Psychological safety at work is not about giving nice feedback

If you worry about being shut down or humiliated for your ideas or opinions at work, you may have a problem with psychological safety. Jasmine Liew, founder of organisational development consultancy firm Breakthrough Catalyst, explains how to build a psychologically safe workplace for everyone. 
 
Here’s an excerpt from the podcast:
Tiffany Ang: 
Some managers I spoke to say that, “But then in my team, maybe some people might be a bit more sensitive to feedback, and maybe in a team setting, we’ve already tried to apply some of these techniques that you have suggested, but then this person might feel psychologically unsafe.” Gerald Tan:
I have an example to ride on Tiffany’s point. I know of (a) situation where (a) manager had to give feedback to one of the employees about certain work behaviors, and I think that was done one-on-one with that person.
Then at the meeting, (the person) was like, “Okay, I understand.” But after the meeting, the person came back to say, “You know what? I felt very psychologically unsafe from what you said to me.” Jasmine Liew:
The challenge is, after we form (teams), we expect them to perform.
So one of the ways is norming. Norming, you can use psychological safety as a norm so everybody can feel comfortable to share ideas, ask questions, share their concerns, and ask for help without the fear of being judged, punished or reprimanded. 
With this norm, people feel that – I am safe to take this interpersonal risk taking, (and) I’ll not be judged by my peers or my leaders. These norms allow us to feel comfortable with developmental or constructive feedback.
I think people are okay with positive feedback, but when it comes to development feedback or constructive feedback, that’s where we shared here (that) psychological safety (is) not about being nice. There’s a lot of misunderstanding. 
At the same time, we also increase care through psychological safety … Psychological safety ups the care, (so) there is also this productive conversation or productive conflict whereby it’s alright to have differences.
They are here to explore different perspectives because this problem is something that’s multidisciplinary and is complex. So first, you can start reframing the problem (as) an important problem. We all have a shared interest and purpose to work on it. Then we invite participation, and that’s listening and questioning techniques, and likewise, thank the person. 
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