Fostering psychological safety in research environments [solo]

Geri: 00:00:05

Welcome to Changing Academic Life.

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I'm Geraldine Fitzpatrick and this is

a podcast series where academics and

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others share their stories, provide

ideas and provoke discussions about what

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we can do individually and collectively

to change academic life for the better.

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In today's solo episode, I want to

invite us all to reflect on what are

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the ways that we can each contribute

to creating great research cultures.

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And in particular, I'm going to focus

on this concept of psychological

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safety as a key requirement for

creating research cultures that foster

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good science and good wellbeing.

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As a reminder in the last

episode, we celebrated a prize

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winning research environment.

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We heard from Line and Nicklas

who nominated their department

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for the prize that was awarded

by the Danish Young Academy.

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And we heard from Nina from the academy.

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Who reflected on the patterns

that the committee saw across

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the nominations for what makes

for a great research environment.

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So just as a recap, let's hear from Nina.

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Nina: The most common thing is that

people describe that they have a sense of

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belonging to their research environment.

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That's the most important factor.

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To create that sense.

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So, um, So that includes having a common

purpose or a common identity, a defined

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mission that people can jump onto.

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And also, ways of promoting diversity

and ensuring that people can be their

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true selves, they feel comfortable as

the person they are, it's having a

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shared set of values that people can

agree to having clear expectations.

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So people know what, what is expected.

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It's having a way to foster

and value creativity.

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Setting up structures where people have

time to explore creative ideas and

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discussing new ideas in an environment

where they're not afraid to express

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those ideas and they can get constructive

feedback . As Line and Nicklas also

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said that it builds on initiatives

from the top and from the bottom.

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So everybody contributes in

their own way to this environment.

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Geri: As Line and Nicklas

also said this connects to the

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concept of psychological safety.

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I asked them, what did they

mean by psychological safety.

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Nicklas: Yeah, it's, it's that you're feel

safe in the environment you're a part of.

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That you you'll safe enough to make

mistakes doing the process you're

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in that you don't have to do it

the correct way every single time.

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And then feel the support both when

you're succeeding with things, but

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also when you're not succeeding.

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So you feel like, yeah, you feel safe

in, in things when you're doing things.

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Geri: This concept of psychological

safety and its association with, with

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notions of belonging and inclusion.

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Is so critically important

to creating great research

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cultures, research environments.

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And before I go on to describe

psychological safety in

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a little bit more detail.

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It's probably worth reflecting on what

might be the research environments

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that could win the Razzie awards.

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The, uh, anti great

research environment wards.

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And towards this, I can reflect

on examples that I've heard from

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different people that I've talked

with or, experiences that I've heard

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people share workshops that we've run.

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And also experiences that I've had myself.

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Though, I won't make clear in

the following examples, which

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are mine and which are others, or

which institutions are involved.

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So.

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Imagine you're in an environment

where you're in a meeting.

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And this could be a faculty meeting or

a group meeting or a project meeting.

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Maybe you're in a tenured position.

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But you're fairly new to the place.

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And you put your hand up to make

a contribution and the person

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who's in charge of that meeting

every time you try to speak, they

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deliberately or so it seems to you.

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They turn around in their

chair to face away from you.

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And may get distracted on their phone or

choose that moment to go to the bathroom.

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And you're sitting there feeling really

red in the face and embarrassed because

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this is conveying a message, not just

to you, but also to your colleagues.

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That your contributions are not just not

heard, but also not valued in any way.

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And that you are not valued.

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So how likely are you going to be

to speak up again at a next meeting?

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Or even attend in the first place

to put yourself in that situation.

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Or imagine another situation where you've

just presented something that you've

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been working on . And, you know, it's

work in progress and you really want to

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hear some good feedback and have some

good discussions about the work so that

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you can help develop it collectively.

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But even while you're presenting

the work, you can see the senior

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professor of the group raising their

eyebrows and shaking their head.

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And instead of discussing your work,

it ends up being roundly critiqued and

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criticized in the harshest of terms.

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And even taken to a personal level,

telling you in front of everyone, that

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you've no idea what you're doing and it's

just rubbish and you should start again.

