On Tough Feedback, Psychological Safety, and What Anthropologists can Teach us About Work Culture

Every month I send out a newsletter including resources, freebies and insights for leaders who want to be more skilled, self-aware and ‘human’ in their approach to handling relationships and navigating important workplace conversations. Most include topics relating to trust, psychological safety, emotional intelligence, communication, and connection.

This is the content from the July 2021 newsletter - enjoy! And be sure to sign up for the newsletter if you enjoy this kind of content :-)

How can you get your team to stop asking you every little question?

Given that this is a common complaint, I was immediately drawn to this HBR article. It explores a common challenge for many leaders - focusing on more strategic issues and priorities while being constantly interrupted by team members' questions. I really like the early emphasis on exploring the root cause of this issue by asking yourself a few critical questions: Why are people constantly coming to you? Does your behaviour somehow encourage people to do this?

The recommended strategies tap into a couple of different topics I'm quite passionate about - in particular, whether an underlying cause is a lack of psychological safety or "CYA" culture ("Cover Your..."). I think another common cause is a lack of clarity around expectations, boundaries, and decision-making authority.

You can read the article here via the HBR website.

What does psychological safety look like in a hybrid workplace?

A few months ago Amy Edmondson contributed to this article exploring the additional complexity that WFH and hybrid work arrangements pose when seeking to establish and maintain psychological safety. The article encourages managers to rethink their approach now that the distinction between "work" and "non-work" discussions has blurred. Topics previously considered to be 'personal' now tend to be explored when making shared decisions around structuring and scheduling work.

You'll find some suggestions on the steps leaders can take to create or reinforce a culture of psychological safety, including some important reminders about the fragility of this process. I definitely agree with the assertion that employees will 'hold back' if they perceive even a small sense of risk, and that seemingly "innocent" comments can really undermine your efforts. I also agree with the need for leaders to encourage candour and be transparent in sharing their intentions.

You can find the article by following this link.

Are your leaders doing enough to develop their people?

This month I’ve been revisiting some articles and reports highlighting the importance of leaders having meaningful, robust career and development conversations with their team members. I’m soon to kick off some client workshops in this space - and enjoy sharing some of the interesting stats and findings from these surveys. This Forbes article summarises the findings of LinkedIn’s 2018 Workforce Learning Report, which found that a whopping 94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career. (As an FYI, the Forbes article got it wrong when citing this number as 93%!). The author also shares some key takeaways of the research for organisations. These include offering bite-sized learning opportunities, getting managers involved, and finding ways for employees to integrate growth and development into their day-to-day activities. Another insight is that many business leaders acknowledge a need to focus more heavily on ‘soft’ skills (57%).

While these insights aren't groundbreaking for many of us, they nevertheless reinforce the fact that employee perceptions around career and development opportunities remain a key driver of engagement and retention. As an aside, I'm currently poring through the 2021 LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report which includes some similar themes.

You can find the Forbes article here (and sign up for the LinkedIn reports here and here if you want a deeper dive!).

How do you approach giving and receiving tough feedback?

This podcast episode was interesting for me, with many comments from interviewee Mellody Hobson prompting me to "think again" about my views (Adam Grant style!). The episode explores the topic of building greater self-awareness and insight through receiving feedback well. Many of the key messages align closely with those found in one of my favourite books on this subject - e.g. looking for the "grains of truth" in any feedback you receive, and considering feedback as a gift (rather than assuming you are entitled to it). I also agree with the idea that after receiving the same feedback 2 or 3 times, you should start paying attention!

Mellody also shares her view that feedback should be given 'straight', without any positioning to make it more palatable for people (my words). While I wholly agree that feedback needs to be clear and authentic, my view is that people often don't hear feedback if delivered in a way that provokes feelings of fear or insecurity, with this coming back our 'wiring' as social creatures. While some people are very resilient to feedback, others simply aren't. To me, this is where the balance between candour and compassion is important. I also agree that strong, trusting relationships can allow leaders to get directly to the point, with this trust creating an implicit awareness of the feedback giver's positive intentions. But trust isn't always built quickly or easily, and can never be assumed. There is definitely some thought provoking content in there!

You can find the episode via Adam Grant's Taken For Granted website, where you can select your podcast player of choice. Otherwise, here are some direct links to the episode on Spotify and Apple podcasts.

What can anthropologists teach us about work culture?

This podcast episode includes an interesting conversation with Greg Urban, an anthropologist who previously studied indigenous tribes and now works in corporate settings analysing organisational culture. The discussion centres around the fact that "people are people", with the same forces influencing their behaviour regardless of whether you find them in a jungle tribe or a corporate office in the city. I enjoyed the emphasis on leaders remembering that culture is a dynamic, living thing - like a garden that needs to be continually nourished and maintained.

You'll also hear about the role of purpose, intrinsic motivation, and storytelling when trying to shift or influence culture. Finally, Urban reminds listeners that leaders aren't only managing their own "tribe", but sometimes a "tribe of tribes" - as most organisations have multiple subcultures with differing norms, rituals, and patterns of behaviour.

You can listen to the podcast via this link or here on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Are your leaders demonstrating behaviours that promote psychological safety?

Finally, I wanted to share the link to a great resource compiled by Dr. Timothy Clark, author of The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety. As some of you might know, I'm certified in the accompanying survey tool, which was created to help leaders and teams identify current levels of perceived safety (another dynamic, constantly evolving thing!).

This is one of the great resources that was shared during the training, and is also available for the public to download. It's a great resource for those wanting to explore some of the actual day-to-day behaviours people can demonstrate (or stop demonstrating) to encourage a culture where people feel safe to be themselves, take risks, share their ideas, and challenge the status quo.

You can sign up for the Behavioural Guide here via the LeaderFactor website. There's also a free book summary available if you want to learn more!

Thanks for reading! Feel free to share with anyone who might find these insights helpful, or want to sign up and join the community.