(Psychological Safety cont. 8)

Desirable Behaviours (Contributor Safety)

3. Contributor Safety (how do you make others feel safe to contribute and make a difference?)

i) rotate the chairing of meetings (allow others to chair a meeting; this is a way of empowering others and encouraging confidence to contribute)

ii) clarify roles (this reduces both anxiety and ambiguity, ie reduces the assumptions made about how to contribute; this needs to be continually reviewed to ensure role clarity)

iii) recognise accomplishments (encourage genuine recognition of and excitement of accomplishments)

iv) don't correct with anger, blame, shame, or ridicule (irrespective of why mistakes occurred, treat them as learning experiences:
"...Any kind of public ridicule is off limits. Instead, coach the person to see their mistake and help them take responsibility......even candid, direct feedback can be given respectfully..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

v) identify stall points (sometimes people become stuck, ie don't know what to do or how to proceed; endeavour to anticipate and identify the situations; encourage them to think about how they should proceed; make it safe for people to be in a stalled situation)

vi) celebrate small wins ( small wins increase confidence and build momentum, ie it creates a sense of forward motion; it encourages people's contributions)

vii) shift from tell to ask (too much telling breeds dependency and learned helplessness; lead through questions, more than through answers)

viii) share your values (values define the way you want to work; understanding each other's values helps define the ground rules and terms of engagement)

ix) set the ground rules (once values shared, set ground rules and terms of engagement; once known, the ground rules make people more likely to engage as they understand what is expected)

x) share your work-style and communication preferences (for both you and your co-workers, develop a better understanding of each's work styles and preferences as a way to increase effectiveness)

xi) create conditions for peak engagement (there are times when we are in the groove, or flow, and are doing our best work; share these experiences with co-workers; try and replicate them
"...as you try to create the peak engagement conditions for each other, it will foster greater contribution by team members..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

xii) align work with passion (passion is defined as 'an intense desire or enthusiasm for something'; share sources of passion with co-workers; endeavour to make work assignments align with individual passions)

xiii) share the experience (customerise personalise and tailor experiences around preferences of individuals; understand limitations, constraints, restraints, etc; find neglected opportunities from experiences to shape work)

xiv) give stretch assignments (encourage people to go outside their comfort zones; this will build more capacity to contribute; it is the way we grow and develop; allocate stretch assignments where exhilaration outweighs the discomfort)

xv) avoid boredom and burn out (both are destructive and unsustainable; focus on where workers can work toout, reap the rewards and find renewal in the process)

xvi) distinguish ability vs motivation problem (need to understand the root cause; corrective action for an ability problem is different from that of motivation, ie
"... Ability problems required increased skills, knowledge, and experience. Motivation problems require understanding, confidence, self-efficacy, and accountability..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

xvii) own your own contribution (each worker has primary responsibility for their own contribution; 3 choices on contribution:
"...1) accept what you are being given, 2) change and improve what you have been given, 3) believe what you have been given..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

xviii) help others see their strengths (identify other workers' strengths that could be hidden or undervalued; build on strengths)

xix) give people the why (need to connect work with a larger and more significant purpose, ie going beyond self.
"...research shows that the strongest driver of engagement and performance is when we find meaning and purpose in the work we do..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

xx) paint the vision (part of the 'why':this
"...a vision is a portrait of the future, a seedling of reality, a destination that has not yet been achieved. A compelling vision can create enormous forces of attraction to that future state. It provides excitement, enthusiasm and line-of-sight understanding that connects at a personal level with a desired end state..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

xxi) keep focused with trade-offs (success is based on the intelligent allocation of scarce resources, ie protecting your work is the focus;
"...If your team is chasing too many priorities, it will lose its steam and desire to contribute. Teams that lack a clear focus become confused and dilute their effort. Eventually, team members become disillusioned, disengage, and then quit..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

xxii) remove a sense of entitlement (some people's
"...sense of entitlement gets in the way and leads them to believe that others should be doing more for them than the other way around..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

