If there's one thing I feel that is absent from the Agile Manifesto, it's psychological safety. We have learned in the past 20 years how important this to a team / organisations success.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ๐บ
- Without safety, there is less likely to be ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ต๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ณ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ - Healthy conflict is where people disagree with one another in a constructive way. Disagreement isn't perceived as negative, or emotional, but an opportunity to discuss a topic from an alternative lens.
- Without conflict, we often get homophily and a ๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด - Without diverse thinking, we run the risk of simply behaving the same as everyone else which doesn't enable innovation.
- You may fall foul of ๐ฑ๐ผ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ต๐ถ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐ฒ๐ where certain voices drown out the quieter ones - We've all experienced this I'm sure. A louder, more boisterous voice dominates the discussion and for fear of conflict, we stay quiet and don't suggest alternatives
- All of the above can ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป - De-motivated people are less likely to challenge one another or care about the outcome of a teams work. I've always said that if people rant or complain about a situation, this is a positive because it shows me they care enough to raise their concerns. It's the concerns that go unsaid that worry me most as those people may have already emotionally checked out.
๐ข๐ฝ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ด๐ถ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐น๐ฏ๐ฒ๐น๐
- ๐๐๐ธ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ - Identify what good & bad examples of conflict looks like to them and experiment accordingly with alternatives. Let the team input into how to improve the lack of healthy conflict, they will be more likely to buy into the experiment this way than if it was pushed upon them.
- ๐จ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ / team agreements to establish values and baseline ways of working which include how you handle conflict. Charters are an excellent way to allow people to share their views and input into how the team wants to work.
- ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ - Demonstrate self awareness. Share what makes you feel psychologically safe and invite others to do also. Be open and vulnerable here. Your team mates will be more inclined to follow suit if you do.
What approaches do you use to promote psychological safety with those you work with?