#psychological safety

[stimpunks]

Belonging in School

Belonging is very close to the idea of feeling safe.Belonging in School: Resource Introduction Webinar – YouTube Belonging in School: Resource Introduction Webinar We added quotes from the recently released “Belonging in School – a school-level resource for developing inclusive policies” to our “Belonging” glossary page, to our “Accommodation” glossary page, and to the “The Feeling: Electric…

[neworkimprov]

Project Aristotle: Google's Surprising Discovery About Team Success

We’ve all heard the phrase “teamwork makes the dream work.” But what really makes a team successful? Is it having the smartest people in the room? The most experienced leaders? An endless supply of resources? Google set out to answer this question with Project Aristotle, a research initiative that analyzed hundreds of teams within the company. The results were surprising. “Simply playing Improv…

[productiveandfree]

Mindful Team Building Events: Professional Facilitation for Enhanced Awareness and Collaboration

Fostering strong connections and effective collaboration among team members is crucial for the success of any business or organization. Traditional team building activities often involve trust falls and rope courses, but there’s a growing trend towards a more mindful approach. Enter mindful team building events, where professional facilitation helps teams cultivate awareness and collaboration in unique and impactful ways. Let’s delve into what these events entail and why they’re gaining popularity.

Understanding Mindful Team Building

So, what exactly does it mean to have a mindful approach to team building? Well, it’s all about being present in the moment and fostering a deeper understanding of oneself and others. Mindfulness practices, such as meditation and deep breathing exercises, are incorporated into team-building activities to encourage participants to slow down, tune into their thoughts and feelings, and develop empathy and understanding.

 The Importance of Professional Facilitation

While anyone can lead a trust fall exercise, facilitating mindful team building events requires a certain level of expertise. Professional facilitators are trained to create a safe and supportive environment where team members feel comfortable exploring their thoughts and emotions. They guide participants through activities and discussions, ensuring everyone has a voice and that insights gained are translated into actionable strategies for collaboration.

 Enhancing Self-Awareness

One of the primary goals of mindful team building is to enhance self-awareness among team members. When individuals understand their own strengths, weaknesses, and communication styles, they can better navigate interactions with others. Through activities like mindfulness meditation and reflective journaling, participants gain insights into their thought patterns and emotional responses, helping them develop a greater sense of self-awareness.

 Cultivating Empathy and Understanding

In addition to self-awareness, mindful team building events also focus on cultivating empathy and understanding among team members. Through exercises like perspective-taking and active listening, participants learn to see situations from different viewpoints and appreciate the experiences and feelings of others. This fosters a sense of connection and mutual respect within the team, laying the foundation for effective collaboration.

 Improving Communication

Effective communication is essential for any successful team, and mindful team building events can help improve communication skills in a meaningful way. By practicing mindful communication techniques, such as speaking with intention and active listening, team members learn to communicate more clearly and authentically. This reduces misunderstandings and conflict, leading to smoother collaboration and better outcomes.

 Building Trust and Psychological Safety

Trust is the bedrock of any healthy team dynamic, and mindful team building events are designed to strengthen trust among team members. Through vulnerability exercises and team bonding activities, participants learn to open up and support one another in a non-judgmental environment. This creates a sense of psychological safety where team members feel comfortable taking risks, sharing ideas, and expressing their true selves without fear of criticism or rejection.

Fostering Creativity and Innovation

Mindful team building events can also spark creativity and innovation within teams. By breaking free from traditional constraints and exploring new ways of thinking and problem-solving, participants are encouraged to think outside the box and generate fresh ideas. Creative activities like improvisation and brainstorming exercises challenge team members to tap into their creativity and collaborate in innovative ways, leading to breakthroughs and new opportunities.

 Strengthening Team Cohesion

Ultimately, the goal of mindful team building is to strengthen team cohesion and camaraderie. By fostering a sense of connection and belonging, teams can overcome challenges together and achieve greater success. Mindful team building events create lasting bonds among team members, laying the groundwork for a supportive and collaborative work environment where everyone feels valued and appreciated.

 Nurturing Resilience and Adaptability

In today’s ever-changing business landscape, resilience and adaptability are essential traits for success. Mindful team building events help teams develop these skills by encouraging them to embrace uncertainty and navigate challenges with grace. Through resilience-building exercises and mindfulness practices, teams learn to bounce back from setbacks and adapt to change more effectively, ensuring they can thrive in any environment.

 Enhancing Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is a key predictor of professional success, and mindful team building events provide an opportunity for teams to enhance this critical skill. By engaging in activities that promote self-awareness, self-regulation, and empathy, team members develop a deeper understanding of their own emotions and the emotions of others. This enables them to navigate interpersonal dynamics more effectively, build stronger relationships, and make more informed decisions.

 Promoting Work-Life Balance

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is essential for employee well-being and productivity. Mindful team building events emphasize the importance of self-care and stress management, encouraging team members to prioritize their physical and mental health. By incorporating activities like guided relaxation and mindfulness walks, teams learn practical strategies for reducing stress and finding balance in their lives, ultimately leading to greater job satisfaction and performance.

