5 Powerful Ways to Make Your Company a Place Employees Can Really Thrive

Organizations often paint a picture of a perfect organizational culture, but behind the scenes, a different story unfolds. According to Gallup’s latest State of the Global Workforce report, it was found that “quiet disengagement,” or “employees who don’t do more at work,” is still prevalent. The report revealed that 62% of the workforce worldwide is unemployed.

Quitting is often the result of a toxic work culture and/or burnout. Taking immediate action is key to fostering an environment where employees thrive at all levels in the organization.

At the heart of all this is the power and role of authenticity and empathy in leadership: creating and cultivating a psychologically safe workplace. Authenticity can be perceived differently depending on who we are and our experience. When authenticity is there, it can sometimes be easy to spot. Signs of inauthenticity are when the leader’s behavior is inconsistent with different settings; nor do their actions match their words.

So how can leaders create a psychologically safe work culture based on authenticity and empathy? Here are five powerful ways to do so.

Related: Why You Should Care About Mental Safety at Work

1. Encourage a culture of talking and don’t allow a culture of silence

A culture of silence arises when there is no psychological security. This can be very dangerous as it leads to failure to innovate, high profitability and low performance to name a few. A culture of silence is not only when people cannot speak, but when people willfully refuse to listen to others.

Foster a culture of speaking up by encouraging the expression of ideas, asking questions, reporting mistakes and challenging the status quo.

Here are some ways to do that:

• Use a combination of open live feedback and anonymous feedback.
  • Live live feedback: Encourage employees to express their ideas/thoughts without feeling judged.
  • Anonymous Answer: Create channels like Google surveys that can be used to get feedback from employees. Anonymous feedback can discourage “GroupThink” which can be beneficial in generating honest feedback. “GroupThink” is when a person just accepts a consensus opinion instead of engaging in critical thinking.

Leaders who demonstrate integrity and empathy are key to contributing to a culture where everyone’s voice is heard. This means that integrity is a constant theme in all aspects of your life. Empathy also means putting yourself in the other person’s shoes to understand what motivates them and understand their feelings with compassion and support. This type of leader is secure within themselves which allows them to accept ideas that may not please them and challenge them. Insecure leaders do not accept input from team members because they may see it as challenging their authority.

2. Listen politely and show people that you care

An effective leader is one who listens to understand instead of listening to answer. This ensures that their team members feel truly heard and understood. It is also important to make sure that discussions between managers and team members are conducted on an equal footing. When managers speak first, team members will be less likely to offer any ideas that conflict with the leaders. This is why it is recommended that leaders speak last and hold space so that everyone in the room has an equal opportunity to speak.

In Edmondson’s book, he highlights Eileen Fisher’s meeting structure that de-emphasizes categories and encourages equal participation. Hence the promotion of the so-called “leader in every seat.”

Related: Do Your Employees Feel Safe? Here’s How to Create a Mentally Safe Workplace

3. Make it safe to fail

Staying innovative in today’s world requires allowing people the “freedom to fail.” Now this is not about taking uncalculated and careless risks that lead to business failure, but rather taking calculated ones.

Here are some examples of how leaders can make failure safe:

• Solution-oriented feedback: It is important to ensure that error detection comes from a troubleshooting environment combined with a support feature.
• Calculated risk taking workshops: Workshops that focus on how to take calculated risks can make risk-taking seem less daring and create a culture of innovative thinking.

Instead of looking at failure as something you need to completely avoid or fear, look at failure as a normal part of learning and self-examination.

4. Vulnerability of the model

It is important to be open about areas where you lack expertise as a leader. During team strategy meetings, do your best to solicit input from your team and be open to their ideas and direction. This will create a safe environment for future meetings without fear of reprimand or consequences.

Many leaders struggle with the question, “How can I be vulnerable without oversharing?”

It is important to note that leaders should share without oversharing. Leaders need to be vulnerable with the boundaries attached to them. Research professor and vulnerability expert Brene Brown says it well, “The vulnerability of delimiting is not vulnerability.” For example, a manager may share that he is having a bad day because of some personal problems, but make sure not to share the intricate details of his personal problems.

Vulnerability has the potential to create a culture of trust and inclusion, which is a safe place to work psychologically.

Related: Psychological Safety Is Critical to Your Team’s Success – Here Are 4 Ways to Be Creative

5. Recognize and celebrate people

“The extra mile is never enough” as the famous saying goes. This is something that leaders must pay close attention to when it comes to recognizing and appreciating team members. Financial benefits play a role in employee recognition, but the use of words is memorable when it occurs in a real setting. Acknowledging success immediately, celebrating team work publicly and sending a personal thank-you note are some great ways to show recognition.

Authentic appreciation leads to a psychologically safe work culture. Everyone has their own choices about getting positive feedback. Creating a reward system where every employee has the freedom to choose their own rewards creates a personalized experience.

At the end of the day, when employees are happy, everything runs smoothly and runs smoothly and efficiently. And it all starts with making a conscious effort to constantly find ways to create a workplace culture that every employee can be proud of and succeed in all areas, not just their jobs.