The Authentic Organization

3The Extent of the Issue

“Do I feel safe and at ease in my surroundings and with the people I am with?” While we may have only recently coined the term “psychological safety,” the underlying concept has been a timeless consideration for centuries. So, you would expect we have a million and one pieces of data that have been collected about it, right? Wrong. I mentioned earlier that when I first started out on my psychological safety journey, I couldn't find much data at all. The information I did find was often tied into other data sets, other surveys or focused predominantly on unrelated subjects.

Absence of Statistics

When I first started my business, the concept of psychological safety wasn't talked about in workplaces. I was primarily having conversations about LGBTQ+ inclusion, diversity and equity, with each of these three aspects being separate, distinct and isolated conversations. Over the years, these conversations evolved, with the narrative shifting from equity and diversity, to diversity and equality, then to diversity and inclusion, followed by inclusion and intersectionality, culminating in discussions around belonging and bringing your Authentic Self to work. More recently, there has been a notable shift toward psychological safety and inclusion. However, individuals often misunderstand psychological safety, mistakingly thinking it is intrinsically linked to inclusion.

Psychological safety appears to be a trendy term in organizations – the latest hot topic. ...