Make Your 1:1s Useful To Increase Safety.
Building 1:1 positive relationships directly influences the psychological safety of a team.
Positive relationships encourage unusual levels of effort.
Teams with positive 1:1 relationships with their peers and leaders are more likely to define themselves as safer to perform in, and express themselves in.
It’s not the length of time we spend together that dictates the strength of a relationship, but how meaningful it is to us.
The world's longest study on happiness discovered that good relationships were the greatest predictor of health and the quality of those connections was more impactful than the frequency.
Make your 1:1s useful to increase safety.
One study of 1,000 teams discovered two things that shifted the dial on psychological safety:
12% increase in safety when leaders treated each team member as individual contributors, with individual needs, in 1:1s.
6% increase in safety when leaders spent 1:1 time removing team roadblocks.
It’s a useful framing, think about 1:1’s in its simplest form: how could this conversation make life easier for my colleague, after this meeting?
Psychological safety is an individual construct, meaning …
You can’t define if a group is safe for someone else. Because everyone is different, how people see a group is unique to their world view.
One way we can positively influence someone elses perspective is to invest time in building a trusted relationship with colleagues so they view us as safe.
Then, when the group meets up, there’s simply less tension. There’s an established track record of what has gone down outside of this group that influences the intention of how people want to contribute in the first place.
It’s a bit like going to a party with a friend vs turning up alone.
You’re more relaxed if you arrive with someone you trust, right?
The same applies to work. We want to know we’re socially safe in a group.
At work, this need is heightened because we get paid, meaning there’s more at stake if we don’t have safety in a group.
Being socially safe isn’t a nice to have - it’s a need to have, to keep our job. That’s why psychological safety is so influential to how people work.
Thinking about this idea for a moment …
Has there been a time where you’ve found smiling along when someone is saying absolute nonsense, just to get through the day?
Have you found yourself going along with an ineffective meeting because you lack faith your colleague knows any better?
There’s a valid reason for that. The foundation of trust is absent.
The tale of 87,000 leaders.
In a study of 87,000 leaders, it was discovered that trust was built on three criteria, in this order:
A foundation of positive relationships.
Sound expertise/judgement.
Consistency.
The researchers discovered the solid foundation of a positive relationship set the other two elements (judgement and consistency) up for natural success.
The sound expertise wasn’t that someone was ‘smarter’. It’s that they did the smart thing, which showcased their judgement.
Unhelpful behaviour in a team looks like a team problem.
Sure, it impacts the team. But the source of the problem actually lies in the relationship between two people. If two people aren’t cool, it influences the group.
“Well I’m fine with so and so, but they don’t get along with someone else.”
If anyone isn’t getting along in your team, it’s your job to find a way to make it go away.
In this instance, you move away from a ‘fixer’ to a ‘referee’. You’re reminding people of the rules of engagement.
Someone else's drama may not be your beef, but under your leadership, it’s your responsibility.
When two people aren’t getting on, and you don’t address it, as the boss you are signalling that it is okay. Even if it isn’t your drama, it impacts your credibility. As unaddressed, they lose respect for you.
In groups is one of the first places unhappiness shows up.
People don’t behave in unhelpful ways because they’re happy and fulfilled.
When someone acts in self-preserving ways, it’s the first signal they feel psychologically unsafe.
Acting up in a group is one of the safest ways of communicating that you're unhappy because it’s indirect, meaning you don’t anticipate someone will directly challenge you on it, but you do hope someone notices.
Low psychological safety means a fear of others is present.
High safety means a fear of others is not present.
A tangible way you can increase safety is by tackling those 1:1 relationships.
Bring this workshop on psychological safety to your workplace.
Did you know that everyone, including your peers and direct reports can cultivate positive relationships that improve team safety, in some cases by 40%?
If you need to increase safety in your workplace and are unsure how, there are practical, positive ways everyone can contribute. Learn how in our workshop on Creating Psychological Safety delivered in workplaces, both in person or online.