 Encouraging Continuous Growth and Development

Professional growth and development are ongoing processes, and mindful team building events provide a platform for teams to continue learning and evolving together. By fostering a growth mindset and a culture of feedback and reflection, teams are encouraged to embrace new challenges and opportunities for learning. This continuous growth mindset not only benefits individual team members but also strengthens the team as a whole, ensuring they remain adaptable and resilient in the face of change.

 Sustaining Long-Term Results

The impact of mindful team building events extends far beyond the initial experience, leading to sustained improvements in team dynamics and performance over time. By integrating mindfulness practices into their daily routines and communication strategies, teams are better equipped to handle challenges and collaborate effectively on an ongoing basis. This sustainable approach to team building ensures that the benefits of mindfulness endure long after the event has ended, creating lasting positive change within the organization.

 Conclusion

In today’s fast-paced and competitive business world, the importance of strong team dynamics cannot be overstated. Mindful team building events offer a refreshing alternative to traditional activities, providing teams with the tools and techniques they need to cultivate awareness, collaboration, and connection. By investing in professional facilitation and embracing mindfulness practices, organizations can foster a culture of empathy, communication, and creativity that drives innovation and success. So why not take a mindful approach to team building and see the transformative impact it can have on your team?

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[roamyoursoul]

Do you feel safe at work?

Psychological safety is the shared belief within a team that it is safe to take risks. Psychological safety is a critical component that fosters an environment where team members feel comfortable expressing their ideas, take risks, and can be vulnerable without fear of reprisal or judgment. Leadership that prioritizes psychological safety acknowledges the importance of open communication,…

[akwyz]

Bridging the Gap: The Unseen Diversity in Our Workplaces

🌟 New Blog Alert! 🌟 Dive into the untapped potential of Workplace Diversity & Disability Inclusion with our latest insights. Transform your organizational culture and embrace true inclusion. Read now & join the conversation! #FutureOfWork #axschat

In a revealing conversation on Axschat, Hilary Wool, a partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), sheds light on the often-overlooked diversity in our workplaces: disability. Through her extensive research on self-identity, disability, and the feeling of belonging, Wool brings critical insights that challenge our perceptions and underscore the need for a more inclusive approach in corporate…

[valdetselimaj]

Fight with Them - Why Fighting is Important for Relationships

We have all been there before. Your partner, spouse, friend, teammate, etc get into it. You get upset and hurt. And they do to. For those who have been or are in a romantic relationship: All couples or polycules argue. For this unfamiliar with what a polycule is, that is the term for people involved in a polyamorous relationship. When you get hurt by someone who is close to you, fight with…

[enhansenperformancesblog]

Psychological Safety for self | Enhansen Performance

Enhansen Performance, a leading service provider, prioritizes Psychological Safety for self to elevate individual well-being and enhance overall performance. Focused on fostering a supportive environment, their approach emphasizes psychological safety, a crucial element for personal growth. By encouraging open communication, trust, and mutual respect, individuals can freely express ideas and concerns without fear of judgment. This creates a conducive atmosphere for self-reflection, risk-taking, and innovation, ultimately boosting confidence and motivation. Enhansen Performance recognizes that cultivating psychological safety for oneself is foundational for achieving optimal performance levels, empowering individuals to thrive personally and professionally. Embrace a culture that values Psychological Safety for self with Enhansen Performance, where mental well-being propels peak performance.

[ossie50]

Psychological safety/accountability - not opposites

When I reflect on the shifts in focus through the pandemic with people working from home, it appeared that ‘psychological safety’ became a high priority for businesses and business leaders. There are people who hold the view that this is the opposite of accountability, but it is not. My guess is that many in this group are the ones attempting to force people back into the office so they are…

[jenthehumanist]

Psychological Safety

The bad news? I think I may have accidentally given my son ptsd.

The good news? He feels so psychologically safe he didn't understand why some people think being openly and honestly yourself is in any way a vulnerable thing to do.

Let me back up. My son is a senior. He's taking an acting class and the group was discussing vulnerability as an acting tool. My son was not the first to object but he agreed with others who said- being vulnerable wasn't necessary. He thinks of vulnerability as - putting yourself in an unnecessarily unsafe situation. He plays HEMA (Historic European Martial Arts) - which means he fences with a double handed steel sword. Being vulnerable means to him to turn his back on someone actively attacking him. There is zero reason to do this on purpose. He said other kids were talking about how being honest about your feelings is vulnerable. He said no - it's just being honest. It doesn't require vulnerability. I pointed out the idea of psychological safety and did he know that some people are in situations where it is not safe to be honest about your emotions or - really anything. His face when I said this. He was horrified and sad for people in this situation. He can see how it could be vulnerable with the wrong people but he's never experienced that himself.

Which made me feel great. It means as a parent my son feels psychologically safe all the time.