xxiii) make the team customer-centric (keep customer 'front and centre', ie satisfying customers, needs and wants
"...when a team loses sight of its customer, it often becomes careless, jaded, cynical and loses pride in their work and contribution..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

xxiv) let them do it their way (people want to make a difference in their own unique way; they want autonomy; after delegating, with clear expectations and parameters, 'get out of the way':
"... Don't disengage entirely, because they will still need feedback, encouragement, and even correction along the way. As you manage risk prudently, allow your team members the latitude, creativity, and independence to approach things as they see fit. If you're too paternalistic, if you micromanage them, you will extinguish their motivation to contribute..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

xxv) measure performance (what gets measured and rewarded, gets done; use meaningful metrics in the areas of contribution that really matter, ie identify and prioritise key performance indicators; don't measure too many things which can cause you to lose a sense of priority)

xxvi) approach failure with curiosity rather than criticism (when inputs are not producing the expected outputs, analyse the situation with curiosity rather than criticism so that the stress and emotional tension that often surrounds poor performance is reduced)

xxvii) clarify the decision-making process (ensure everybody understands their roles in the decision-making process; there are 3 basic ways to make a decision:

    a) unilateral (leader makes decisions without others' inputs)

    b) collaborative (leader seeks inputs from others but makes a final decision)

    c) consensus (other people's inputs are sought and a joint decision is made)

"...option one is dangerous, and option three is inefficient, so most teams operate based on a collaborative decision-making model..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

xxviii) compliment participation from quiet team members (complement and encourage the more introverted, shy people to participate; use private feedback to reinforce their contributions)

xxix) avoid shutdown statements (encourage discretionary efforts by others by not using statements like 'bad idea', 'nice try', 'told you so', 'won't work', 'tried it before', etc; these statements trigger the self-censoring instinct of people)

xxx) report your own mistakes and errors (being transparent about your mistakes, errors, failures, etc will encourage others to do the same and allow for faster corrections, learnings, etc)

xxxi) ask people what they think ('what do you think?' is a powerful question to invite contributions and increase confidence in the process)

xxxii) check skills and resources (make sure that people have adequate skills and resources to do the expected job)

xxxiii) accept bad news ('don't shoot the messenger of bad news'; it is a measure of performance that provides a basis for improvement)

xxxiv) reward those who accept additional responsibility (
"...to take on additional responsibility always means greater performance expectations and the absorption of more stress......praise and reward your team members who willingly step up to take on more responsibility..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

However, be careful they don't take on too much.

xxxv) create outcome accountability (there are 3 levels to accountability, ie

    a) task (they are the basic, fundamental units of work that have a predictable pattern and outcome; they need to be done; people who do these tasks need to be closely monitored and heavily mentored.

    b) process or project (the next stage is when tasks are strung together in a predictable, consistent process; still not much room for innovation, creativity or challenging the way things are done)

    c) outcome (people become influential innovators; the outcome is more important than how you got there, ie tasks, processes, etc; they will push the boundaries, ie they
"...feel a strong sense of responsibility for the projects and deliverables that are assigned to them. They'll be motivated to make things better, not because they are asked to, but because they want to..."

NB Autonomy and accountability are linked, ie
"...unearned autonomy with no accountability can lead to disorder, discomfort and dissatisfying results.......too much accountability with no autonomy can lead to micromanaging, hand-holding and paternalism..."
LeaderFactor, 2022b

There is a natural progression of 'a' to 'b' to 'c' as people move through to outcome accountability
"...Where they have maximum autonomy and ownership of what they do, how they do it, results they get..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

xxxvi) teaching the compounding principle (success builds upon success; people need to understand that right efforts directed in the right directions create a positive compound impact over time:
"...in the end, little things become big things and delayed gratification pays off......Praise consistent effort, especially when there are no visible signs of success..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

Summary

The more you contribute, the more confidence and competencies are developed.

People are empowered with autonomy, guidance and encouragement:
"...autonomy is earned through progressing levels of accountability until mastery is achieved when expected outcomes are articulated..."
LeaderFactor, 2022b