Psychological Safety or Freedom of the Soul?

I don't really like buzzwords. They are generally one of two things - an unimportant construct dressed up to catch your attention or an important subject dressed up to catch your attention. The latter having the unintended consequence of weakening the importance or relevance of the very topic it is trying to grab your attention about.

The Great Resignation.

I think we are in the middle of it - but I'm not sure. Maybe it was April, maybe June. I'm not sure about others but I envisaged the placard waving hordes exiting from the gleaming glass Docklands's towers chanting "Down with the man!!"and hoisting their home made pottery in the air - advertising their Etsy pages in order to fund their mortgages.

But unless I'm mistaken that hasn't happened. But another shift has - shortages in critical industries like construction, infrastructure, hospitality. Engineering firms paying 20 - 40% above normal rates just to get hold of a civil engineer who can walk across the construction landscape picking and choosing what job they want.

If there was a time when creating a vibrant and attractive organisational culture was critical then now is the time.

But the Great Resignation was a buzzword that masked more subtle shifts in the market.

Then there are things like mindfulness. Somehow in our race to package up and be the first to market we have trampled on the ancient wisdoms and now the mention of mindfulness in some organisations makes people groan and make jokes about sitting on bean bags, colouring in mandalas.....on company time (!!!).

It's Buddha with an iPhone. Sitting under the bodhi tree, head down, hands clasped in the lap....scrolling to the bottom of the feed.

Now - we have Psychological Safety. The term emerging from the dark landscape of the industrial age notions of organisational mechanics. The notion that the omnipotent and omnipresent drive for financial gain means that anything is permitted and all behaviours endorsed. Children in the 1800's sent in to clean the cotton machines at risk of death. In Henry Ford's time you weren't allowed to talk or laugh on the production line.The typing pool in the 1950s corporate world. The iPhone production line in China.

Its staggering what we allow in the name of efficiency and production output. Within the last few weeks I have had someone justify yelling at staff because in their experience "everyone in recruitment yells...."

We charge ourselves as evolved but many recent reports and reviews into large companies has shown that things are often far from it.

So the emergence of the concept of psychological safety is well overdue. It is a profound and beautiful construct that cuts to the heart of community and what it means to be human and live a fulfilled and rich life.

My only fear is that it comes and goes the way of mindfulness.

Because psychological safety is desperately needed. But what do we mean?

I am not going to run a dissertation on the definitions but I dont think you need a PhD in psychology to understand and embrace it. It's simple evolutionary maths. Our fear response (to a lack of safety) is a brilliantly crafted short term reaction to threat so that we stay alive. It is engaged, serves a purpose, consumes huge energy reserves then we need to give ourselves time to replenish our bodies energy before it fires again.

When we are constantly activated by fear in our workplace our bodies are almost fighting themselves to death in an autoimmune sense. Taking our minds, energy and dare I say soul with it.

So what do we need and why?

Beyond the primal biological need for balance and an absence of constant fear - there is a need for safety in order to create community. As we well know, humans are social creatures and communities are the places to which we turn for physical, emotional and existential safety.

What is the bedrock of community? Acceptance. Unconditional acceptance. You are one of us. We will take you in. We will keep you safe.

As I chatted to Bray about our program today - he talked of safety as the means by which our true self - the core of who we are (our soul?) - feels safe to come out. With safety comes an ability to step forward and show who we really are. Without safety we stay hidden for fear of repercussion, humiliation or shame. The bedrock of a community is making it safe enough for the true essence of you to come out.

Once that happens then the magic occurs.

In your safety, you are more real and authentic. With authenticity comes true conversation. With conversation we solve wicked problems and tackle hard truths. With the solving of wicked problems we feel like we are doing something with our lives our world, our brief time on this planet. This flash of consciousness between two eternal nothings has been well spent.

Or we could just keep yelling at people to make them work faster.

If this resonates then look further into the program. We believe in it so deeply that we are pretty much guaranteeing that you will find a space, connection and rejuvenation that is as close as you can get to hearing yourself breathe and think again.