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Or imagine a situation where you

take a different methodological or

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epistemological approach to your work.

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And whenever you try to discuss

it, it's just laughed off as there

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you go again, trying to push Y.

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And there are conspiratorial

smiles all around the table.

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And with that quick dismissal,

everyone moves on to discuss their

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own work and their own approaches.

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And if you're a young PhD student

or an early career researcher

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and feeling insecure in any way.

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Then in both of these previous situations,

you're not going to be wanting to

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bring up your work again to this group.

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You're going to be really reluctant

to seek any feedback in future.

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Or present a different way of doing

things, present a different point of

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view to what is the dominant model.

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Or imagine that you're sitting in your

office and coming down the corridor are

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sounds of people yelling at each other.

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Not conversing, not communicating,

not discussing, just yelling.

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A really tense, angry, toxic environment.

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Not good.

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Imagine having someone

say to you, unsolicited.

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That so-and-so doesn't like you.

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And this could be a so-and-so who's

in a position of power and this

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really comes as a surprise to you.

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You've no idea what might be the issue.

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You thought you had a

fine relationship though?

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You didn't interact with them very much.

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And so you're not just wondering about

the relationship with this person, but

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the fact that you've been told this means

that you're left wondering, What are

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people saying about me behind my back?

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And what else don't I know.

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And who else has different perceptions

of relationships than what I have.

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Imagine you're being critiqued

because you want to go home

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at 6:00 PM to see your family.

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And that's even still late.

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And you don't want to participate

in the competition to see

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who can work more hours.

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But there's attention drawn to it and

you get the sarcastic remark of Oh.

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Are you heading off already?

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Imagine being in one of those situations

where you never know which version of

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your line manager, leader, supervisor,

professor, you're going to get.

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Is it going to be the nice

one or is it going to be the

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stressed out and cranky one?

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Or where you feel almost gaslighted,

where you've been working on something

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that you believe is what you've agreed.

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And then when you turn up again to share

that there's a dispute about whether

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that was agreed or not, or whether they'd

actually asked you to do something else.

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And then of course, we also hear

many stories of discrimination

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and harassment in the workplace.

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And I've heard this in terms

of gender and ethnicity.

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And along other more subtle dimensions.

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So you can imagine again, feeling really

marginalized and like you don't belong.

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You're maybe you're someone who

doesn't drink at all yet all of the

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social gatherings in the group involve

significant amounts of alcohol,

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where you're just not comfortable.

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Or where you're the only woman in a group.

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And everyone immediately turns to you and

expects you to make the cake to celebrate

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someone's birthday or to take the notes.

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And I'm sure you could come up with

loads of other examples where you just

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haven't felt at home in the environment.

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Where you haven't felt comfortable,

felt like you belonged.

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Where you haven't felt free to

offer an opinion or a point of view,

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or to just stand up for yourself.

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And I don't know about you, but

my reaction in these situations

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is to withdraw and to hide.

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And what I'll often choose to

do is to redirect my efforts to

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other communities outside of my

research group or my faculty.

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Where I can feel like I'm more

accepted and where I can feel like

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I belong, because why would I put my

head on the block again only to get

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knocked down or hurt in some way.

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And that's what psychological

safety is about.

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How do we create environments where

these sorts of scenarios don't happen?

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Where people genuinely feel free to

show up fully human fully themselves.

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Where they don't have to change to fit in.

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But where there is space made

for everyone to be able to find

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their place, to find their voice.

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It means people being able to challenge

the status quo to express opinions or

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preferences without fear of ridicule.

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And instead where those

opinions and preferences are

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engaged with, with curiosity.

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It means people feeling seen and heard.

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Where their ideas are valued.

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And it doesn't always mean

you have to be in agreement,

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but it feels okay to speak up and to

make contributions and we can explore

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and understand our differences.

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And it means the embracing

the fact that we're all human.

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We all make mistakes.

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And we're able to own up to them without

fear of being critiqued or judged.

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Or without being shamed.

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And not just that, but that

where the, the sharing of this

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is embraced and celebrated.

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And we then can participate in a

shared learning journey about what

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we can take from this for next time.

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Psychological safety is just such a

critical factor for our research cultures.

