Have you ever wondered how high-performing teams get made?

One of the lessons I learned during my MBA is that high-performing teams need Psychological Safety. What is that you might ask? Well, according to the all-knowing Wikipedia – “Psychological safety is being able to show and employ one’s self without fear of negative consequences of self-image, status or career (Kahn 1990, p. 708). It can be defined as a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. In psychologically safe teams, team members feel accepted and respected. It is also the most studied enabling condition in group dynamics and team learning research.”

This means that you don’t need to all be the same (that actually leads to problems). You don’t need to think the same way. What you do need – is to trust each other enough to allow everyone to feel safe as they share their ideas, points of view, and even argue against each other. It means that everyone is aligned on the same goal of making the team successful. It means trusting others to do their job and also being responsible enough to do your own.

Trust each other and be trustworthy. Respect each other enough to hear everyone’s input even if you disagree. Build a team that makes people feel they can share without regrets. Do that and you will have a high-performing team that will be able to accomplish any task you throw their way.

 

Recommended read- https://hbr.org/2017/08/high-performing-teams-need-psychological-safety-heres-how-to-create-it

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