LeaderFactor

Inclusion safety is the foundation of every healthy team and organization.

What does it take to qualify? Two things: Be human and be harmless. If you meet both criteria, you qualify.

Before making judgments about worthiness, our social units must first create an environment of inclusion. As Dr. Timothy Clark reminds us, worth precedes worthiness.

How is your team fostering a sense of belonging and psychological safety at its core?

8 months ago | [YT] | 4

LeaderFactor

Data doesn’t just inform decisions—it transforms teams.

When it comes to building psychological safety, gut instincts and anecdotal feedback aren’t enough.

Teams thrive when they can see exactly where they stand, and that’s where quantitative data becomes invaluable. A validated instrument provides a reliable baseline, giving teams the clarity they need to identify strengths and address areas for improvement.

Bringing this kind of data to the table isn’t just effective—it’s empowering.

Why?

It fosters transparency, encourages meaningful dialogue, and drives actionable insights. By anchoring conversations in hard numbers, teams can move forward with confidence, knowing their efforts are rooted in reality, not guesswork.

Psychological safety starts with understanding. How are you measuring yours? Let us know in the comments and watch our podcast episode to learn more!

https://youtu.be/1ZM5ymESJ9g?si=2SpOb...

8 months ago | [YT] | 2

LeaderFactor

When Google set out to discover what makes a high-performing team in 2012, researchers expected to uncover a set of individual demographics, characteristics, or personality traits that made a team great.

What they realized, however, was that composition mattered very little; it was the interactions within the team that determined its effectiveness.💡

At the core of their findings was the concept of psychological safety—the belief that team members can share ideas, voice concerns, and take risks without fear of retribution. Psychological safety fosters trust, encourages creativity, and enables teams to navigate challenges effectively. When individuals feel safe to contribute, the collective intelligence of the team flourishes, leading to stronger performance and greater innovation.

Have you listened to our podcast episode about Project Aristotle yet? Check it out today! ⤵️

https://youtu.be/xLsOjAsUbZo?si=EYKUd...

9 months ago | [YT] | 4

LeaderFactor

💡 Fear breaks the feedback loop.💡

And that is something you must avoid at all costs, because without feedback, innovation stagnates.

When fear takes root in an organization, trust erodes, collaboration falters, and critical feedback is lost. Without psychological safety, people hesitate to speak up—nurses won't challenge surgeons, flight attendants won't challenge pilots. Authority bias and fear create a culture where ideas are stifled, and unaddressed problems lead to repeated failures.

As leaders, we have a choice:

Does our influence foster psychological safety and open communication, or does it restrict the flow of feedback?

Addressing fear is not just about creating a safer workplace—it's about creating an environment where every voice matters.

We’ve just released a video on our YouTube channel about the critical connection between fear and the feedback loop. This insightful discussion is taken from our podcast episode, "Overcoming Organizational Fear." Don’t miss it!

9 months ago | [YT] | 0

LeaderFactor

Psychological safety is the foundation of high-performing teams.

That is no surprise. But how can we practically increase psychological safety in our organizations?

The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety offers a clear, progressive framework to guide this effort. When teams progress through these stages, they become more resilient, innovative, and united in achieving their goals. By creating an environment where individuals feel included, supported in their learning, empowered to contribute, and safe to challenge the status quo, teams can unlock their full potential.

Leaders, here are practical examples for each stage to help you build and strengthen psychological safety within your organization:

1. Inclusion Safety
▶ Ask twice as much as you tell.
▶ Learn peoples' names and how to pronounce them.
▶ Avoid comparisons and competitions.
▶ Express gratitude and appreciation.
▶ Conduct frequent, brief touchpoints.

2. Learner Safety
▶ Share what you're learning.
▶ Control non-verbal cues.
▶ Admit your ignorance and say "I don't know."
▶ Share past mistakes.
▶ Provide unwavering support through the low points.

3. Contributor Safety
▶ Recognize accomplishment.
▶ Let them do it their way.
▶ Identify stall points.
▶ Create conditions for peak engagement.
▶ Avoid shutdown statements.

4. Challenger Safety
▶ Encourage team members to come with half-baked questions and raggedy solutions.
▶ Mandate a no-interruption rule in group discussions.
▶ Weigh in last.
▶ Identify and avoid defensive routines.
▶ Protect your team from groupthink.

How will you increase psychological safety in your organization this week?

#psychologicalsafety #inclusion #learning #autonomy #statusquo #LeaderFactor

9 months ago | [YT] | 4

LeaderFactor

Fear is the silent killer of innovation in organizations. When employees feel judged or punished for mistakes, they stop sharing ideas, disengage, and ultimately leave. A study from the Harvard Business Review found turnover rates in fear-based workplaces to be 25–30% higher than in environments that foster trust and safety. Innovation thrives only where employees feel secure enough to take risks and challenge the status quo.

In this free guide, we explore the real impact of fear on creativity, collaboration, and organizational health. Drawing on research and practical examples, we’ll uncover why fear holds teams back and how leaders can replace it with a culture of trust, psychological safety, and meaningful innovation.

Download the guide here: www.leaderfactor.com/resources/fear-vs-innovation-…

Watch the episode here: https://youtu.be/u8hXlhjlc4M

#innovation #fear #psychologicalsafety

9 months ago | [YT] | 0

LeaderFactor

What do you do with toxic leaders in an organization? Coach those who lack the skill. Remove those who lack the will.

Some leaders harm their team through skills-gap negligence. Others exhibit blatant, active toxicity. Regardless, they are creating fear in your organization.

