The Key to Productivity and Innovation: Psychological Safety

The years 2018 and 2019 were highly productive for my identity as an entrepreneur. Our software startup was first selected for the VISA Innovation Program and then received investment from a Dubai-based fund. The fund we received investment from offered entrepreneurs an intensive training program, and one of the topics was innovation. The instructor from the U.S. started the training by saying, 'innovation starts with a ridiculous idea; here you go, a trillion-dollar case, let's get ridiculous,' but the multinational group I was part of, consisting of people from my region, could not meet the instructor's criterion for being ridiculous. Whichever idea we proposed, we got the answer 'this idea makes sense.' Participants from the U.S. and South Africa were able to be ridiculous, but we could not!

Imagine your startup is selected for a prestigious innovation program and then receives investment from abroad. There are butterflies in your stomach, and you also have an instructor identity, but you stumble on the very first step of the innovation training! In those days, I took this very hard. I asked myself and people whose knowledge I trusted, 'why couldn't I be ridiculous,' and I found the answer: because I grew up with warnings like 'don't be ridiculous, don't invent things'! Even if my ridiculousness skill, a fundamental requirement of innovation, existed at first, it had atrophied! While researching the literature, I also discovered the explanation for my situation: a lack of psychological safety!

Harvard professor Amy Edmondson, the first name that comes to mind when psychological safety is mentioned, defines psychological safety in her book The Fearless Organization as the belief that a person will not be punished or humiliated for expressing their ideas, questions, or concerns or for making a mistake, and summarizes it as the exact opposite of a culture of silence.

Although it is clear that the Turkish people have the capacity to make discoveries, considering that our scientists have largely made their discoveries outside our country, could the fact that psychological safety is not strong enough in our culture be a reason for this? For example, when the famous German pathologist Prof. Philipp Schwartz said about our valuable scientist, dermatologist Hulusi Behcet, the first person in the Turkish academy to receive the title of professor, 'Behcet is a world-famous scientist, but not in Turkey; he always promotes his discoveries abroad, so you cannot find him in Turkey,' could the low level of psychological safety in our country have an effect on this?

If psychological safety in the environment is not high enough, people do not have the freedom to be ridiculous and make mistakes, so innovation does not emerge, and you try to make money by doing what others have done. Money is earned this way too, but not enough to accumulate growth capital. If a developing, promising company in the country does not accumulate enough capital, it passes into the hands of foreign capital, and profits flow abroad. As a result, the country gets caught in the middle-income trap! Personally, I see psychological safety as a national issue for the enrichment of our country.

According to Amy Edmondson, psychological safety is the key to productivity for organizations!

If there is psychological safety in the environment, people can ask questions, express their ideas, concerns, and objections without feeling the need to pretend, and can receive and give negative feedback without hesitation regardless of hierarchy, and talk about their mistakes.

Such an environment makes the employee feel valued. Under these conditions, the employee finds themselves useful and feels happy even if not working in the job of their dreams. They join not only a team but also a purpose. Only a happy employee can be motivated, and if motivated, can be productive. That is why Edmondson compares psychological safety to soil! If the soil is good, the field can be very productive with the right practice!

Amy Edmondson says that psychological safety rises on four supporting pillars:

Although the impact of managers is very large, since the culture we live in is a major factor in increasing psychological safety, the contribution of the entire organization is needed. It is also possible to measure psychological safety at the individual and corporate level. After this measurement, the first step is taken by the manager and team members ideally starting to discuss the following three questions in one-on-one meetings:

• As a team, what do you think we should do about this?
• What do you want from me?
• What will you personally do?

The recommended approach is to proceed by setting mutual three-month goals and to track progress by measuring psychological safety at the beginning and end of the 12-month period.

Serdar Salepcioglu
HBR Turkey