Psychological safety in a hybrid world

The mix of some people here, some people there, some people anywhere, is creating this hybrid world of work. 

And it requires some subtle responses. 

Psychological safety is still psychological safety. No matter where people are working from. 

Amy Edmondson’s work is extended here in collaboration with Mark Mortensen in this Harvard Business Review article that’s a must read for leaders and managers. 

Navigating the hybrid world of work requires a step by step process. 

5 ways to build hybrid team trust

With some people in the office, some working from home, some working from hubs or other locations, the leadership juggle of a hybrid team is real. 

It’s bringing plenty of new challenges for leaders, and many of them aren’t obvious or visible challenges. 

Take psychological safety and trust. 

🥏 How do you know you have it with your hybrid team? 
🥏 How would you know if it was fractured? 
🥏 What can you do to repair, build or remedy trust and safety in a hybrid team? 

These five tips from this article in Forbes magazine can help: 

1. Relaunch with a kickoff 
2. Level the field for all
3. Over communicate 
4. Understand preferred working styles 
5. Establish new rituals and norms. 

You’ll need to do something - it won’t just happen automatically. 

These tips give some scope, ideas and tactics to make hybrid work for all ... no matter where we all are. 

To draw out from others

How are you at the skill of elicitation? Can you draw information and contributions out of people? 

Why elicit : because they’ve got something to contribute or expertise we need to tap into. 

Elicitation isn’t just asking one question and then waiting for the answer. It’s more often about an ongoing conversation, back and forth. It’s getting to the point, finding the key information, uncovering the challenge or problem or insight. 

We can’t wait until people speak up or ‘lean in’.

To elicit is to actively collaborate with someone to help them contribute and give. 

It’s asking, encouraging, clarifying, listening, hearing, repeating back, wondering, probing, asking, listening...

The problem is, we often don’t allow the time even though it’s a key component of engaging others and uncovering important insights.

Don’t wait for people to eventually feel safe enough to speak up. 

Take the time and plan for how and when you will engage, ask and elicit from others. 

Better ways of being

As teams come together online more often, there are ways to ‘be’ that help make things easier. 

Whether your online meeting or gathering has just one other person, or there are four, seven or 12 of you...

Watch out for these old, dated behaviours:

Interrupter
Hogger
Judger
Dismisser 
Player
Disruptor 
Distractor
Minimizer
Deflector
... oooh it’s not good is it 
Hider
Denier
Accuser


When times are challenging, stress is high or uncertainty is present, it can be easy to fall back into a ‘survival default’ of sorts where there is pointing and blaming or hiding and ignoring for survival. 

Newer and better ways of being include doing things to support the group (and not always speeding to a solution or decision.)

We all contribute to an environment and a conversation that’s safer and more collaborative. 

If I’m challenged and find it hard to bring the ‘better me’, then I look to these roles. They’re helpful anyway, and keep us in a more resourceful state:

Synthesiser
Integrater
Summarizer
Slicer 
Supporter
Enquirer 
Listener 
Reflector
Participator
Contributor 
Validator 
Elevator.


Think: 
Am I making things easier or harder?
Am I trying to make myself feel better about something here?
Is this going to be helpful?

Build engagement slowly

Starting with a bang in a meeting may seem like the way to get people’s attention - but the reverse can also be true. As we join the next meeting in our diary, we bring with us a hangover from the previous one.

The previous meeting could have been overwhelming with too much information, or frustrating in how decisions weren’t made. It could have been time wasting or unclear or .... highly entertaining, interactive and uplifting!

Every meeting leaves us with a kind of hangover that we need to unload or process. The guide then for facilitating or leading better meetings is to build engagement s-l-o-w-l-y. Slow and steady style.

That means:

> Not putting people on the spot at the start, or ever

> Not making them look foolish, and

> Not making them wrong.

It’s easy to put people off or get them offside in meetings - online or otherwise Ramp or build engagement with participants slowly, steadily ... even if you’re in a hurry to make things happen. There is plenty going on for people. Lead meeting speed safely.