During a coaching call with Ravi Verma, I shared learning from the field of neuroleadership. Given this field is still emerging, I perceive a connection between it and psychological safety.

Being a life-long learner has certain downs and ups.

• First, I find connections between concepts that may not be directly related.
• Second, it requires a time to build connections.
• Third, it comes with opportunity costs.
• Fourth, it can serve to improve humanity.
• Fifth, if no practical action comes of the learning, then it was all wasteful.

Which brings me to this post. The post is about the fifth point.

Without psychological safety, a business’ culture cannot reach its full creative potential.

As a veteran working through life impacted by post-traumatic stress (PTS), I view life differently than most people.

Drs. David Rock and Al Ringleb wrote about research on “social pain” in the Handbook of NeuroLeadership. Simply put, people will not risk their group identity or status because of social pain (along with other factors).

If you or I inflict social pain on someone, we cannot expect them to be creative. Social pain can cause a degree of trauma and lower team psychological safety.

For people like me, dealing with PTS, social pain can trigger a “fight or flight” response which can lead to more social pain.

Nurture Psychological Safety

Drs. Amy Edmondson and Timothy Clark have written about the need for psychological safety in the workplace. I say it goes further than just business, it needs to be in homes and the public domain.

We can choose to create cultures that minimize risk of social pain. As well, we can choose how to respond to people who may not be aware of the pain they create.

A starting point to consider is The Flow System. It brings concepts around complexity, leadership, and teamwork together in one place.

A key component of TFS is establishing and enabling psychological safety at both the team and organization level.

I’ll finish with this question. What can you do to minimize social pain and maximize psychological safety today?