Lisa Earle McLeod* outlines the need for ‘sweaty palm conversations’ that members in the best teams know it’s safe to have with their leaders.
Do you feel safe enough to challenge your boss?
When people think about safety at work, we tend to think about physical safety, things like masks and safety harnesses.
However, if you want to create a high-performing team you also need psychological safety.
High performance depends on teammates being able to share opinion, admit mistakes, and even being able to tell the boss that she’s made a mistake.
When a leader says: We don’t have conflict on my team, it draws a red flag.
That might be true, but evidence tells us, what’s more likely true is that people don’t feel safe addressing conflicts.
Ineffective teams often avoid conflict. Exceptional teams welcome conflict
It means they care enough to have deep opinions; feel safe enough to bring up conflicting ideas, and have confidence they can address differences productively.
Author of We’re All In This Together, Mike Robbins says psychological safety is a shared belief that a team is safe for risk-taking.
“People on teams with psychological safety have a sense of confidence that their team will not embarrass, reject or punish them for taking risks,” he says.
A 2017 Gallup study found that only three in 10 employees strongly agreed with the statement that their opinions counted at work.
Mr Robbins writes: “Gallup calculated that by moving that ratio to six in 10 employees, organisations could realise a 27 per cent reduction in staff turnover.”
They would also experience a 40 per cent reduction in safety incidents and a 12 per cent increase in productivity.
As a leader, it’s important to recognise that for many people the natural default is to assume it’s not safe to challenge ideas or speak up at work.
This might not have anything to do with your behaviour as a leader or your organisation’s culture.
People come into the workplace with all kinds of biases and beliefs.
If your parents told you to never contradict the boss, that’s going to be your default until the boss helps you create a new belief.
In our recent interview Mr Robbins said: “If you want to create safety you have to be willing to embrace sweaty palm conversations.
“A sweaty palm conversation is that conversation you don’t want to have, but the one you need to have if you’re going to move forward.”
A willingness to step into discomfort is a hallmark of high performance.
Leaders can help their teams proactively address difficult issues by acknowledging their own discomfort.
When a leader says: “We need to have a sweaty palm conversation,” people become nervous and not sure how to handle it, but it’s important to try.
Candid conversations require trust.
Mr Robbins says: “People need to believe that everyone on the team, including the leader, shares the purpose or they won’t trust you.”
When he wrote We’re All In This Together, before the COVID-19 crisis, based on his research and work with highly effective teams, he had no way of knowing that phrase would become an international mantra.
As we now find ourselves both saying, and realising at a profound level that we are in fact all in this together, creating an environment that brings out the best in a team is crucial.
The best teams are more than an assembled group of high performers.
The best teams are high performers who can trust each and who aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo.
If you want your team to perform, make it safe for them to disagree.
*Lisa Earle McLeod is the leadership expert best known for creating the popular business concept Noble Purpose. She can be contacted at mcleodandmore.com.
This article first appeared on Lisa’s blogsite
