You need to value mental health in your workplace. 83 percent of American workers have work-related stress. Work-related stress results in 120,000 deaths per year.
Thankfully, you can promote the mental health of your workers without too much labor. One concept you need to understand is psychological safety.
What is the definition of it? What can you do to promote it in the workplace?
Answer these questions and you can engender a happier and healthier workplace. Here is your quick guide.
What Is Psychological Safety?
Psychological safety is the belief that an employee can take a risk within their team. They can express their concerns about a project without reprisal or harsh criticism. When a failure occurs, no one gets blamed and the team learns from what happened.
Safety begins with inclusion. Everyone must feel safe to be themselves and connect with others. They then must feel safe to learn and ask questions.
Once they have learned, everyone must feel safe to contribute. They use their knowledge to make a difference within their team. They then must feel safe to challenge others and speak up.
Psychological safety is essential to workplace safety and performance. The Berkeley Lab has conducted analyses of workplace teams. They find that teams with high levels of safety are two times more effective than unsafe teams.
Psychological Safety Tips
The first step toward ensuring psychological safety is ensuring mental health. At a minimum, you should conduct a monthly mental health briefing. Talk about the signs of depression and anxiety and provide resources for your employees.
Put up posters in common areas talking about health and wellness. Include a note saying that employees can take time off to decompress and seek mental health resources. This includes help for racial battle fatigue and anxiety coming from discrimination.
Get engaged with the lives of your employees. You should touch base with them about their work, giving them clear guidelines and deadlines. But you should also know about their personal lives and hobbies.
Recap what your employees tell you. Ask them questions and gauge their interest in what you’re saying.
When your team does something well, congratulate them. When they fail at a task, do not blame them.
Pull them together and ask each of them what they think happened. Then come up with steps you can take to prevent a failure from occurring in the future.
Get your team’s input before you make any decisions. Have them fill out surveys, including about psychological safety. Visit https://www.leaderfactor.com/psychological-safety-team-survey to examine a survey that you can use.
Promote Psychological Safety Today
Mental health is about more than feeling happy. Your employees need to feel safe.
Psychological safety allows workers to feel included and able. They can express what’s on their mind and learn from their mistakes.
Start by talking about mental health in the workplace. Be an engaged leader, talking to your workers about their interests and work habits.
Take every opportunity to allow your employees to learn, including after mistakes. Assess each member’s thoughts and feelings through surveys.
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