You already did! Asking where you can start, is answering the question.
With you.
Even when your organization is complex, has solidified into silos and bureaucratic brainwashing. Even when your organization seems riddled with problems so humongeous, no one person could in all sanity hope to ever tackle them - even then, you can make waves.
So how can you make a difference?
I recently attended a seminar with Amy Edmondson, Harvard Professor and prime researcher into everything related to psychological safety.
Whatever the causes of the problems hurting you and your colleagues at work may be, chances are, a lack of psychological safety is paramount.
Here’s the good news: psychological safety is not defined by what the rest of the organization does. It’s not premeditated on having a clear purpose or a senseful strategy, charismatic leaders or amazing products. It’s not something orchestrated outside of your perimeter.
It is within your reach. Psychological safety is about how each individual feels about speaking up, how they perceive what the reactions of their peers or managers will be when they voice a concern, an idea, a question.
All of this happens within every interaction. And so, every interaction is a chance to sow some seeds of psychological safety.
This is related to your team. And you can start building a stronger psychologically safe environment from any place in your team, at any moment in time. You don’t need to be the boss, or the sponsor, or the star player of the team.
All you need to be is a person who wants to contribute positively.
As professor Edmondson put it during the seminar:
Leadership with a small “l” is not the same as being a leader. I believe any team member can exercise leadership to make the team a better place.
What does that look like?
Anyone on a team can frame the work, and say, “Wow, we’ve never done this kind of project before. We’re going to have to brainstorm, from scratch” or you might say, “This is one of the more challenging customer accounts I’ve ever been a part of. What ideas do you have?”
When you say something like that, it is generally going to be seen as productive and helpful. You’ve pushed the conversation forward and you’ve named reality in a constructive way that lowers the threshold.
So, it’s framing the work, inviting participation.
Reality is, anyone can ask a good question: “Aha. I haven’t thought about it that way. What ideas do people have?” and people will be grateful. When you ask a question, you’re basically saying, “I respect my team members enough to be really interested in what they have to say”.
And then, you listen, and respond productively; Each and everyone of us can respond in a kind of curious, interested, empathic way, especially to the challenges that people bring forward.
All it takes, is for you to start making small waves.
There’s no risk involved, or at least, no risk you can’t manage. You can start gently.
Is this going to solve everything Probably - most likely - not. But it’s going to be extra hard without it. And once people can start to talk about what they feel should be addressed, that’s when you will have built a very strong foundation to start chipping away at all those other problems.
