Creating Virtual Psychological Safety

How are you creating and maintaining psychological safety in your workplace?

Tune into this week's episode as Scott and Tammy discuss the importance of psychological safety and how to curate it in your organization.

Questions or topic suggestions? Let us know!
podcast@creativesolutionsgp.com
podcast@aveeapartners.com

Connect with us!
https://www.linkedin.com/company/creativesolutionsgp
https://www.linkedin.com/company/aveea-partners

Meet your hosts:
Tammy K Rogers
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tammerarogers

Scott Burgmeyer
https://www.linkedin.com/in/burgy

Other Resources:
http://www.creativesolutionsgp.com
http://www.aveeapartners.com
http://chiefoptimizationofficer.com/

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Leadership Line, a podcast that covers everyday work issues. From dealing with jerks at work to feeling burnt out, Tammy and Scott's experience, along with their different perspectives, help listeners grow, examine realistic options and alternatives, and identify those actionable solutions to the tough issues we face every day at work.

Tammy 0:21

Scott's having a pity party.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Basically, yeah, what's now?

Tammy 0:25

Courtney, what are you gonna do about that?

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Let him cry it out.

Tammy 0:29

I don't really know what to do. He's a big boy, let him cry it out. Shut the door, set the timer for 15 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

I'm gonna get my blanky, my blanky and my graham cracker. It'll all be okay. Now, if only I had a juice box.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Well, actually, we can transition into the topic I want to talk about today, which may have to do with crying. How do you create psychological safety in a virtual setting?

SPEAKER_02 0:52

Oh, you tell them to turn off their camera.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Oh, goodness.

Tammy 0:57

Uh, that is actually a very interesting thing, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:02

And not even close to what I thought we were doing.

Tammy 1:04

Me neither. I thought we were going to something else. So this is what uh the you know, the Miss Unipers pageant does is they talk about nothing for a little while so they can get their brain on so they can actually think about the real question. So psychological safety in a virtual environment. Well, if you think about that, prior to April 1st, 2020, I had not done anything virtually. That was a brand new experience. I mean, I was give me a room, give me people, flip chart markers, you know, sit down face to face with the CEO. So a virtual world didn't really exist for me from that standpoint. Um, yeah, there was phone conversations because I had staff all over, but there wasn't all of this Zoom and Teams and all that kind of stuff that's there now. So that's an that's an interesting question. So, Scott, what have we learned in the last two years?

SPEAKER_02 2:00

I mean, I think number one is cameras on. Period, period, period.

Tammy 2:04

And yet, Scott, everything says, oh, you know, zoom fatigue. And if you have a camera on all the time, you're fatigued all the time.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

I don't disagree. There is zoom fatigue. What's weird to me is, well, what what did you do when you worked in an office? Did you carry like a sheet, you put it over your head? I mean, I get it. Okay. So please, I do get it. So I think there's yes, cameras on. We're gonna turn it off and right blow our nose and do those kinds of things and have a little break. I I do, I think that is important.

Tammy 2:40

So we're working with an organization that has been um, their senior team has been regularly meeting uh for the last two years. They go into the boardroom and they put masks on. And uh a week and a half ago, I instead of being with them uh physically, I was like, we need to do this next meeting virtually, and I need you all in your own offices, and I need you to have your cameras on. And they kind of gave me a little bit of pushback and said, you know, we want to be together. And I was like, hey, I need to be able to see your faces. So I forced the situation and we had a meeting where we could see each other. Well, believe it or not, the following week they had a meeting and they made the decision to do it via Zoom, via camera. And they actually said at the end, the last two meetings are the best meetings that we have had in a couple of years. And I asked the CEO why, and he goes, We talked about it, and we have not seen each other's faces for two years. And while we've been in the same room with one another, we were masked and we were not able to read all that body language. And in fact, we started to fill in the blank with negative details instead of positive details because we couldn't accurately read. And so one of those pieces is to understand that when Zoom and Teams and all this methodology is done well, the camera's in the right place, the light is correct, you know, all of that, and the cameras on, you actually can still connect. It's not exactly the same, but you can still read all of that as long as you're willing to be animated. There are a lot of people who have, you know, dead face on camera, and it's like, no, you have to recognize that you still speak with your eyes, you still speak with your hands, you actually can move in to the closer to the camera and move back and purposefully do the things that you would have done before naturally in the room. Do that with the camera, don't just sit and screen and put the broadcaster kind of face, head never moves on. Be you and almost forget that the camera's there.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

I think that that's first and foremost is you got to have that camera on, yeah. Um, eye contact and make the connection. And then I I believe you said something that in my mind is number two is you have to be present and be animated. I can't be robot zoom participant. I have to be there and I have to smile and and nod and and be authentic in that space.

Tammy 5:28

Yeah, that listening noises thing, right? So we've been, Scott, you and I have been in a lot of Zoom calls where people are like, okay, you need to raise your hand to speak because you shouldn't talk on top of each other. You need to, and they put these artificial rules that actually take away from the dialogue. Talk like you normally talk, speak on top of one another, interrupt, right? That politeness thing that doesn't bring us psychological safety either. It is that's one of the things that separates us and makes it formal. Think about being informal in these situations, like you're having lunch together at a table. That is part of I think what actually makes it feel safer because you're just being yourself, you're not trying to put on this formal persona. So I do think that that is camera on to right, be yourself and be animated and be more, you know, informal in your normal conversations, just like you would if you were in a room with someone instead of putting it on.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

Yeah. And then I think the third, the third thing is really no different than if you were in the room. You got to pay attention and lean into some of the cues.

