Psychological safety is crucial
Psychological safety is a safe place where we dare to take risks towards each other without fear of reprisals
Do you feel that you can freely express yourself, share ideas and concerns, and take risks without fear of condemnation or other negative consequences? Then you are probably in a psychologically safe environment at work.
"Psychological safety is absolutely essential when we are to learn new things and develop. We can hardly avoid making a few mistakes along the way when we acquire new knowledge. In a psychologically safe environment, creativity and ideas can flow freely. At the same time, we dare to bring up proposals, even if they may seem bold or different. That is, without fear of disapproval or being frozen out," says board member Louise Have Lund.
Most important factor is equality
The most important factor for psychological safety is equality and that the individual listens actively and tries to understand the relationship.
"When we are safe, we are more curious, willing to learn from each other and to take risks. Psychological safety is the perceived working climate of the individual colleague. It cannot be defined on behalf of others. If you don't feel psychological safety, it's not there," says board member Katja Larsen.
It is becoming increasingly clear to experts around the world that psychological safety in everyday life is crucial for both well-being and results. At the same time, the concept has become more important because we to a bigger extent are part of several different groups at work. In the past, you could talk more about belonging to one – and only one – team in the workplace. Today, we are constantly forming and entering into new groups, where relationships must be formed and circumstances are unpredictable. Therefore, it is important not to constantly have to start from scratch.
When 114 union representatives from all over the country met for a seminar in the autumn, psychological safety was therefore chosen as the theme to focus on.
The seminar offered presentations, group work and exercises on psychological safety, and all union representatives were given a workbook to take home so that they could continue working on the theme locally (see separate article next week).
Include, learn, contribute and challenge
You can divide psychological safety into four factors. When all four factors are present, we have psychological safety in the organization:
- Security for inclusion – the feeling of belonging and being included
- Confidence to learn – the ability to feel safe to learn and grow
- Security to contribute - the ability to feel safe to share thoughts and opinions
- Security to challenge – the ability to feel safe to challenge the status quo
Psychological safety requires that we help each other not to be afraid of each other
More info at skab-psykologisk-tryghed.dk (in Danish).
Win-win for employees and workplace
We have spoken to three union and work environment representatives, all of whom have been newly elected in 2024, to hear why psychological safety is important.
A core task
Niccolo Mesquita Skovgård, work environment representative in Model Development (Metro)
It is the core task for us as work environment representatives to ensure that there is psychological safety in the workplace. My feeling is that we are generally doing well, but can we do a little better? When you are most confident, you also feel the security to challenge the existing – it is very interesting, and also makes me reflect on where I stand.
Many are committed to improving the working environment, so it was great at the seminar to work across work environment and union representatives. We have different focus areas, but the same goals.
I volunteered as a work environment representative, among other things, to challenge myself by getting a role that forces me out of my comfort zone. Normally I'm quite quiet, but the role means that I want to ask more questions and go more to the bite. I'm sure it will develop me personally.
A special community
Pia Sterup, union representative at Nordea Business Center (Kolding)
It is new for me to work with psychological safety. It was very inspiring, so I'm looking forward to diving deeper into that.
I am impressed by how many offers Finansforbundet has. I get a lot of inspiration through presentations and my local group of union representatives. It is clear that the union representatives have a special community. The dialogue flows.
Security is alpha and omega
Simon Kvetny, union representative at Nordea Finans FinCrime DK (Hermes Hus)
Safety in the workplace is alpha and omega. It is clear that well-functioning teams are more productive, so both employees and Nordea benefit from a safe working environment. I look forward to presenting the most important points about psychological safety locally and there finding the right tools for how WE can improve.
Those who want to be union representatives are often particularly empathetic and caring – this makes it easier to get along with each other and quickly feel part of this community.