Blog

Self-Organised Criticality (SOC) During my ecology degree, whilst studying ecosystem and habitat change, I learned about Self-Organised Criticality (SOC), and I was fascinated by how it explained the precursors to seemingly dramatic changes. More recently, I’ve been pondering how the concept of SOC can be applied to organisational change as well as the frequency and severity...

We all are. Do only leaders influence psychological safety? Is psychological safety “done to us”? Well, yes and no. Leaders have a significant influence on psychological safety, but they’re not the only contributor, by a very long way. Firstly, psychological safety is also influenced by the structures, systems, incentives, pressures, history, culture, neurodiversities and experiences that...

by Jade Garratt At Psych Safety, our focus has always been on psychological safety in the workplace – helping teams and organisations become more inclusive, equitable, and high-performing through psychologically safer, more human ways of working. But what we work on at work isn’t neatly separated from our personal lives. In our workshops, we often see...

Types of Power In a few previous newsletters, we’ve gotten into power dynamics, power gradients, “power over” vs “power for” and “power to” (see Mary Parker Follett). Steep power gradients are the number one inhibitor of psychological safety, and addressing power gradients is one of the first things to do in order to improve it. The...

The 2024 Psych Safety Book List In case you’ve managed to avoid the onslaught of marketing emails from companies trying to sell you every conceivable product, it’s Black Friday today! Instead of trying to sell to you, we thought we’d share our Psych Safety Christmas 2024 Booklist. It’s an eclectic selection (would you expect anything less?!), and...

We’ve been rather busy this week, in the midst of this round of psychological safety online workshops, including fundamentals, practices, leadership, measurement, advanced, and workshop design and facilitation. With that in mind, we thought it would be a good time to share our Psychological Safety Youtube Channel!  Currently at about 18 videos and growing, we dive...

Psychological Safety Doesn’t Mean Feeling Comfortable By Jade Garratt There are many misconceptions about psychological safety. One is that if we “achieve” psychological safety, it means that people will feel comfortable all the time. It’s understandable to see how that comes about – we think a great deal about how we can make it easier for...

The Chatham House Rule By Jade Garratt We always begin our workshops with a social contract. These are important because they make sure at the very beginning, that we’re on the same page in terms of our expectations of each other, we’ve had chance to agree our shared ways of working (or WoW, as one of...

By: Eveline Zuketto Tiny Habits is a method for behavioral change and leadership development, rooted in behavioral science. The approach focuses on creating small, simple, and achievable habits that seamlessly integrate into daily routines. Instead of relying on motivation, willpower, or social pressure, the method emphasizes starting with small, manageable actions that naturally expand into larger...

How do you become a learning organization? 11 characteristics that bust the myth By: Michella Riupassa When the environment changes but your organization remains the same, growth will quickly stagnate. A Darwinian “survival of the fittest”: organizations that can best adapt to ever-changing conditions are the ones that will survive, thrive and grow. Effective adaptability is...