The psychological safety continuum
A framework for articulating social, organizational and managerial performance. ### **At the
foundation of the conditions for quality work and collective effectiveness, at All Leaders Initiative, we value the concept of the psychological safety continuum. It is at the heart of the relational dimension of work.**
BUT FUNDAMENTALLY, WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY? Put very
simply, it's feeling in a work environment where you can express yourself - whether it's asking a question, expressing a doubt or proposing a contribution or initiative - without fear of negative feedback direct or delayed. It is in such an environment that we can collectively be open, creative and innovative. No injunction to workplace happiness, right-thinking or naïveté here: this is truly **in service of collective performance, aligning economic and human interests** of all stakeholders.
THE ARROW OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY CONTINUUM EXPRESSES CONTINUITY BETWEEN TWO
EXTREMES
On the right, high performance enabled by an environment strongly infused with psychological safety. As a reminder, our studies conducted with OpinionWay show that 100% of employees in such an environment also belong to high-performing organizations… Here, we are in high levels of cohesion, trust and openness. We nurture leadership at all levels and observe the implementation of the principles dear to us of Leadership based on intention. As we move to the left of this continuum arrow, we encounter situations of conflict – which are not inherently bad: conflict is confrontation with alterity, with difference, a condition for the capacity to think differently and innovate. But poorly experienced and poorly regulated conflict is destructive of value (see our studies on the hidden costs of excessive conflict) and of humanity, with its train of tensions, shift into psychosocial risks (PSR), phenomena of exhaustion and burnout… And at the far left of the arrow, mental disorders are observed. Not that they are strictly speaking created by work (which one might argue of PSR) but because they will express themselves in what is an important dimension of daily life, and in a manner either tempered or amplified by the organization and working conditions. We clearly see here this idea of continuum: it is by attending to the left part of the arrow that we can give ourselves the means to access the right part of high collective performance – just as it is necessary to care for the foundations of a building before focusing on the finishing work...
**In other words, the quality and health of employees and managers are the
condition for the quality and health of the organization.** This is why All Leaders Initiative intervenes throughout the continuum depending on contexts and issues!