How to move your organization from fear to fearlessness

How to move your organization from fear to fearlessnessHow to move your organization from fear to fearlessnessThe fear of speaking up is pervasive unfortunately, fruchtwein people dont realize it.Silence is unelendiced, but the costs of fear shouldnt they are massive. According to Harvard professor Amy Edmondson, companies waste millions of dollars because most employees stay silent.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreSpeaking up is vital to drive progress and innovation. If you or your team stay silent, your organization loses invaluable input. People dont just hold back schwimmbad news or dissent, but ideas for improvement and growth.Holding back is natural. Silence is intuitive when we dont feel safe. Thats why most of us think twice before sharing an idea or asking a question during a meeting. We dont want to be laughed at, ridiculed, ignored, or punished we think speaking up wi ll get us into trouble.Organizations need creativity and innovation, bedrngnis silence. Without trouble,theres no change. A fearless culture encourages participation everyone shares their ideas and thoughts to move the company forward.So, how do you get abfluged?First Steps to Building Psychological SafetyFortunately, Ive seen a growing interest among companies they realize the importance of becoming fearless. But, few know where to get started. Or the challenge I face more often organizations want to build psychological safety without really changing.Overcoming fear involves revisiting leadership styles, organizational culture, and team behavior. Be ready to challenge how you think.Amy Edmonson, author ofThe Fearless Organization,describes three steps leaders can take to create psychological safety the shared belief that a team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.Start with the leader they have to set the stage to frame the work and emphasize purpose.Inviting participation leader s must practice inquiry, humility, and set up processes.Responding productively appreciate participation and destigmatize failure.Getting buy-in from senior leaders is vital to building psychological safety across an organization. However, this shouldnt stop you. Many successful revolutions happen from the inside-out. You can create safe spaces even within a toxic culture.Im bedrngnis a fan of 22 matrices they can be deceiving or oversimplify things. However, I came up with one to organize and help my clients better understand what it takes to build aFearless Culture.In my experience, there are two key elements at play vulnerability and creativity both feed off each other.Vulnerabilityis a challenging concept. We are taught to look confident, assertive, and in control. Being vulnerable is the opposite. We must be humble to acknowledge our humanity, emotions, and flaws. Its something that everyone must embrace and practice leaders, teams, and individuals.Creativityis more than the ab ility to solve complex problems its an essential metaskillfor the 21st Century. Dealing with uncertainty and ambiguity requires adapting to a dynamic reality. Creativity helps us reframe and solve unexpected day-to-day issues.Each quadrant addresses a different challenge.Increase Self-AwarenessWe canelend lead others if we cant lead ourselves first. Knowing oneself is critical to becoming an agent of change. Most of us think we know ourselves well, butonly a few really do. It takes courage to confront with our unknown unknowns.Lead with QuestionsLead as if you are right but listen as if you are not.Intellectual humilitymakes you a better leader. In a complex, rapidly changing world, you cannot have all the answers. Asking excellent questions is more important than pretending we know it all.Invite ParticipationAuthentic conversations, not Powerpoints, drive change. People want to actively be part of the conversation, not just feel involved. Participation not only defeats silence peop le feel less resistant when they have a saying on how things should work.Fail SmartFailure is not a destination but a necessary stop in the innovation journey. Fearless cultures dont hide their mistakes. They share them openly learning and improvement matter more than egos. It also prevents others from repeating the same error.How Companies Build FearlessCulturesThis matrix has also helped me capture thedifferent practices to build Fearless Cultures what Ive learned from researching what companies are doing as well as my own practice.To keep this post short, I will share some methods and provide links for further reading. It will help you understand the overall approach. Feel free to reach out if you have questions orcheck out this workshop.A. Increase Self-AwarenessEmbracing vulnerability requires courage trust startswithin yourself.Self-awareness is much more than understanding yourself its learning to how others see us too. Increased self-awareness takes time and regular practice . The good news? You can start small.Organizational psychologist Tasha Eurichrecommendsestablishing the habit of a daily check-in most self-aware people practice it. Ask yourself these three questions at the end of each dayWhat went well today?What didnt go so well today?How can I be smarter