Why Psychological Safety is Critical to Your Employee's Productivity and Wellbeing

Stress affects our physiological and psychological sense of safety. It triggers our fight/flight/and freeze response and prevents us from adopting a positive and proactive growth mindset essential for creativity and collaboration.

Sheila (not her real name), a manager of IT professionals I was asked to meet with, had a particularly difficult time dealing with stress. Her employees had complained that Sheila’s attitude and behaviors had caused them to feel anxious when the company’s biggest customer had altered their requirements midway through a project. As an example, Sheila belittled a team member’s ideas in front of their colleagues causing them embarrassment.


In my first meeting with Sheila over Zoom, I experienced the degree of her anxiety. I asked her if she was aware of how her stress was affecting her attitude and behavior. She acknowledged the pressure she felt and requested my help.


I taught her a simple process:
1. Observe. Notice how you feel physically and listen to your inner dialogue.
2. Breathe. Ideally in and out through your nose where most of your neurons are connected to your brain.
3. Consciously choose your next course of action.
4. Repeat all three steps as necessary until you are satisfied you can move ahead with less stress for you and your colleagues.


We practiced this and Sheila promised she would use this starting immediately. When we next met, I could see that Sheila was more relaxed. She reported her ability to communicate more positively with her team members and had apologized for her past stressed out behavior.


All work can cause occasional or persistent stress. No matter what your position is, by following the above process you can help yourself and others create psychological safety leading to a more productive and meaningful work-life.


Tom Drucker MA, All But Dissertation is a founding partner of Consultants in Corporate Innovation, transforming leaders and teams plus improving processes in companies big and small. He is also a managing director at Janas Investment Bank.