Let's start with an assumption - empowered employees are happier employees and happier employees are more productive. And more productive people tend to be...you guessed it, more empowered. See the circuit? Check out 5 tips that are the foundation of human resources best practices.
Don't forget the "hue" of human resources. The benefit of having training, workshops, and other assets to help us in the workplace can also be its curse at times -feeling as if there may be more focus on the “resources” and less on the “human”. Humans can be pretty complex with different hues and intensities, and without the proper interactions and platform of safety to engage, all the training in the world won't matter.
How to feel safe about psychological safety.
This is why it’s so important to focus on the true meaning of the core concept of psychological safety, and not just treat it like a buzzword that lacks any real infrastructure. It’s less about a checklist of to-do’s that lead to a big “ta-da!” moment that proclaims “we must be psychologically safe now!” It’s more subtle and requires consistency. True psychological safety is the felt sense a person has, not what someone else declares.
But Mick has really tried to get some satisfaction.
Well, maybe but we all can use a little help and that's the connection between psychological safety and productivity, and satisfaction. Human beings have evolved to prioritize our own safety at all costs. And thank goodness, otherwise we wouldn’t have evolved to still be here. But our comparatively primitive survival mechanisms can't match the sophistication of the modern-day “threats” i.e., upcoming performance review, deadline, shaking off a comment from a colleague, so it runs those primitive circuits in non-productive ways, rather than allowing our brains to work productively and innovatively on the work tasks at hand. Psychological safety helps us get there.
Engage your right brain and engage your humanity.
When we establish a right-brain connection with our team members, the fear-based alarm systems in our brains are silenced, and parts of our brain that are best at creativity, connection, and innovation are engaged. By extension, the fruits of right-brain-connected collaborations are unveiled. But this takes practice, (hint: VitalConex can help). This is the start of real engagement as we discussed in a previous blog, too.
Resourceful humans are more vital human resources.
Resourceful humans are those employees who are operating in their zones of genius, contributing their unique parts to the whole, all while feeling a sense of belonging and purpose in the process. This only adds to the importance of human resources beyond traditional ways of thinking to make it even clearer that people and teams are beyond their organizational chart. Psychological safety does this by moving from functional teams to vital ensembles.
The VITAL5 ROUNDUP– From human resources to resourceful humans.
1. "Hue" matter – don't forget to focus on the human on the receiving end of every training and workshop to make change stick.
2. Be a "sense-say" – people have to feel a sense of psychological safety that matches the words that you say.
3. Summon your inner Jagger – psychological safety, when really committed to, improves satisfaction and the rest is just a "stones" throw from there.
4. Right-size – right-brain thinking and collaboration free up engagement.
5. Vital resources – think of human resources as vital and their resourcefulness will serve them, their teams, and the entire organization.
VitalConex is a connect-and-create company. To learn more about the "peanut butter cup" of successful teams, check us out at www.vitalconex.com