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So, where does the term come from?

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We can trace it back to Carl Rogers in

: 1954

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brought into management studies work in

the: 1960

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And they talked about it in terms of

reducing interpersonal risk and where

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people feel accepted and worthwhile.

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And then in 1990, William Kahn also

talked about psychological safety

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to describe conditions that were

influencing personal engagement at work.

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And talked about it in terms of being

able to show up and be yourself without

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fear of negative consequences to your

self image or your status or career.

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However, the more recent resurgence of

interest in psychological safety can be

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attributed to Harvard business school.

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Professor Amy Edmondson.

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Amy drew on this concept for her 1999 PhD

thesis, to explain why the best performing

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clinical teams in a hospital were not

the ones who made the fewest mistakes as

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they had hypothesized, but they were in

fact, the ones who've made more mistakes.

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But what distinguish them was that they

felt safe enough to own up to and talk

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about and learn from these mistakes.

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Amy defined psychological safety is a

belief that "one will not be punished

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or humiliated for speaking up with

ideas, questions, concerns, or mistake.

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And that the team is safe for

personal interpersonal risk taking".

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And she's written about this in a 2019

book called 'The fearless organization.

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Creating psychological safety

in the workplace for learning

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innovation and growth'.

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And I'd highly recommend that book.

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And it's interesting in that

title where she talks about

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learning innovation and growth.

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Because that really captures why

psychological safety is so important.

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And how relevant.

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Our learning innovation and growth

are for our research environments.

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On her webpage.

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Amy also talks about psychological

safety being what is needed to clear

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blockages that will block innovation,

collaboration, and risk taking.

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And again, that sort of terminology

of innovation, collaboration, and

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risk-taking could be very much the

terminology that we would use as basic

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definitions of what science is about.

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We embrace many of today's problems

and try to address them and

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solve them through innovation,

collaboration, and risk taking.

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Where we really need everyone to

contribute in order to make a difference.

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We need people to be able to speak up.

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We need people to be able to take risks

and to ask challenging research questions

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and to live with uncertainty and deal

with trying different paths and see

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things not working and trying again.

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It's for these reasons that I really

see it as a critical concept for

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research and research environments.

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So with co-author Zhike Lei.

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I'm not sure if I

pronounce that correctly.

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Amy wrote an interesting paper that was

published in: 2014

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of research that had been conducted on

psychological safety up to that point.

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And I'll put a link to

the paper on the webpage.

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And in that paper, they identified a

number of what they call consistent

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relationships across the studies.

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So just listen to these and think

about them through the lens of

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doing innovative research in a

interdisciplinary collaborative teams.

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So, first of all, they identified that

there's a significant relationship between

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psychological safety and performance.

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And they talk about this relationship

between psychological safety and effective

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performance as being particularly

relevant, where there is uncertainty

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and a need for either creativity or

collaboration to accomplish that work.

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So psychological safety enables us to

deal with the uncertainty and own up to

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all of the risks that's involved in that.

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And isn't that the definition of

research, engaging with uncertainty

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in order to make new contributions,

to knowledge and to society.

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And the collaboration aspect too enables

us to deal with the importance of

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needing lots of different contributions.

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And working out how to best mobilize

those contributions and negotiate all the

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challenges that arise from recognizing

that collaboration involves difference,

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different opinions, different points

of view, different personalities.

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And how we negotiate,

navigate those differences.

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And the importance of us all being free to

speak up and offer our opinions and so on.

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So the second theme that they talk

about is in relation to learning.

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And again, what is research, if

not an ongoing learning journey?

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So to quote directly from their article.

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"Much learning in today's

organization takes place in the

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interpersonal interactions between

highly interdependent members.

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And learning behaviors can be

limited by individual concerns about

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interpersonal risks or consequences,

including a fear of not achieving one's

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goals and learning anxiety created

by feelings of incompetence that in

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that occurred during the learning".

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End of quote.

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And here I'm reminded from this lovely

quote from Pat Thompson, a researcher

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from Nottingham university who talks

about us as academics, needing to get

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comfortable being learners on the path

to becoming professional not knowers.

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I'm not sure if I've got

that totally correct.

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But don't you love that?

