Why is psychological safety so critical within our city council?

Last week I gave a presentation at the annual ProjectWorld conference in Toronto on the importance of psychological safety within project teams.

If you aren’t familiar with the term, while it has been covered in leadership articles since the 1960’s, it was popularized by Google’s 2012 Project Aristotle which focused on identifying what made some of their teams more effective than others. While researchers determined that factors such as team members feeling that their work has personal meaning, that they are making an impact in the world, that there is structure and clarity to their roles and that they are dependable are all important, the underpinning for all four of these was psychological safety which means that team members feel safe to take risks and to be vulnerable in front of each other.

There are many examples of teams in which a lack of psychological safety has led to major issues or even to tragedy. When the Rogers Commission appointed by President Reagan investigated the space shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986, they determined that while engineers at NASA and at the contractor which had designed the solid rocket boosters had expressed concerns about potential issues with their O-rings, they were unable to get support from leadership to delay the launch sufficiently to address these issues.

So what does this have to do with city council?

Our council is required to make decisions which will have long term impacts to residents within the city. If council members do not feel safe expressing concerns without fear of social stigma or persecution, they will stay silent and vote with the majority. Similarly, if they do not feel safe, they won’t suggest creative solutions or be willing to try out new approaches or ideas.

But don’t get me wrong. Psychological safety is not about prioritizing niceness above all else nor is it about encouraging an “anything goes” culture. Constructive conflict focused on an issue rather than an individual is a tenet of healthy teams. And “bull in the china shop” behavior is inappropriate in any professional setting.

And this is why one of my priorities, if elected, is to help cultivate psychological safety within our council.

For more information on my campaign platform, please visit kiron4welland.com.

Authorized by the Official Agent for the Kiron Bondale Campaign.