Trust and Psychological Safety

Astronauts on the International Space Station live in capsules together for months, and share insights about handling conflict and building trust.

Organizational psychologist Adam Grant invites astronaut Paolo in this TED podcast to discuss trust in work-life basing the incredible catch that Paolo pulled out in space with his colleague, Cady. The two trusted each other and co-worked to successfully catch a ship full of supplies in space using the International Space Station robotic arm that is almost the size of a crane. Listen to the podcast to understand why strong bonds are forged during the most challenging situations and the role that TRUST plays in the workplace.

Using Brené Brown's anatomy of trust model to explore the elements to build trust.

Trust is complex and challenging, yet essential to enable agility. It is a feeling, and therefore it is fluid and constantly evolving. In this article, Stephanie Ockerman defines what trust is, and the elements required to build trust. She describes each element that composes the anatomy of trust, and concludes with questions to help you reflect on how to build trust in your own personal relationships.

The original presentation that defined psychological safety.

This Ted Talk is the seminal work on Psychological Safety that introduced the world to the concept. Amy Edmondson is the original researcher that coined the term, and that while working with the Google research team identified its importance. In this insightful talk, the presenter explains its foundations, the necessity to support it, and outlines the three things you can do to build a psychologically safe workplace.

Unlock a feedback culture with this trust-building exercise that takes vulnerability, and vulnerability cultivates trust.

The Open Office Circle (OFC) enables people to share their work experiences and receive feedback from other teammates. The process takes courage as one has to confess his previous mistakes and highlight some of the milestones achieved as well. The colleagues help him grow from the missteps while also learning from his success. The article details HOW the OFC works and WHY it culminates in the quality of work and trust in an organization.

Who is on a team matters less than how team members interact and structure their work.

Psychological Safety is the feeling that it is safe to take risks and be vulnerable in front of each other, and it is essential for effective teams. Google found through extensive research of over 180 teams that who is on a team matters less than how they interact. Marc Vollebregt expands on this subject by integrating it with openness and trust, and the concept of personal, professional, and private emotional spaces.

Psychological safety comes in three interrelated varieties.

Psychological Safety has been identified as the key element common in all productive teams. Leaders therefore seek to instill it in their workforce, but Chris Weller suggests that it’s critical to start by understanding what they want employees to feel safe to do. Chris outlines three different kinds of safety - around belonging, speaking up, or taking risks - each which can be leveraged for multiple end goals, and require a different set of capabilities.

Showing some pitfalls managers should avoid when building a trusting relationship with employees - the basis for a positive feedback culture.

Daniel Schley uses the reverse brainstorming technique to talk about some of the pitfalls managers should avoid for a healthy 1:1 relationship with their employees. The technique clearly reveals what managers are doing wrong and what they can improve to maintain a good relationship with their team. We learn that establishing trust should be one of your first and main goals as a people manager and trust is easier destroyed than built. Let's read the article for a deeper insight into the things that ruin trust and why we should mitigate them.

A Liberating Structure to share success stories and identify what groups can invest in now to enable their own success in the future.

Appreciative Interviews (AI), is a Liberating Structure that helps identify enablers for success in less than one hour. It focuses on what goes well — instead of what doesn’t, liberating spontaneous momentum and insights for positive changes to uncover hidden success stories. Passionate developer and Scrum Master, Christiaan Verwijs shares how he applied Appreciative Interviews within Scrum training and coaching engagements in this post, describing its uses in Scrum, the steps on how to use it, how it combines to create structures, and the tips on how to pair Appreciative Interviews.