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We're always going to be learners and

we have to be just come comfortable

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with being professional not knowers.

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So that means that learning

is always about that gap, that

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uncomfortable gap between what we

know now and what we need to know.

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One of the common ways that we bridge

that gap is often through trying things

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out by trial and error that doesn't work.

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And reflecting on it and trying

something else or by making mistakes.

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And I think in that learning,

it's also about just being human

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and having good and bad days.

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And they go on to talk about how the

fact that "people are more likely

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to offer ideas, admit mistakes,

ask for help, or provide feedback

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if they feel safe to do so".

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Again, this is so important for being

able to come up with our best research

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solutions that have impact on society and

the challenges that we're trying to solve.

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And that's the very reason why we're

doing research in the first place.

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And the third strand that they're

identified across their studies is

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about people needing to feel prepared

to speak up to power in a way.

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So they, to quote them "Individuals who

experienced greater psychological safety

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are more likely to speak up at work.

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Upward communication can be a

vital force in helping contemporary

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organizations learn and succeed.

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By speaking up to those who occupy

positions to authorize actions,

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employees can help challenge the

status quo, identify problems or

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opportunities for improvement.

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And other ideas to improve

their organizations wellbeing".

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End quote.

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We can think that through for

many situations where it feels

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particularly risky to speak up to

some sort of power or authority.

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Especially if they seem to know much more

than what we know, or if they're really

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under stress and pushing, delivery on

the project, because they're concerned

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about producing results for the funding

agency or the next publication for

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their CV or for their promotion case.

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And so on.

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And it's this safe feeling

that you can speak up.

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That's going to be so important.

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If we're going to see a decrease

in the number of retracted papers,

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say due to methodological problems

that aren't being honestly reported.

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Or the fudging of results.

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You know, And often junior researchers

not feeling brave enough or safe enough to

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actually say there was a problem with the

particular performance of an experiment.

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So that was their three themes.

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And it's interesting that an internal

udy at Google that started in: 2012

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and actually involved significant

amount of data studying 180 of their

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teams identified psychological safety

as the most important factor to explain

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what made the most successful teams.

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And this was in a project that

they called project Aristotle.

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So it wasn't about having the best

technical superstars in the team.

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And in fact, their top five factors

also reflect very much what Nina said

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about the patterns that they saw at

the academy across the nominations for

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what makes a good research environment.

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So those top factors that made for that

Google's most successful teams were 1.

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Psychological safety that people

felt safe to take risks and be

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vulnerable in front of each other.

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2.

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Dependability that people got things

done on time and to a high standard.

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3., that there was structure and clarity

around roles and plans and goals.

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And remember Nina talking

about clear expectations.

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4.

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About the work being meaningful.

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And personally important in some way.

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: 00:22:51

And 5.

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Impact feeling like their

work and contributions matter

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and help create change.

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Now I know that in a research environment,

we have a lot of structural problems that

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are implicated here in the pressures that

we might be experiencing that lead to a

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lack of psychological safety in some way.

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: 00:23:14

You know, our highly competitive

performance culture are very

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: 00:23:18

metrics driven environment.

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: 00:23:21

And I don't want to discount the work

to be done at this structural level.

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But I still think it's an 'and' situation

. It can have implications for all of us.

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: 00:23:31

So I'm just going to focus here for

the rest of this episode what I think

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: 00:23:35

of particularly the implications

for those of us who might be in some

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position of leadership or authority,

and this doesn't have to be a formally

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: 00:23:45

recognized big L type leadership position.

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: 00:23:48

It's any of us who have

interactions with others that may

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involve some power difference.

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: 00:23:56

So, whether you're a project leader

or a research group leader, or a

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: 00:23:59

supervisor advisor of students, As a

leader, I think we have a particular

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responsibility to set the tone.

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: 00:24:08

And to role model the sorts of

behaviors that we want to see.

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So I can go through a few things here.

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One is role modeling,

what it means to be real.

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: 00:24:21

In the workplace, like

showing up as ourselves.

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: 00:24:25

It means role modeling

when we've made a mistake.

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: 00:24:31

. . . And that means owning up to the fact

that we can have good and bad days.

