, it is more important than ever for employees to feel comfortable speaking up. When employees feel safe sharing their ideas, asking questions, and raising concerns, it can lead to a number of benefits for businesses, including increased innovation, improved decision-making, reduced errors, and increased employee satisfaction.

What is Psychological Safety?
Psychological safety is a feeling of trust, mutual respect, and openness that creates an environment where employees feel comfortable expressing their thoughts, opinions, and concerns, even if different from colleagues or leaders. In other words, it is a shared belief that a team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. This means that team members feel comfortable being themselves, speaking up with ideas, and taking risks without fear of being punished or ridiculed.

How Does Psychological Safety Connect to Speaking Up?
Psychological safety is the foundation for a Speak Up culture; the two are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. When a psychologically safe culture combines with Speak Up, employees are much more likely to:

• Raise concerns and issues
• Constructively challenge
• Share their perspectives
• Feel comfortable expressing themselves

When employees feel psychologically safe, they are more likely to speak up with ideas, questions, and concerns. This is because they feel confident that their contributions will be valued and respected. In turn, speaking up can lead to several benefits for businesses, including:

• Increased innovation: When employees feel comfortable sharing their ideas, they are more likely to come up with new and innovative solutions to problems.
• Improved decision-making: When employees feel comfortable speaking up, they can provide valuable input that can help leaders make better decisions.
• Reduced errors: When employees feel comfortable speaking up about mistakes, they can help to prevent costly errors from occurring.
• Increased employee satisfaction: When employees feel like they can speak up without fear of reprisal, they are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs.

“If employees aren’t comfortable speaking up about day-to-day issues, they’re much less likely to speak up about misconduct – the stakes are just too high.”
– Lori Tansey Martens, President, International Business Ethics Institute

How to Create a Psychologically Safe Environment
There are a number of things that leaders can do to create a psychologically safe environment for their employees. These include:

• Modeling respectful behavior: Leaders should model respectful behavior by being open to feedback and by avoiding personal attacks.
• Creating a culture of inclusion: Leaders should create a culture of inclusion where everyone feels valued and respected, regardless of their background or identity.
• Encouraging open communication: Leaders should encourage open communication by creating an environment where employees feel comfortable speaking up without fear of reprisal.
• Providing feedback: Leaders should provide regular feedback to employees so that they know how they are doing and how they can improve.
• Celebrating successes: Leaders should celebrate successes, both big and small, to help employees feel valued and appreciated.

Conclusion
Psychological safety is essential for creating a workplace where employees feel comfortable speaking up. When employees feel psychologically safe, they are more likely to share their ideas, ask questions, and take risks. This can lead to a number of benefits for businesses, including increased innovation, improved decision-making, reduced errors, and increased employee satisfaction.

If you are a leader, there are a number of things you can do to create a psychologically safe environment for your employees. By following the tips in this blog post, you can help to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and heard.

Learn more about Advancing Your Speak Up Culture.