Culture Problems Got You Down? Ask yourself.... How is your level of Intellectual Honesty & Psychological Safety ?

Culture.

Everyone's talking about it.

Everyone desires a positive one - Employees and Employers alike. (𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴)

Many lack it - and blame the pandemic and remote working. (𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 - 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥, 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘹𝘪𝘤 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘐 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 2020)  

Even organizations who are aware they have a culture problem, struggle with how to "fix it" so they ignore it; magically wishing it would go away and fix itself - it won't.

Despite this magical wishing or intentional blind eye; organizations desire to stay competitive and navigate an increasingly complex and uncertain world. Deep down leaders understand fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation is essential to this.

What many organizations often overlook when they seek to evaluate their culture are two key components:

✔ Intellectual Honesty/Humility.

✔ Psychological Safety.

Intellectual Honesty & Humility involves evaluating information and ideas without bias. More importantly it's being willing to revise one's beliefs in light of new evidence.

Meanwhile, Psychological Safety refers to the belief that one can speak up, take risks, and be vulnerable without fear of negative consequences - like layoffs, termination or demotions.

By embracing, endorsing and prioritizing these concepts, organizations can create an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing ideas and taking risks. By default - driving a better culture.

Great, so now that organizations admit they have an issue, seek to embrace these principals; many still struggle with how to go about taking the next steps.

Here are some ways that organizations can utilize intellectual honesty and psychological safety to improve their organizational culture and foster greater collaboration and innovation:

👉 𝐄𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞: Leaders should encourage open dialogue, active listening, and constructive feedback among employees. This helps to build trust and create an environment where employees feel comfortable expressing their opinions and ideas.

👉 𝐂𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲: Embracing diversity in all its forms - including diversity of thought, experience, and background - organizations can benefit from a wider range of perspectives and ideas. If you look around your Executive and Leadership tables and see the SAME human in every seat - Start here.

👉 𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐞: Promote a culture where failures are seen as opportunities for growth and learning, rather than something to be avoided or punished. When employees feel safe to make a mistake, transparency and communication replace fear.

👉 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: Intellectual honesty requires a willingness to revise one's beliefs & actions in light of new evidence. This mindset is fostered by supporting continuous learning and improvement among employees. If you have cut your training team, your training and development budgets; if you no longer support tuition reimbursements - this will inhibit your organizations ability to innovate and improve.

👉 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞: Leaders should model the behavior they want to see in their employees. This is no time for do as I say not as I do. Demonstrating intellectual honesty & psychological safety in their own actions, leaders can set the tone for the entire organization. When was the last time an executive in your organization stood up and said "I made a mistake, I miscalculated or even said I don't know" ?

With these principals in mind, organizations can create a culture where employees feel comfortable sharing their ideas and taking risks. This leads to greater collaboration, innovation, and ultimately, success. This leads to a strong culture that directly ties to lower attrition, higher retention, healthier employees.

While these principals can bring numerous benefits to an organization, some may be hesitant to embrace them for a variety of reasons. Often when I speak with organizations who may admit they have a culture problem and even may desire to take steps to address it - once they hear what needs to be done; they often hesitate. Why? The biggest reasons I see:

😱 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐯𝐮𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲:  Intellectual honesty and psychological safety require individuals to be vulnerable and admit that they don't know everything. For some organizations, this may be seen as a weakness or a threat to the existing power dynamics.

❌ 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞: Embracing intellectual humility and honesty, and building a culture of psychological safety, often requires significant changes in organizational structure. Some organizations may be resistant to these changes, particularly if they are seen as disrupting the status quo.

😱 𝐋𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭: Building a culture of intellectual honesty and psychological safety requires a high level of trust between team members and leadership. If there is already a lack of trust within the organization, it can be difficult to make progress in this area.

💰 𝐅𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭-𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬: Some organizations may prioritize short-term gains over long-term success, and may not see the value in investing in intellectual humility and psychological safety.

❓𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥: Finally, some organizations may simply not understand what intellectual humility, honesty, and psychological safety entail, and may view them as unnecessary or irrelevant to their goals.

Overall, there are a variety of reasons why some organizations may be hesitant to embrace these principles which is unfortunate given the direct positive impact it can have on their organizations, their culture, employees and even their customers.

The reality is with the right mindset and commitment to long-term success, any organization can build a culture of intellectual humility, honesty, and psychological safety that benefits both individuals and the organization as a whole but it takes understanding, awareness, accountability and a sincere desire to change for it to be successful.