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.

This book is the first practical, hands-on guide that shows how leaders can build psychological safety in their organizations, creating an environment where employees feel included, fully engaged, and encouraged to contribute their best efforts and ideas. Perhaps the leader's most challenging task is to increase intellectual friction while decreasing social friction. When this doesn't happen and it becomes emotionally expensive to say what you truly think and feel, that lack of psychological safety triggers the self-censoring instinct, shuts down learning, and blocks collaboration and creativity. Timothy R. Clark, a former CEO, Oxford-trained social scientist, and organizational consultant, provides a research-based framework to help leaders transform their organizations into sanctuaries of inclusion and incubators of innovation. When leaders cultivate psychological safety, teams and organizations progress through four successive stages. First, people feel included and accepted; then they feel safe to learn, contribute, and finally, challenge the status quo. Clark draws deeply on psychology, philosophy, social science, literature, and his own experiences to show how leaders can, and must, set the tone and model the ideal behaviors—as he says, “you either show the way or get in the way.” This thoughtful and pragmatic guide demonstrates that if you banish fear, install true performance-based accountability, and create a nurturing environment that allows people to be vulnerable as they learn and grow, they will perform beyond your expectations.

Both scientific and industry research suggest that paying close attention to psychological safety has tangible benefits, not just to personal health and well-being, but to workplace productivity and performance. In 2015 Google released the findings of some compelling research known as 'The Aristotle Project'. In its quest to build the perfect team, Google assessed the factors common to their high-performing teams. They were shocked to find it was not the background, the experience, or the education of the team members that determined the team's success, but whether psychological safety was present within the team. Most of us understand the importance of physical safety. We protect ourselves and those around us, and know what physical interactions are socially acceptable, helpful, or harmful. Psychological safety, however, is a new frontier. Only now are we beginning to understand its importance and impact, thanks to recent advancements in neuroscience. For example, research shows that a 'hit' to our psychological safety can have a deeper and longer-lasting impact than a 'hit' to our physical selves. In fact, social rejection has the same impact on the brain as a punch to the face. Over time, the pain associated with a physical attack is difficult or impossible to recall. The memory of social rejection, however, even many years after the fact, can elicit the same strength of emotion as it did at the time of the event. When we experience an attack to our psychological safety, our brain is triggered into a stress response. Our cognitive abilities are compromised. Our higher, logical brain, the one responsible for thinking, creativity, decision-making, and self-control, goes off-line. In this derailed stress state we can find it difficult to concentrate, make decisions, or control our emotions. In a psychologically safe climate, people are not afraid to express themselves; they feel accepted and respected. This openness creates a fertile environment for thinking, creativity, innovation, and growth, and leads to more collaborative relationships and an overall improvement in individual and team productivity. So how do you identify and manage the triggers that threaten your psychological safety and hijack your brain? Based on the latest neuroscience research, the S.A.F.E.T.Y. model describes some of the most important social motivators of human behavior. Learn how to implement it in your life and your workplace, to reap the benefits of increased productivity and personal well-being. This revolutionary book offers actionable solutions to key questions that may be holding you (and your team) back from fulfilling your potential: Why am I so anxious and stressed? Why do I continue to do things I don't want to do? Why do I care so much about what others think of me? Why do I self-sabotage? And the most vital question of all: Why can't I change?

New breakthrough thinking in organizational learning, leadership, and change Continuous improvement, understanding complex systems, and promoting innovation are all part of the landscape of learning challenges today's companies face. Amy Edmondson shows that organizations thrive, or fail to thrive, based on how well the small groups within those organizations work. In most organizations, the work that produces value for customers is carried out by teams, and increasingly, by flexible team-like entities. The pace of change and the fluidity of most work structures means that it's not really about creating effective teams anymore, but instead about leading effective teaming. Teaming shows that organizations learn when the flexible, fluid collaborations they encompass are able to learn. The problem is teams, and other dynamic groups, don't learn naturally. Edmondson outlines the factors that prevent them from doing so, such as interpersonal fear, irrational beliefs about failure, groupthink, problematic power dynamics, and information hoarding. With Teaming, leaders can shape these factors by encouraging reflection, creating psychological safety, and overcoming defensive interpersonal dynamics that inhibit the sharing of ideas. Further, they can use practical management strategies to help organizations realize the benefits inherent in both success and failure. Presents a clear explanation of practical management concepts for increasing learning capability for business results Introduces a framework that clarifies how learning processes must be altered for different kinds of work Explains how Collaborative Learning works, and gives tips for how to do it well Includes case-study research on Intermountain healthcare, Prudential, GM, Toyota, IDEO, the IRS, and both Cincinnati and Minneapolis Children's Hospitals, among others Based on years of research, this book shows how leaders can make organizational learning happen by building teams that learn.

You cannot improve your organization's safety performance to enviable levels without addressing human behavior and attitude effectively. The only comprehensive reference on the psychology of the human dynamics of safety, The Psychology of Safety Handbook shows you how to apply psychology to improve safety and health in your organization. Dr. Geller

From executives complaining that their teams don’t contribute ideas to employees giving up because their input isn’t valued--company culture is the culprit. Courageous Cultures provides a road map to build a high-performance, high-engagement culture around sharing ideas, solving problems, and rewarding contributions from all levels. Many leaders are convinced they have an open environment that encourages employees to speak up and are shocked when they learn that employees are holding back. Employees have ideas and want to be heard. Leadership wants to hear them. Too often, however, employees and leaders both feel that no one cares about making things better. The disconnect typically only widens over time, with both sides becoming more firmly entrenched in their viewpoints. Becoming a courageous culture means building teams of microinnovators, problem solvers, and customer advocates working together. In our world of rapid change, a courageous culture is your competitive advantage. It ensures that your company is “sticky” for both customers and employees. In Courageous Cultures, you’ll learn practical tools that help you: Learn the difference between microinnovators, problem solvers, and customer advocates and how they work together. See how the latest research conducted by the authors confirms why organizations struggle when it comes to creating strong cultures where employees are encouraged to contribute their best thinking. Learn proven models and tools that leaders can apply throughout all levels of the organization, to reengage and motivate employees. Understand best practices from companies around the world and learn how to apply these strategies and techniques in your own organization. This book provides you with the practical tools to uncover, leverage, and scale the best ideas from every level of your organization.