The Fearless Organization Scan
In partnership with Professor Amy C. Edmondson of Harvard Business School
Those who have read Professor Edmondson's book "The Fearless Organization" will know that psychological safety is required for team high-performance. Psychological safety is defined as "a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes".
Psychological safety: the gateway to success
If you do not feel safe in a group, you are likely to keep ideas to yourself and avoid speaking up, even about risks. Furthermore, if mistakes are held against you, you then look to avoid making mistakes and so stop taking risks, rather than making the most out of your talents. Low psychological safety, therefore, gets in the way of both team performance, innovation, learning, and personal success.
For you to be successful in your team, and "as a team", psychological safety is the enabler. This insight is the result of almost 30 years of research by Edmondson, supported and reinforced by an extensive two-year research program (Project Aristotle) among 15,000 employees done by Google (read about Project Aristotle in The New York Times Magazine).
The Fearless Organization Scan in your organization
In collaboration with professor Amy C. Edmondson, we have developed The Fearless Organization Scan. This scan maps how team members perceive the level of psychological safety in their closest context. To improve team performance, it helps to know the Psychological Safety levels in your team, as this is a critical predictor of how your team will learn and work together. By improving the level of psychological safety, you significantly increase the likelihood of team success.
Psychological safety: the signature trait of successful teams
Research undertaken by Harvard clearly shows that organizations with a higher level of psychological safety perform better on almost any metric, or KPI, in comparison to organizations that have a low psychological safety score.
Test your team
There are three ways to bring The Fearless Organization Scan to your organization. Choose the one you want by clicking the appropriate link.
Free personal scan: get a gauge on how you perceive your personal level of psychological safety in your current organization. Free forever, but no context or benchmarks against your colleagues.
PSI Sample Copy (Psychological Safety Index): anonymous report - a report that you can discuss in your team or organization autonomously.
Fearless Organization Scan Debrief: a facilitated debrief with more insights on the four dimensions of psychological safety. An intake with the team lead, a debrief and team dialogue with individual reports.
Fearless Organization Scan Debrief
This offering is an opportunity for you and your team to grow. Sometimes you need to slow down to go faster.
In addition to a team report and individual reports for each team member, this package contains:
Intake with team lead - a certified coach will contact the team lead to obtain context and background, so the team can get the maximum leverage out of the debrief session.
Fearless Organization Scan Debrief - typically a 2.5 hour session that consists of an introduction to psychological safety, the debrief and a guided dialogue in the team about impact and actionable insights.
Psychological safety on four axes
In The Fearless Organization Scan psychological safety is measured on four dimensions, which are reflected in the scan report.
Attitude to risk & failure
The degree to which it is permissible to make mistakes.
Open conversation
The degree to which difficult and sensitive topics can be discussed openly.
Willingness to help
The degree to which people are willing to help each other.
Inclusivity & diversity
The degree to which you can be yourself, and are welcomed for this.