The Fearless Organization : Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth

**Conquer the most essential adaptation to the knowledge economy**__The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth__offers practical guidance for teams and organizations who are serious about success in the modern economy. With so much riding on innovation, creativity, and spark, it is essential to attract and retain quality talent--but what good does this talent do if no one is able to speak their mind? The traditional culture of "fitting in" and "going along" spells doom in the knowledge economy. Success requires a continuous influx of new ideas, new challenges, and critical thought, and the interpersonal climate must not suppress, silence, ridicule or intimidate. Not every idea is good, and yes there are stupid questions, and yes dissent can slow things down, but talking through these things is an essential part of the creative process. People must be allowed to voice half-finished thoughts, ask questions from left field, and brainstorm out loud; it creates a culture in which a minor flub or momentary lapse is no big deal, and where actual mistakes are owned and corrected, and where the next left-field idea could be the next big thing.This book explores this culture of psychological safety, and provides a blueprint for bringing it to life. The road is sometimes bumpy, but succinct and informative scenario-based explanations provide a clear path forward to constant learning and healthy innovation.Explore the link between psychological safety and high performanceCreate a culture where it's "safe" to express ideas, ask questions, and admit mistakesNurture the level of engagement and candor required in today's knowledge economyFollow a step-by-step framework for establishing psychological safety in your team or organizationShed the "yes-men" approach and step into real performance. Fertilize creativity, clarify goals, achieve accountability, redefine leadership, and much more.__The Fearless Organization__helps you bring about this most critical transformation. Cover......Page 1 Title Page......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Contents......Page 11 What It Takes to Thrive in a Complex, Uncertain World......Page 15 Discovery by Mistake......Page 18 Overview of the Book......Page 20 Endnotes......Page 23 Part I The Power of Psychological Safety......Page 25 Chapter 1 The Underpinning......Page 27 Unconscious Calculators......Page 28 Envisioning the Psychologically Safe Workplace......Page 30 An Accidental Discovery......Page 32 Standing on Giants' Shoulders......Page 36 Why Fear Is Not an Effective Motivator......Page 37 What Psychological Safety Is Not......Page 39 Measuring Psychological Safety......Page 43 Psychological Safety Is Not Enough......Page 45 Endnotes......Page 46 Chapter 2 The Paper Trail......Page 49 Not a Perk......Page 50 The Research......Page 53 An Epidemic of Silence......Page 54 A Work Environment that Supports Learning......Page 59 Why Psychological Safety Matters for Performance......Page 63 Psychologically Safe Employees Are Engaged Employees......Page 65 Psychological Safety as the Extra Ingredient......Page 67 Bringing Research to Practice......Page 69 Endnotes......Page 70 Part II Psychological Safety at Work......Page 75 Chapter 3 Avoidable Failure......Page 77 Exacting Standards......Page 78 Stretching the Stretch Goal......Page 84 Fearing the Truth......Page 87 Who Regulates the Regulators?......Page 90 Avoiding Avoidable Failure......Page 92 Adopting an Agile Approach to Strategy......Page 94 Endnotes......Page 96 Chapter 4 Dangerous Silence......Page 101 Failing to Speak Up......Page 102 What Was Not Said......Page 103 Excessive Confidence in Authority......Page 107 A Culture of Silence......Page 110 Silence in the Noisy Age of Social Media......Page 116 Endnotes......Page 121 Chapter 5 The Fearless Workplace......Page 127 Making Candor Real......Page 128 Extreme Candor......Page 133 Be a Don't Knower......Page 137 When Failure Works......Page 140 Caring for Employees......Page 143 Learning from Psychologically Safe Work Environments......Page 147 Endnotes......Page 148 Chapter 6 Safe and Sound......Page 153 Use Your Words......Page 154 One for All and All for One......Page 159 Speaking Up for Worker Safety......Page 162 Transparency by Whiteboard......Page 166 Unleashing Talent......Page 170 Endnotes......Page 171 Part III Creating a Fearless Organization......Page 175 Chapter 7 Making it Happen......Page 177 The Leader's Tool Kit......Page 178 How to Set the Stage for Psychological Safety......Page 182 How to Invite Participation So People Respond......Page 191 How to Respond Productively to Voice – No Matter Its Quality......Page 197 Leadership Self-Assessment......Page 205 Endnotes......Page 207 Continuous Renewal......Page 211 Deliberative Decision-Making......Page 213 Hearing the Sounds of Silence......Page 215 When Humor Isn't Funny......Page 217 Psychological Safety FAQs......Page 219 Tacking Upwind......Page 232 Endnotes......Page 233 Appendix: Variations in survey measures to Illustrate Robustness of Psychological Safety......Page 237 Acknowledgments......Page 241 About the Author......Page 243 Index......Page 245 EULA......Page 258 Conquer the most essential adaptation to the knowledge economy The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth offers practical guidance for teams and organizations who are serious about success in the modern economy. With so much riding on innovation, creativity, and spark, it is essential to attract and retain quality talent--but what good does this talent do if no one is able to speak their mind? The traditional culture of "fitting in" and "going along" spells doom in the knowledge economy. Success requires a continuous influx of new ideas, new challenges, and critical thought, and the interpersonal climate must not suppress, silence, ridicule or intimidate. Not every idea is good, and yes there are stupid questions, and yes dissent can slow things down, but talking through these things is an essential part of the creative process. People must be allowed to voice half-finished thoughts, ask questions from left field, and brainstorm out loud; it creates a culture in which a minor flub or momentary lapse is no big deal, and where actual mistakes are owned and corrected, and where the next left-field idea could be the next big thing. This book explores this culture of psychological safety, and provides a blueprint for bringing it to life. The road is sometimes bumpy, but succinct and informative scenario-based explanations provide a clear path forward to constant learning and healthy innovation. * Explore the link between psychological safety and high performance * Create a culture where it's "safe" to express ideas, ask questions, and admit mistakes * Nurture the level of engagement and candor required in today's knowledge economy * Follow a step-by-step framework for establishing psychological safety in your team or organization Shed the "yes-men" approach and step into real performance. Fertilize creativity, clarify goals, achieve accountability, redefine leadership, and much more. The Fearless Organization helps you bring about this most critical transformation. Conquer the most essential adaptation to the knowledge economy Psychological Safety at Work: How to Ensure Learning and Innovation in the Knowledge Economy offers practical guidance for teams and organizations who are serious about success in the modern economy. With so much riding on innovation, creativity, and spark, it is essential to attract and retain quality talent—but what good does this talent do if no one is able to speak their mind? The traditional culture of “fitting in” and “going along” spells doom in the knowledge economy. Success requires a continuous influx of new ideas, new challenges, and critical thought, and the interpersonal climate must not suppress, silence, ridicule or intimidate. Not every idea is good, and yes there are stupid questions, and yes dissent can slow things down, but talking through these things is an essential part of the creative process. People must be allowed to voice half-finished thoughts, ask questions from left field, and brainstorm out loud; it creates a culture in which a minor flub or momentary lapse is no big deal, and where actual mistakes are owned and corrected, and where the next left-field idea could be the next big thing.