Most of us have been there at some point during our working life. You’re afraid to speak up or you’re walking on eggshells in case you say the wrong thing. You’re worried that your ideas might be rejected or your concerns ignored. Or perhaps you’ve previously spoken up but found you’ve been punished or humiliated for it. It happens. At its worst, you can be left feeling that you don’t want to go to work or even start to look for employment elsewhere.
If you’ve ever felt this way, your school or multi-academy trust may be lacking psychological safety.
In a nutshell, a psychologically safe workplace is one where people feel comfortable getting the answer wrong, speaking up, asking for help and constructively challenging decisions or behaviours, and knowing they’re safe to do so.
This creates a happier, more engaged and inclusive learning environment where both staff and pupils can learn, grow and thrive. When people feel comfortable being themselves and trust their colleagues, it can even have a positive impact on your school or MAT’s performance.
Teacher and school staff wellbeing is a hot topic right now, and for good reason. It all starts with the culture within your school or trust and whether or not people feel psychologically safe. Research has proven that high-achieving organisations have a high level of psychological safety as it goes hand in hand with greater innovation, productivity, motivation, improved wellbeing and employee retention. It’s win, win for everybody.
So, why does psychological safety in your school or trust matter? There are many reasons. Here are just some of them…
People need to feel safe expressing themselves if you want creativity and ideas to flow. No one is going to put their ideas ‘out there’ if they fear being shot down or ridiculed for it. Imagine how many inspired ideas were never shared because a team member didn't feel safe sharing?
When team members feel safe at work, it’s easier for them to engage with each other, sharing thoughts, ideas and collaborating on projects so you get the best outcome. You’re also more likely to find that they’re happier to be there, are more ‘present’ and willing to contribute and engage, rather than clock watching until home time comes around.
When you have a psychologically safe workplace, people feel happier, are more engaged and feel comfortable raising genuine concerns about their wellbeing. The end result? People choose to stick around for longer, which means a lower churn rate and reduced costs due to absenteeism and recruitment. Plus, the longer your team have been with your school or trust, the more knowledge and experience they gain.
Psychologically safe workspaces welcome diverse teams, with people from different backgrounds and with different points of view because they feel included. Psychological safety is essential to ensure everyone gets a say, and an equal opportunity to flourish, regardless of gender, colour, background, race or political preferences. When diversity exists in a psychologically safe environment, it creates a valuable give and take experience where everyone feels connected and part of the team.
When you have psychological safety and enjoy all of these benefits, you have all the ingredients for a more positive learning environment. Your team will perform better as teachers and school staff alike feel comfortable sharing feedback and admitting (and recovering from) mistakes more quickly. Ultimately, the financial performance of your school or MAT will be improved.
Whether you work in a small primary school or a large multi-academy trust, improving psychological safety will have a dramatic effect on performance.
When people feel able to highlight problems early or talk about potential issues before they crop up, you’re in a far better position to mitigate the impact sooner rather than later.
Plus, mistakes present valuable opportunities to learn. By accepting mistakes, the whole team can learn from it and make changes to processes or systems to prevent it from happening again, or reduce the impact if it does reoccur in the future.
When people are mentally and emotionally well and safe to speak up, naturally they feel happier and perform better. In short, high performing teams aren’t happy because they’re high performing, they’re high performing because they’re happy.
Psychological safety is important not just because it creates outcomes for your school or trust, but because it’s the right thing to do.
If you're looking to create a happier learning environment in your school or MAT, take a look at our Psychological Safety eLearning Collection or download our FREE Psychological Safety Starter Kit for schools and trusts, containing a range of resources to help you start creating a happier, healthier culture!