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Laying the Foundation

👥 Group Setting | 🕒 20 min | 🔄 Once | 🛋️ Required Comfort: 1

Use When​

Your team is new to working with psychological safety.

Prerequisites​

None

Tool Description​

A good introduction to working with psychological safety, is to understand what psychological safety is, and also what it is not. No one explains it better than Harvard psychological safety researcher, Amy Edmondson.

Arrange a shared viewing of Amy Edmondson's 11-minute Ted Talk on psychological safety, which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhoLuui9gX8

After watching, have a shared 10-minute discussion within the team, asking the following questions:

  1. What was your main takeaway from the talk?
  2. Did you recognize something your team is good at from the talk?
  3. Did you recognize something your team struggles with from the talk?
  4. How do you think your team could improve by working with psychological safety?

Purpose​

“Laying the Foundation” lays the groundwork for working with psychological safety, through establishing a shared understand of what it means for your team, and what your goals are in working with it.

Outcome​

A foundational, shared understanding of the concept of psychological safety within the team, in addition to increased awareness of how it relates to your team.