SEMINAR ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY
What is psychological safety and why is it so critical for high-performing teams? This was the subject of PeoplewithE’s inaugural public event held at our Kirkegata HQ on 23rd October.
Gathering together PeoplewithE’s own “change makers” Tor Arnesen, Endre Lima Løvås and Dave Roberts with our partners from European consultancy FutureTeaming – Huibert Evekink and Steven Becker – we put together an evening of experiential learning and feedback around our joint “SAFE” initiative: how to develop and maintain psychological safety inside organisations. Our guests included around 30 organisational leaders from both the public and private sectors: oil & gas, R&D, academia, emergency response, hospitals and the military.
Steven, a senior pilot and trainer with KLM, opened the session with a recap of the events which led to the worst disaster in aviation history – at Tenerife airport in 1977, when 583 people died. He described how a lack of psychological safety among the KLM aircrew was a major contributing factor in the tragedy, and some of the steps which have been taken since to ensure that all members of the team – even the most junior – will be heard and acknowledged.
Endre and Huibert were next up, presenting some examples from their own experience of how poor psychological safety can negatively impact the performance of business teams, and how the SAFE model can be used in practical ways to help counteract this. There followed a very lively discussion around blockers and boosters, with our guests exchanging insights and ideas from their different sectors and domains.
PeoplewithE and FutureTeaming are together involved in a research programme aimed at developing and improving the SAFE model, and exploring the most effective SAFE interventions within team environments. Dave explained the status of the programme so far (interviews with 33 leaders completed to-date) and unwrapped some of the comments and reactions received. This is a rolling research programme, so we invite anyone who is interested to support us to make contact for a short (60-90 minutes) interview. The results are being used to strengthen the SAFE model, and will also be published online, and potentially in book form, in the coming months.
Having received some very warm and positive feedback about the event, we’re very grateful to all of our guests for engaging so positively. There will be more to come!
We are actively seeking partners to join the SAFE programme, to help us with testing and implementation of new tools and approaches. If this is of interest to your organisation please contact PeoplewithE at: endre@peoplewithe.no or dave@peoplewithe.no