tomorrow?Many companies, likeMedium, practice acheck-in roundat the beginning of a meeting to increase team awareness.By asking Whats got your attention? the team realizes the emotions and feelings each person is bringing to a meeting. Understanding where everyone is coming from promotes empathy and reduces useless conflicts.Heres a compilation of15 exercisesto develop self-awareness at an individual and team level.B. Lead with QuestionsLeadership needs to shift fromowning knowledgetopromoting a culture of curiosity. Questions encourage quiet people to speak up. As Edmondson said, Questions create a vacuum that serves as a voice opportunity for someone. They create a small safe zone automaticall y.Questions promote transparency. Take this one for exampleIf I leave the company, what would you like the new CEO to change?This question makes it safe to talk about what the CEO can improve. First, because she/he is sending the message that she/he wont be there forever. Second, its acknowledging that she/he is not addressing all expectations. Lastly, it drives a sense of urgency it helps uncover issues that are meaningful and critical to the team.Similarly, Steve Jobs was getting anxious that Pixar employeeswerent speaking upat the end of staff meetings. He realized he had to change the question. Do you have any feedback? wasnt encouraging people to talk.Jobs overcame silence by asking,Whats not working at PIXAR? Whats working at Pixar?The first question invited people to discuss what needed to be fixed. It came from a place of honesty and vulnerability. The second one balanced the other it helped people appreciate the positive things.C. FailSmartDo you have a mistake policy?Error s are a necessary path toward innovation. Explicit your company approach to mistakes and risk-tolerance live it and reward those who experiment.Rajan Tata, founder and chairman of Tata,created a prizefor theBest Failed Idea. He believed failure is a gold mine and wanted to spark innovation and keep his team from avoiding risks.Dont fail fast fail smart. Mistakes are lessons in disguise. Errors are not something to feel guilty about.Social Media consultancy NixonMcInnes created theChurch of Fail its not a new religion but a way of making it okay to err. This monthly ritual celebrates mistakes. Anyone can get on the pulpit to share their own and what theyve learned.Traditional brainstorm processes favor extroverts, people with positional power, those who can think quickly, or like to process ideas by speaking out loud.Overcoming fear takes time. The124-Allmethod is a way to access the inherent power and potenzial of a diverse group. Firstly, participants brainstorm by themselves, seco ndly, in duos. Thirdly, in groups of four. In the end, everyone shares their best ideas.Brainstorming progressively builds creative confidence one person at-a-time.Encouraging autonomyand distributing authority help build Psychological Safety - they are essential to develop a culture of experimentation. Listening to peoples ideas is not enough organizations must give them more space to make decisions too. Dont protect your team theres no growth without failure first.D. Invite ParticipationChange cannot be managed by a small group of executives its a shared responsibility by everyone in the organization. Participation not only drives ownership it multiplies the number of ideas and perspectives.Appreciative inquiryis a smart way to drive change through co-creation. It engages all stakeholders in self-determined change organizations are designed, maintained and transformed by conversations.Managers do not have all the answers. Increased participation drives engagement and speed. Invite and conquer let your team choose rather than being forced to support change.Listen to all the voices. Software developer Atlassian practicesconversational turn-takingto ensure even participation all team members get their turn to speak up. Managers or loud people go last to avoid influencing or silencing others.Makeparticipation optional. Sounds counterintuitive but it works. People become more committed when they feel in control. Similarly,self-selection choosing ones activities and team increases accountability and performance.The Law of Two Feetis an essential component of the Open Space Technology (OPT)approach. People can leave a meeting when they feel they are wasting their time. It makes it safe to choose ones priorities wisely.Participation is recognizing that together we create better solutions. Check outthis postto discover other methods to generate conversations that drive change.Your human talent is your most significant competitive advantage. Imagine all they can do if they werent afraid to speak up.A Fearless Culture encourages people to bring their best selves to work. Overcoming fear requires time start small and be consistent. Building vulnerability and creativity will advance your organization. Take the first step.Gustavo Razzetti is a change instigator who helps people and organizations createpositive change. He advises, writes, and speaks on team development and culture transformation. Receive hisweekly insightsor follow him onLinkedIn.This article first appeared on Medium.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people