There's so much on LinkedIn about creating psychologically safe workplaces, but all the solutions revolve around the line leaders' ability to create that (ask questions! hear from all voices! listen!).

However, it doesn't matter how good you are at creating psychological safety if you work in an environment and system that's against you.

If you want your people to speak up, creating psychological safety can help but it can’t dismantle a system that discourages people to raise their hand and speak up.

Here are two examples I’ve heard from clients in recent weeks:

➡️ An employee working on site tested positive for Covid at work. Their company told this person to isolate at camp for seven days, with no plan or support to get them back home. This employee knew colleagues who also were Covid positive, who called in sick (saying they DIDN'T have Covid) because they were scared they would be told to isolate also, and unable to get home.

➡️ A crew member who noticed a hazard at their workshop and reported it to management. Their reward for reporting the hazard? Getting thrown the responsibility to find quotes, order replacement tooling and supplies, and then install it, on top of an already insane schedule. This was not a task in any way related to their job, or KPIs. If the reward for reporting a hazard is to be thrown more work, what does that tell the crew?

I'll throw one more in for good measure:
➡️ Senior management asking for feedback, completing an employee engagement survey, and seeing zero improvements in relation to feedback provided, year on year.

What are your thoughts on this?

#psychologicalsafety #engagement #breakthesystem