The Neuroscience of Psychological Safety
Psychological Safety is a term that is being used a lot these days. Unfortunately, much like the term “Emotional Intelligence,” many people are not really sure what it means. Or, if they do, they tend to write it off as just another buzz word used by HR professionals and coaches .
In order to address this problem, I like to look below the surface of simply “helping people feel safe,” and give those who are in the position of influencing others (CEOs, supervisors, managers, parents, etc.) an understanding of the neuroscience behind the concept. For example, as my “Life from the Top of the Mind” system teaches, the middle brain or limbic system, acts as a gatekeeper. It gets information first and acts as a scanner, a processor, and a router. Unfortunately, it isn’t very smart, and it is working with old software, which means that it tends to misinterpret anything negative as dangerous, and throws us into the lower reactive brain (the brainstem). What we want is to access the clear, confident, creative, part of the brain (the neocortex, or the “Top of the Mind”). And, we also want to engage the receptive brain of those we are wanting to influence.
Unfortunately, when people feel unsafe, either physically or psychologically, their unconscious, middle and lower brains react with either fight (anger), flight (withdrawal), or freeze, which blocks their ability to hear and/or understand what is being said. Psychological safety, therefore, isn’t just a nice idea, it is essential for effective communication and problem-solving.
The next question, therefore, is how do we create environments (teams, organizations, families, etc.) in ways that promote psychological safety? The good news is that there is a lot of information on this, and a lot of it is based around elements of good communication. In other words, listening with true curiosity, versus just listening to respond, working to truly understand another’s perspective versus trying to convince them that they are wrong, looking for solutions that combine what is important to all parties, etc.
This is what my Life from the Top of the Mind system teaches… how to ensure that we are taking responsibility for coming to conversations from a place worthy of their trust, how to engage others so that they truly feel safe, and how to create solution-focused conversations that combine what is important to them, as well as, us. If you that feel this would be valuable for you and/or your organization, I suggest that you contact me, because until we understand and take more responsibility for creating psychological safety in our organizations and families, we will be forever be limited in our ability to influence others.
~ All the best, Dr. Bill