Researcher Jess Lawrence explores the importance of psychological safety in the workplace and how organisations can better understand and support it. Drawing on her research into psychological safety across teams and within the justice sector, Jess outlines how Interventions Alliance has applied this learning, including a recent survey designed to understand colleagues’ experiences and identify opportunities for improvement. 

 

Psychological safety is a term that I see used with increasing frequency in the justice sector, although it is used to describe similar but distinct experiences, depending on the context. In this article, I use it to describe an environment where people in a group feel comfortable to speak up, ask questions, suggest and try new ideas, seek support and learn from mistakes without fear of negative consequences, such as being judged or excluded.  

 

The concept of psychological safety in teams has become an increasingly important focus of my research over the past few years. I first explored it while conducting research on trans people on probation. What started as a relatively small point in that report – the need for practitioners to feel safe to ask for help and make and learn from mistakes – developed into an article in the Probation Journal specifically detailing the importance of psychological safety at multiple levels for practitioners working with minoritised people.  

 

Psychological safety is now the thing I speak to people about the most and features heavily in the research we undertake at Interventions Alliance, such as our recent research on the emotional and organisational demands of working in a women’s Approved Premises.

 

Over the last few years, Interventions Alliance has been specifically thinking about psychological safety across the organisation. Our colleagues work in demanding environments, managing high levels of risk, responding to unpredictable circumstances and balancing competing demands. We know from the literature that psychological safety is incredibly important in settings like these. It means people feel able to make independent decisions in the moment, discuss and reflect on things that don’t go to plan, ask for help, suggest new ways of working, and feel that their ideas and experiences will be heard and taken seriously.

 

For an organisation committed to learning, it was important to apply our understanding of psychological safety to our own workplace. We wanted to better understand our teams and organisation, to assess how colleagues feel and identify our strengths and where there are opportunities to improve.  

 

Last year, I piloted a survey to assess psychological safety at team and organisational level, alongside some of the key factors which contribute to this. The survey used measures from the existing research, but it became clear that these needed adapting to cover the range and type of work undertaken by Interventions Alliance colleagues. This summer, I consulted with colleagues across the organisation to develop a more tailored set of questions to better assess team and organisational psychological safety and dig deeper into the factors that influence this.  

 

The survey covered several themes, each with a quantitative and qualitative element. Colleagues were asked to rate their agreement with a series of statements and could then share examples, reflections and suggestions in their own words. The survey was conducted as a research project to provide additional assurances around confidentiality and anonymity.  

 

The findings have provided valuable insight into what helps colleagues feel psychologically safe at work, as well as what can make this more difficult. Alongside the quantitative results, colleagues shared experiences, identified factors that influence how safe they feel speaking up and working with others, and suggested practical ways to improve. 

 

Understanding these experiences is an important first step, but the value of the exercise depends on what happens next. 

 

All colleagues have each received a summary of the findings for the organisation and for their individual teams. Opportunities are being created to discuss and reflect on these findings at both team and organisational levels. Managers and senior leaders have committed to listening carefully, understanding both good and bad experiences behind the findings, and working with colleagues to identify opportunities for improvement. 

 

We are still in the early stages of understanding and embedding the learning from this year’s findings, but the importance of running this survey has been evident. Feedback suggests that colleagues at all levels have found the survey to be a valuable outlet to share how they feel, outside of the usual feedback channels. Managers and senior leaders have also valued the opportunity to hear more directly from colleagues and learn from honest reflections. 

 

Building psychological safety is not something that can be achieved through a survey alone. It requires an ongoing commitment to creating environments where people feel heard, concerns can be raised constructively, and experiences – including mistakes and challenges – can inform how we work. 

 

Interventions Alliance is committed to listening to colleagues, and will continue to measure psychological safety, reflecting and learning together as our organisation grows. By listening to colleagues and acting on their experiences, we have an opportunity to support a culture of openness, reflection and continuous improvement – helping our colleagues deliver the best possible services to the people we support. 

 

• To find out more about psychological safety and other research you can reach out to Jess on LinkedIn