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: 00:24:37

So we may get cranky.

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: 00:24:38

We may speak to someone in a

way that we're not happy about.

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: 00:24:42

We may engage in some non-verbal

behaviors that convey some sort

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: 00:24:46

of disapproval or critique.

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: 00:24:50

But I think we need to be big enough

to go and apologize and say that

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: 00:24:53

wasn't good enough rather than just

let it hang, because if we let it

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: 00:24:57

hang, that becomes a standard of

behavior that's acceptable around here.

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: 00:25:02

That we can have a bad day

and take it out on people.

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: 00:25:06

It means role modeling that

we don't know something.

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: 00:25:11

And that it's okay not to know everything

and to invite input and opinions

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: 00:25:16

and perspectives from other people.

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: 00:25:22

It means role modeling,

seeking feedback for ourselves.

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: 00:25:26

Genuinely interested in how we

can improve, even if it's hard.

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: 00:25:33

And showing that we are also

on a learning journey as well.

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: 00:25:37

And wanting to know how we can

be better, how we can do better.

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: 00:25:42

And not just inviting the feedback

from others, but also responding

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: 00:25:47

to it with curiosity and grace.

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: 00:25:49

And showing that we actually value

that feedback by making changes and

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: 00:25:54

reporting back, how are we going

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: 00:26:00

And so we, we need as leaders

to be so much more self-aware.

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: 00:26:04

Of how we react or respond in situations

and to be aware of how our actions and

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: 00:26:10

reactions can be perceived by others.

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: 00:26:13

That even if we don't intend to

knock people down, that may be

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: 00:26:17

by spinning around on a chair and

not giving attention to the person

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: 00:26:20

who's speaking, where inadvertently.

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: 00:26:23

Whether deliberately or not

communicating that this person's

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: 00:26:26

point of view is not important.

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: 00:26:28

So self-awareness and self reflection

I think is really key to thinking

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: 00:26:34

about how we show up and how we role

model, what are the behaviors we

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: 00:26:39

value as part of a psychologically

safe supportive research culture.

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: 00:26:46

Second bundle of things I think is

very much around, Requiring us to

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: 00:26:52

get to know people as individuals.

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: 00:26:57

Because belonging is really a core

underpinning for psychological safety.

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: 00:27:02

And, belonging is about.

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: 00:27:04

Being seen and heard and valued.

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: 00:27:07

For who we are.

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: 00:27:12

And that means as leaders, our

responsibility to get to know who people

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: 00:27:16

are and to understand what each person's

strengths are and what they can bring in

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: 00:27:22

what they can contribute to the group.

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: 00:27:24

And also how we can best

support different people.

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: 00:27:28

And this requires deep listening

skills and deep empathy skills.

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: 00:27:37

Another class of activities can be

around how we engage with difference

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: 00:27:42

and how we run our groups, how we

invite seriously invite different

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: 00:27:48

voices, different opinions and engage

with disagreements in our groups.

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: 00:27:53

And treat them as sites

for productive engagement.

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: 00:27:56

For, um, opportunities for learning.

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: 00:28:01

And this becomes really important in terms

of not just what we say, but what we do.

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: 00:28:09

So we may invite people

to bring up problems.

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: 00:28:12

And then it becomes really

important that we don't focus.

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: 00:28:15

On the problems in terms

of looking back or seeking.

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: 00:28:18

To blame or whatever, but that.

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: 00:28:21

We really learn how to facilitate

the discussions where we can.

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: 00:28:24

Move it forward.

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: 00:28:25

And what can we draw out from this?

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: 00:28:27

What can we learn from this for next

time so that we can get better together?

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: 00:28:32

So it's about inviting the voices

and, and rewarding people for

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: 00:28:37

speaking up and making it a learning.

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: 00:28:40

How do we learn?

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: 00:28:42

And it's the consistency

in how this plays out.

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: 00:28:45

And in terms of clarity around

roles and responsibilities

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: 00:28:49

as was brought up previously.

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: 00:28:52

So psychological safety is created by

enacting and enabling belonging and.

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: 00:28:57

Inclusion.

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: 00:28:59

Now that are both sort of like the basic

requirements for psychological safety,

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: 00:29:04

as well as outcomes in a way of having

a psychologically safe environment.

