Did you know that 1 in 5 adults in America lives with mental illness? That’s about 51 million people in the U.S. in 2019.
People spend a lot of time working, whether in person or from home, work is 8 hours or more of the day. Keep reading and we will guide you through five ways to ensure psychological safety in the workplace.
- Build Trust
Mistakes happen and things go wrong. Have a solutions-oriented process when this happens at your company.
Instead of blaming one person or looking for someone to blame, create an environment that focuses on trust and learning. Ask everyone: “How can we make this go smoothly next time?”
Building trust so that your employees aren’t afraid to come to you in a tough situation will help create a better, less stressful work environment.
- Be Engaged
As a leader on your team, you want to set a good example. If your employees feel like you don’t listen during a presentation they worked really hard on or have time to answer their questions, they will shut down.
Close your laptop and silence your phone in meetings. Engage with your employees by asking questions and show them you’re genuinely interested in their ideas.
You want to create an environment where your employees feel it’s okay to speak up and share their ideas.
- Company Culture
Did you know that 46% of job applicants say company culture is an important factor when choosing to apply to a company? You want to use your employee’s strengths to create a positive workplace environment.
Have weekly one-on-ones with your direct reports and have them do the same with their employees. You can discuss their strengths and their approach to projects, which can help you decide what to have them work on and who to work with on team projects.
Understanding your employee’s strengths and being able to place them on projects they’ll actually enjoy and thrive at will create a positive company culture. You should also plan team bonding activities outside of work projects to help everyone connect on a more personal level.
- Revamp Old Policies
We are moving out of a more traditional workplace with everything being work from home. Revamp old policies to model the more virtual environment we’re living in now.
Encourage employees working from home to have a hard stop and separate work and home life. Everyone is accessible on work chats, but make sure to let people know it’s okay to silent the chat and create work-life balance.
- Training
In your onboarding, include a section on culture training. You want to create an inclusive environment with no room for discrimination or inappropriate behavior among employees and communicate this from the beginning.
You should also participate in a similar leadership training. Check out a certification option for psychological safety and inclusion.
Start to Build Psychological Safety in the Workplace
Now that you have a list of ways you can improve, start revamping old policies, and talk to your employees to get ideas on how you can make work safe.
Psychological safety in the workplace is more important now than ever with our changing work environment.
Get to work on creating a positive work environment now or keep reading for the latest in everything news-related.