The Authentic Organization

Preface: Psychological Safety in Action

It was 6 p.m. on a winter's night. The sun had set long ago. It was cold and the rain was bouncing off the floor. I stepped out of the office, pulled my collar up around my ears and headed back to my car after a busy day at work. I was 22 years old. 4 ft 11 inches tall. Tired. Vulnerable. My laptop was slung over my shoulder as I made my way back to the car park on the edge of town, alone.

I had a 15-minute walk ahead of me from the probation office. Around 6 minutes into the walk, I felt a presence appear behind me. A man was now keeping pace with me. He was close. Uncomfortably close. I stopped, hoping he would continue to walk ahead of me. But he didn't. He stopped walking and lingered behind.

Not knowing what to do, I picked up the pace. We had more distance between us now but I could still hear his heavy breath when he exhaled and his footsteps as his boots made contact with the wet floor. I knew I was in danger. I tried to remember protocol. Ah yes, call the office. Step one. I grabbed my phone and called Cath in the office. She was always there at this time of night, waiting for our phone call to let her know we had arrived home safely.

This call was different. I asked her to talk to me until I got into my car. She did, my tone telling her everything she needed to activate Code Red. Within a second, I was on speaker phone with everyone at head office listening in. They had a second line ready to call the police and a third line ...