So .... why did I start this by saying I think I gave my son PTSD. Well - it's because when he was first starting school he started having seizures and we didn't know he was having seizures because it was childhood absence epilepsy and he just looked like he was thinking about stuff. And to be fair, my son is super duper creative and was constantly day dreaming and coming up with stories for himself. So what would happen is, he would start practicing writing - like - write the letter M. He would start the letter and then not finish it. He would stare at the ceiling. And we would try to get him to come back to earth and continue tracing the letter M. Well - when your child is not responsive, you start to get worried and yell their name. What we were experiencing was an unresponsive child. What he experienced was - I start writing the letter M and get only the first line drawn and suddenly my parents are yelling at me. I can't even start and I'm doing it wrong.

Long story short, he has a REALLY hard time starting anything because he thinks we will yell at him and he will do it wrong. And this can be super intense for him. Like - huge aversion behavior, emotional aversion - you name it.

I have diagnosed PTSD and I can tell you when I am triggered, I have no idea what is going on - I just can't do things. Like - want to buy a plane ticket? Nope - I will set it up and not be able to push the button to buy the tickets. I don't know why. I just know I'm in a freeze fight/flight panic in terms of adrenaline anxiety etc. It doesn't matter that I want to buy the ticket, my body physically won't let me and won't tell me why. It's not conscious. It's literally just stimulus response - the response being to freeze while experiencing huge amounts of anxiety and sweating.

This is kind of what happens to my son. He wants to do the work, but can't start and then starts rationalizing why he can't start. He's gotten better, but it's an ongoing problem - and yes, we are addressing it - I'm an expert in behavior modification. We are working on reconditioning a new response to the - I want to do things stimulus so that he isn't always triggered to - just freeze out of fear.

The good news - he clearly feels psychologically safe despite the trauma I accidentally wired into his brain over a 4 month period when we were trying to figure out what was going on with him and waiting for his first neurology appointment. (sigh). But as my son says philosophically - everyone has trauma at some point - he's way more functional than most people - because - we at least made him feel safe.

[stimpunks]

R-word and Genius: Situationally Mute Hyperlexic Autistic

R-word and Genius: Situationally Mute Hyperlexic Autistic

When I was a kid, school didn’t know I could read because I wouldn’t read aloud. Situational mutism and exposure anxiety locked my lips. One day, in a quiet corner with a semblance of psychological safety, I quietly, in a whisper, read a book cover to cover to my teacher and said, “Can I go now?” I’m hyperlexic. And autistic. During my school career, I was both r-word and genius. In a…

[landlockedcorsair]

So I wrote my first paper for PSY 101. It was on psychological safety. The below is not my paper, just some takeaways from the textbook, articles and videos my teacher assigned.

Psychological safety is the sense or feeling that your group or setting is a safe environment to express yourself. For example, your teammates at work will hear your idea without ridiculing you, or your parents will not punish you for expressing your feelings about something they’ve done.

This is different from trust. Trust is between individuals, whereas psychological safety is between yourself and multiple others. Both concepts are built over time. You can trust someone without feeling psychologically safe with them (you trust them with your life, but you’d never share your most cringeworthy moments with them).

It’s a fun thing to think about. Research on this is relatively new. It seems that any group may or may not be psychologically safe, regardless of commonality between members. They might be good friends outside of the group setting, and still cause distress IN the setting; or the opposite, awkward out of group and cohesive in the setting. Abusive relationships are not psychologically safe, even though this is only between two people, so it’s not to say that psychological safety is exclusively about group dynamics.

Anyways, that’s just some of it. Happy I’m in this class, psychology is one of my special interests, so it’s nice to be learning about it in a formal setting. School’s not so bad when you enjoy the subject.

[neworkimprov]

Why Improv is the Secret Weapon for High-Performing Teams

Teams are the backbone of any successful company, but building a high-performing team isn’t always easy. Communication breakdowns, conflict, and lack of trust can hinder collaboration and stifle creativity. That’s where improv comes in. What is Improv? Improv, short for improvisation, is a form of live theater where performers create scenes and stories on the spot without a script. It’s based…

[censemaking]

Designing for Trust: The Critical Skill for The Future

Design in trust to our organizations will matter as much as any AI application for success in the years ahead #psychology #trust

Trust has never been worth more than it is now – and its value is only increasing. Designing for trust will be the most focus of our organizations in the months and years to come. Trust-making is going to be the design skill for the future. That’s my prediction. You might be inclined to say “trust-building,” — but I mean trust-making. We’ve always had to build trust, but we’ll need to make it…

[itskimhill]

Psychological Safety: What’s in it for Employees?

Working within a psychological safe space enhances individual and team performance. Individuals are not afraid to make mistakes and thus are more likely to take risks and express their new ideas to their managers. Individuals feel safer within their teams and thus constructive criticism, collaborative work, and improved dialogue allows teams to reach improved results. Therefore, companies should encourage and enable managers to build psychologically safe work environments.

[gayatri001]