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Episode 126

August 18, 2021

126: The Paradox of Psychological Safety with Gustavo Razzetti

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    Intro

    Psychological safety is a bastion of facilitation, collaboration, and connection.

    But has it reached a tipping point?

    As the phrase permeates more corners of consultancy and the echelons of management, is it depreciating into another buzzword, losing its groundbreaking origins?

    Gustavo Razzetti, acclaimed workplace culture consultant, will gladly admit that this is a controversial topic, but there are few better equipped to address it – and that’s what we set out to do in this episode of workshops work.

    Join us for a challenging, inspiring, and rewarding discussion about the merits and limits of psychological safety.

    Find out about

    • Why a top-down focus on psychological safety has a fatal flaw
    • How reflection and action at an individual level form true psychological safety
    • Whether personal integrity is a more valuable metric to measure
    • The Catch 22 of psychological safety and the tension between safety and conflict
    • How subcultures influence and make up wider company cultures
    • Healthy, manageable ways to introduce risk and conflict into workplaces

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    Questions and Answers

    01:48Where do you see the paradox when it comes to psychological safety in organisations? 03:18What does psychological safety really mean? And what have people taken it to mean? 09:44Is it the leader that sets the tone and models psychological safety to their team? 14:29Do you think the desire of some leaders to return to the office is rooted in their desire for safety? 17:19How can leaders create psychological safety for themselves? 20:46Is it a mistake, then, to look to the leader to create psychological safety? 24:18How can we feel confident enough to speak up if we don’t feel safe? This is the chicken and egg situation! 30:03Would we be better placed discussing integrity? Why is there such a dearth of discussion around integrity in the corporate world? 34:29Can we feel psychologically safe if we operate from a position of defensiveness? 39:44How important is the art of asking questions and giving feedback? Is it something we can learn? 42:46If we need smaller groups to truly create psychological safety, how do we avoid silos? 47:24What happens if subcultures don’t trust each other? 49:38Is a lack of collaboration among middle management a structural problem or an issue of incentives? 52:24If we want middle management to change, would that be a problem for leadership to solve? 54:10How, then, would middle managers create an alliance if they all feel in competition with one another? 56:29How can we transform silos into subcultures that communicate and collaborate? 57:32Do you believe in hybrid? 01:02:58Are we experiencing a ‘mass avoidance’ event by focusing so much on the concept of hybrid? 01:05:16Would our work become more sustainable in an asynchronous model? 01:10:21How do you prioritise and protect idea-sharing after breakouts and activities? 01:15:58What is the one thing you would like listeners to take away from this episode?

    Links

    Fearless Culture Gustavo’s business

    Exercises to Promote Psychological Safety in Your Organization

    The Psychological Safety Ladder

    High-Performing Teams Need Psychological Safety. How to Build It

    Connect to Gustavo

    LinkedIn

    Twitter