Tammy 6:49

Oh my gosh, Scott, I think people have gotten lazy and or they think they can get away with stuff. So they will, you know, multitask while they're on a Zoom call. Okay. And so I'll go ahead and do work and I'll pretend that I'm paying attention. If you did that in a meeting in person, you would absolutely get called on your crap. Maybe in my world, you would. And and this multitasking thing, most people can't do it. In fact, the research says none of us can do it. Okay. Scotty differently.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

Not a thing, and I can prove it in 90 seconds. Reach out to me if you want to know how.

Tammy 7:33

But the fact of the matter is, most people struggle being present and multitasking at the same time. And so, in that spot, just recognize that you need to be all in. That also means anybody who's calling a meeting, don't call a flipping meeting if you don't need to. Okay, have these meetings purposefully so that there should be interaction, not just listening. No outcome at there's no reason to have a meeting.

SPEAKER_02 8:04

No outcome, no meeting.

Tammy 8:06

Exactly. Okay. And so I think there's that piece of it too. It's like if I am asking you to join us in this meeting, there's a purpose for your being there other than just listening. So and that makes it safe as well.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

Yeah. So I think the other element of this question, how do you build psychological safety if it's a new group or a new team? It's I think it's different if we've worked together for a number of months or years, and now we're we're thrust into this or we come into a virtual environment. There's probably just some a same old, same old, and and that's likely an easier transition.

Tammy 8:51

Well, Scott, I'm gonna I'm gonna take it and just kind of put it in context. We actually have two courses, right? One is called extreme facilitation, and the other one is extreme virtual facilitation. And the act of facilitation in and of itself is so very different than the act of presentations or the act of training. And many people use those three words to mean the same thing, and they just don't. And so I think one of the pieces around this is to really understand that if you want psychological safety with a new team member or with existing team members, you have to use facilitative techniques. One of those facilitative techniques is setting ground rules, and we just actually said what some of the ground rules are virtually. Your cameras on, right? You need to be fully present in that space and not be that zombie on camera, but be like interactive and bring yourself fully to that table. And you have to not multitask, you have to be here, and that we're not going to hold a meeting unless there's a purpose for you to interact with us, right? We won't hold a meeting for you just to sit there. Those are some ground rules that we can put in place that ensures that we are not wasting people's time and that people understand what we expect of them in these situations. Um, and those ground rules are the good and bad, the right and wrong, the should and shouldn't. And anytime you put parameters up and you help people understand what success looks like, that's another place where you can make people feel psychologically safe. What are some other facilitative techniques, Scott, that lend itself to psychological safety?

SPEAKER_02 10:49

Asking good questions, especially with a new group, within two or three minutes, they every person needs to have said something, interacted, whether the whether that's presented, talked, something to show that um they're they're alive and they're here, and that it's not going to be scary. And that could be as simple as introductions, that could be as simple as uh, I mean, if I'm doing a virtual course, I I started a uh course with a green belt course this week um with uh six or seven participants. And as we're kind of waiting to get started and people are kind of coming in, we're just chit-chatting. Hey, what'd you do this weekend? What's new and exciting? Now everyone's virtual, you know, there's people in Alaska and people in New York. And so now we can talk about differences in weather based on geographic area or any of that, and it's just reducing the little bit of shield that sometimes you might have going into an unknown.

Tammy 11:56

So that that technique, that facilitative technique, right in the beginning, that is just, you know, kind of the welcoming and the acknowledging. So one of the things that happens as people like pop into these meetings is making sure that you say hello using their name. If their name's not on the screen, go, okay, telephone number 51570, right? What would you like me to call you? And then start laughing and they're like, oh, let me change that, right? And it's it's this place where you make sure that every single person as they're coming in is acknowledged and use their names. I know that sounds like a crazy simple thing, but it is amazing the difference when I call someone by their first name. And by the way, we're working with a lot of medical organizations, healthcare organizations. We have people who have titles like crazy. I do not call them Dr. Smith. I use their first name. Again, that is a way to connect with one another. And it's not that I'm being disrespectful of their degree. I am simply saying you aren't your degree, you're a human being. And in this room, we're going to be human beings together. So that's another way that you level the playing field, right? And that you actually acknowledge people, use their name, call them by their first name. And then in the session, even this technique called polling, where you ask a question and you go, okay, I want to hear everybody's gut reaction. And ask a question where there's no right or wrong. It's just a perspective. And then you start, you're like, Courtney, what do you think? Scott, what do you think? Bill, what do you think? Right? Jose, what's going on? And you literally go around and make sure that everybody has the chance. That's another spot that you uh can create psychological safety and set up expectations. And there's so many facilitative techniques in that, that when you use those techniques, one, it helps people participate, but then you find different facilitative techniques to help individuals who are extroverted and really willing to step in, speak and speak up, as well as finding a way to bring those introverts, folks who want to think before they speak, and folks who are not as comfortable speaking in groups, right? That's what breakout rooms help with, those types of things. Those are also methodologies. So I do think it's like think about what are facilitative techniques versus presentation and training techniques that allows people to feel involved, safe, and that their points of view are not going to be discounted, that they are going to be accepted. And I think that's the other side of it acceptance of different points of view without judgment.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

And that wraps up this week's episode of the Leadership Line. As always, feel free to reach out to us in the emails provided in this podcast description box. And be sure to check out our upcoming episodes, always announced on LinkedIn. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next week.