At an individual level, fear paralyzes performance, craters morale, and destroys confidence. At an organizational level, it kills innovation, breaks trust, and breeds silence. You can't afford to have pervasive fear become the cultural norm.

So, how do you know which kind of leader you're dealing with? 🔑 Here are some key identifying behaviors.

Actively toxic leaders will exhibit behaviors like:
▶ Denial
▶ Blame
▶ Excuse
▶ Volatility
▶ Abuse
▶ Force
▶ Deception
▶ Bullying
▶ Inducing Fear
▶ Hoarding Power
▶ Manipulation
▶ Coercion

Passively complicit leaders are often:
▶ Aloof
▶ Passive
▶ Absent
▶ Unaware
▶ Permissive
▶ Indirect
▶ Uncertain
▶ Scared
▶ Deflective
▶ Allergic to Accountability
▶ Siloed
▶ Idle

Can you see the difference? Some toxic behaviors are obvious and overt, other behaviors are microscopic and practically undetectable.

Actively toxic leaders should be managing resources, not leading people. Better yet, they should be let go entirely.

On the other hand, passively complicit leaders who exhibit skills-gap negligence on their teams can be coached into success. They have a skill problem, not a will problem.

Teams and organizations don’t outperform their leaders, they reflect them. If you wait too long to intervene, major cultural damage will permeate your organization.

#toxicleadership #leadership #coaching #activetoxicity

10 months ago | [YT] | 0

LeaderFactor

The effectiveness of a team isn’t about its demographics but the quality of its interactions.

In 2012, Google's Project Aristotle revealed psychological safety as the key to high-performing teams. However, the research didn’t outline how leaders can cultivate that safety.

In his book, Timothy R. Clark presents the 4 Stages of Psychological Safety framework, highlighting four key interaction patterns found in psychologically safe teams:

1. Inclusion Safety: Team members connect and belong.
2. Learner Safety: They embrace mistakes and learning.
3. Contributor Safety: Autonomy and accountability are present.
4. Challenger Safety: Teams innovate through breakthrough thinking.

How do we foster these interactions? By modeling and rewarding vulnerability.

When you eliminate fear and create an environment where vulnerability is encouraged, your team will surpass expectations.

Be sure to check out our podcast episode about Project Aristotle by clicking on the link below!

https://youtu.be/xLsOjAsUbZo?si=sLWZm...

#ProjectAristotle #teamcomposition #interactionpatterns #vulnerability #companyculture

11 months ago | [YT] | 1

LeaderFactor

Accountability is being answerable for one's performance. It is one of the most critical factors in driving performance and success within an organization. It shows up in three distinct levels, each requiring different degrees of autonomy, responsibility, and ownership. Understanding these levels helps leaders and teams foster a culture of accountability, which ultimately leads to higher organizational effectiveness.

▶ Task Accountability: At the most fundamental level, accountability starts with being responsible for individual tasks. These are singular, simple actions that need to be completed to standard and on time. Just like mowing the lawn, it’s about focusing on specific duties and executing them consistently.

▶ Process Accountability: Once there is a proven track record of completing tasks, accountability shifts to overseeing a series of tasks or a project. This level involves managing the process, ensuring that every step is completed efficiently and effectively. It’s like tending the entire yard—mowing, trimming, pruning, and ensuring the overall upkeep of the landscape.

▶ Outcome Accountability: The highest level of accountability is about taking full ownership of the results and consequences of your actions. It requires critical thinking, problem-solving, and the ability to take initiative. When you reach this level, it’s like managing the entire yard on your own—if something breaks, you fix it, and if the lawn needs care, you take action without being asked.

As teams develop their ability to take ownership at each level of accountability, overall performance and effectiveness improve. By understanding where your team members are currently operating, you can support their growth toward greater autonomy and responsibility, ultimately fostering a more engaged and high-performing workforce.

How are you helping your team move toward outcome-level accountability?

Watch the podcast episode here: https://youtu.be/jMBu1jgo8vE?si=rwkAo...

#psychologicalsafety #accountability #performance #autonomy #LeaderFactor

11 months ago | [YT] | 7

LeaderFactor

Think of psychological safety as the collective emotional intelligence of a group.

Have you ever seen a team full of individuals with low EQ who maintain high psychological safety? Probably not.

👤 EQ: Improves your individual ability to interact effectively.
👥 Psychological Safety: Improves your team's ability to interact effectively.

Let's start with EQ:

We improve our emotional intelligence when we learn to interact more effectively. This includes improving our perception, our intent, and our skills in our interactions. The goal is to improve our delivery system to become more effective.

But what about psychological safety?

We increase the levels of psychological safety on our team when we increase the instances of rewarded vulnerability in our interactions. The goal is to increase inclusion, learning, contribution, and candor within our team.

Recognizing that psychological safety is the collective EQ of a group has been a crucial “aha moment” for many of our L&D and HR clients. Can you see how the two work together?

⭐ Building individual self and social awareness helps a team identify acts of vulnerability as they interact.

⭐ Monitoring and improving self and social regard motivates teams to validate their colleagues' unique workplace vulnerabilities.

⭐ Improving the skills that team members have to interact effectively gives them better tools to reward the vulnerabilities of others.

This relationship between emotional intelligence and psychological safety is the anatomy of culture in an organization. Both should be at the foundation of all development efforts.

An organization that cannot recognize the relationship between psychological safety and emotional intelligence will struggle to (1) Gather cultural data that can be used tactically, (2) target the root cause of cultural distress, and (3) program meaningful, effective intervention.

#psychologicalsafety #emotionalintelligence #workplaceculture #LeaderFactor

1 year ago (edited) | [YT] | 0