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: 00:29:08

So I think there's this sort of

mutually reinforcing relationship

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: 00:29:12

between psychological safety

and belonging and inclusion.

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: 00:29:18

And we can also connect here to

definitions of research culture.

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: 00:29:22

Where research culture is often talked

about as encompassing the behaviors,

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: 00:29:27

the values, the expectations,

attitudes, norms of what we expect

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: 00:29:31

around here and what we accept.

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: 00:29:34

It's how we do things.

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: 00:29:39

And there's this lovely quote by

professor Tom Welton in a UK Royal

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: 00:29:44

Society report that talks about the

way in which cultures are enacted.

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: 00:29:51

That we enact culture there.

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: 00:29:53

So let me start that quote.

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: 00:29:57

"Cultures are not set by policy documents

or by distributing a leaflet, but

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: 00:30:02

through the people with whom we meet

in thousands of seemingly insignificant

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: 00:30:07

interactions on perfectly ordinary days.

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: 00:30:11

And we should all ask ourselves whether we

display the characteristics that we value.

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: 00:30:17

And want to see embedded within

the cultures in which we work.

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: 00:30:21

Some people are more visible than others.

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: 00:30:25

[And here I can interject

that this would be the leaders

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: 00:30:27

that I've just talked about.

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: 00:30:28

And to continue the quote].

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: 00:30:30

But none of us are invisible.

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: 00:30:33

And we all have a part to play

in developing an inclusive and

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: 00:30:37

supportive research culture for all".

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: 00:30:40

End of quote.

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: 00:30:43

And this connects beautifully to

what Line and Nicklas and Nina said.

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: 00:30:50

About everyone having a role

in contribution to creating

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: 00:30:55

great research cultures.

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: 00:31:03

And this means we all have a part

to play in contributing to making

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: 00:31:07

that a psychologically safe culture.

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: 00:31:10

Where people can show up as their

authentic selves and without fear

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: 00:31:14

of rejection or ridicule and so on.

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: 00:31:20

So what might be some examples

of these seemingly insignificant

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: 00:31:25

interactions on perfectly ordinary days?

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: 00:31:33

In closing here I invite you

just to reflect on what might

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: 00:31:38

be some examples for you.

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: 00:31:42

Of the seemingly insignificant

interactions on perfectly ordinary days.

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: 00:31:50

And it's an invitation to

reflect on how you show up.

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: 00:31:53

And how you contribute to creating

a great research environment.

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: 00:31:58

That you may one day want to put forward

for a research environment prize as

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: 00:32:03

an example of how to do great work.

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: 00:32:09

And we know that these great research

environments, aren't just about

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: 00:32:13

feeling good and everyone being happy.

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: 00:32:15

But they're actually about

creating the conditions in

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: 00:32:18

which we can do our best work.

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: 00:32:20

Our best creative thinking

our best collaborations for

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: 00:32:23

the benefit of great science.

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: 00:32:27

And psychological safety

is really key for that.

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: 00:32:33

Not just for great science, but

also for enabling the wellbeing and

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: 00:32:38

development of people and learning

processes that support the production

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: 00:32:43

of that great science and taking risks.

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: 00:32:46

Culture matters.

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: 00:32:48

It really matters.

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: 00:32:50

And we create and

co-create culture together.

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: 00:32:54

By our choices and by our

everyday interactions.

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: 00:32:59

We can make it better.

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: 00:33:03

You can find the summary

notes, a transcript and related

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: 00:33:07

links for this podcast on www.

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: 00:33:10

changingacademiclife.

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: 00:33:12

com.

470

: 00:33:13

You can also subscribe to

Changing Academic Life on iTunes,

471

: 00:33:17

Spotify and Google Podcasts.

472

: 00:33:19

And I'm really hoping that we can

widen the conversation about how

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: 00:33:22

we can do academia differently.

474

: 00:33:25

And you can contribute to this by rating

the podcast and also giving feedback.

475

: 00:33:29

And if something connected with

you, please consider sharing this

476

: 00:33:33

podcast with your colleagues.

477

: 00:33:35

Together, we can make change happen.