DOES EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE FUEL PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY?

Have you ever had your ideas ignored or worse felt stupid for offering up a solution? Read on...

I experienced this with a former line manager. Tasked with designing and implementing a mandatory team fitness test, I suggested an alternative based on my international experience on the subject, and said something like ... ‘I’ve got another option which might help make it simpler and quicker to record...’

My manager, clearly set on their own idea, responded ‘No, we’re doing it my way and everyone will do it this way. I don’t care what you think, just get on with it!’

Needless to say I was a bit shocked and promptly went quiet with embarrassment. I didn’t want to speak up again and any ideas of innovation were quashed.

The benefits of emotional intelligence (EI) are well documented but did you know psychological safety fosters innovation, saves lives, unlocks team potential, accelerates learning and fosters inclusion? Even better - like EI, psychological safety is a learnable skill.

This could be the motivation behind the growing focus on psychological safety across various industries. Think Google, NASA, Volkswagen, the aviation industry, the military, the fire service … the list goes on. But what’s the link between EI and psychological safety?

Psychological safety as Dr Timothy Clark defines it, is ‘rewarded vulnerability’. Unlike personal emotional intelligence, it is measured collectively within teams. It’s EI aggregated at a group level.

Psychological safety within a team arises from shared individual behaviours that form a collective ‘team normal’ which ultimately becomes the team’s culture. Sounds fairly straight forward right?

Initiating psychological safety at a team or organisational level requires us to demonstrate psychological safety with one another at an individual level and to do that we have to be able to respond appropriately to each other’s ideas, challenges, mistakes and opinions. This involves high self-awareness and self-management (both of which are elements of EI) to maintain or enhance our relationships, especially if we disagree.

Ultimately higher emotional intelligence enables us to not only respond rather than react but to do it in a way that fosters psychologically safety. Cultivating psychological safety through emotional intelligence is essential for creating an environment where innovation and collaboration can flourish. When we achieve this - teams start to become high-performing, and organisations build unstoppable momentum!

So next time you’re faced with a challenging interaction, remember - your response can either shut down or ignite the potential within your team. Choose wisely, and watch your team and your organisation thrive.