It’s a truism that if you want to attract and retain the best talent, ensure a team feels valued and happy at work, and get the most out of people, then employees must feel valued when they speak.
Most readers surely won’t have to search their memory for long to find a time when they felt that their contribution in work wasn’t appreciated, was belittled, or they couldn’t challenge a bad decision from a manager.
These are not just issues facing the mortgage sector, but are common in many different industries.
There is an answer however, based on research from the Harvard Business School: the idea of psychological safety.
This is the state or environment where colleagues or employees feel that their voice matters, and where they are comfortable enough to share their ideas or problems.
The benefits for the team and the business can be significant, but how can firms in the mortgage market create and maintain this kind of culture?
The IMLA Inclusivity and Diversity (I&D) group recently ran a ‘Lunch’n’Learn’ session on psychological safety and inclusion to help our industry develop in this area, and we have some top tips below.
What is psychological safety?
The term psychological safety was coined by a Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson, who described it as ‘a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes’.
Every business likes to think that it can inspire the best from its employees, but if the workplace doesn’t create a sense of respect and safety, then those same employees won’t feel comfortable in sharing any ideas or highlighting problems before they come to a head.
In comparison, if colleagues feel included, safe to learn and contribute, and able to challenge the status quo to make things better, then they will be more productive, generate more ideas and – perhaps most importantly – enjoy work more.
Not only does psychological safety allow team members to flourish, it is also vital for inclusion and diversity efforts.
It goes hand-in-hand with ensuring that colleagues who are less represented in the workplace, feel they have a voice that will not be simply ignored.
What are the benefits for the workplace and business?
The benefits to morale and team wellbeing are clear, but there is also a strong organisational case for businesses to invest some time and effort in making sure employees feel psychologically safe in the workplace.
Roughly 40-45% of absence is attributable to mental health strain such as anxiety, stress and depression.
Low productivity in work and ‘quiet quitting’ can be the results of the same toxic mix.
By investing in measures and training to help colleagues feel psychologically safe in work, these mental health strains will fall, and a team’s work could improve.
It’s a simple thing to feel valued and safe to contribute to a discussion, but how many profit-generating ideas have never been discussed because the person who has a brainwave doesn’t feel they can speak up in a meeting?
How many businesses have suffered reputational damage and seen talent leave as a result of a bad manager, because no employee felt able to challenge their decisions?
For a business to truly benefit from the work of its team, each member must be able to bring their full selves to the workplace – ideas, challenges, concerns and all.
How can I create psychological safety for my colleagues?
The benefits clearly make sense, but how does a business go about investing in psychological safety?
Training is key. The best workplace environment has to come from the team as well as the leadership.
Colleagues should be encouraged to reflect on their own reactions to challenges or changes, and to understand their innate responses to uncomfortable situations.
Team members – in particular managers – should get into the practice of regularly asking how others are doing, to allow them a space to talk if they need to.
When someone suggests an idea, it’s important that it is considered clever thinking, even if the group or the leader of the meeting don’t agree with the idea as a whole.
Expectations and commitments must be managed and realistic, so that no one is left scrambling to meet an uncertain deadline and feeling that their time isn’t valued by the business.
These may all sound like common-sense solutions, but the value of training is in reminding colleagues of why these things matter and encouraging more active engagement with such tactics. It’s what moves us from knowing these are things we should be doing, to embedding them into our day-to-day behaviour.
The business that masters this will see a more engaged, creative and, ultimately, profitable team.
If any readers would like to learn more, you can find a wealth of D&I resources and educational material for the mortgage industry on IMLA and AMI’s: Working In Mortgages – Shaping the future.
