The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth by Amy C. Edmondson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book provides a number of great stories from when Psychological Safety was present, e.g. the, and when it was not, e.g. VW emissions scandal

Psychological Safety is the experience at a group level about personal consequences aka wil others give you the benefit of doubt. This is different to trust which is on the individual level.

A lack of psychological safety can create an illusion of success that eventually turns into serious bussiness failure.

Epidemic of Silence – because it is easier not to speak up, especially when you fear what will happen if you do. Speaking up benefits the organisation but the benefit is neither immediate nor certain. Speaking up produces learning –

• from mistakes
• fixing issues not just working around them
• sharing knowledge even when confidence in the knowledge is low
• team based learning through knowledge sharing, offering suggestions and brainstorming

Leaders need to embrace bad news, not only good news. Getting bad news early can nearly always reduce or mitigate failure. People need to be ok to embrace the bad and supported to experiment – which may result in failure. E.g. at Pixar all movies start out bad and it is by embracing that, getting feedback and improving that they make great movies. This is achieved through

• transparency,
• productive conflict,
• humble listening,
• caring,
• making it safe to fail through rapid evaluation (because long lived zombie projects are the real failure),
• asking for input and
• saying “I don’t know”.

Setting the stage to align on shared expectations and meaning
reFrame the Work – setting expectations about failure, uncertainty and interdependence – highlighting the need for voice
Emphasising purpose – Identifying what is at stake, why it matters and for whom

Inviting participation so people are confident that voice is welcome
Demonstrate situational humility – acknowledge gaps
Practice inquiry – ask good questions and model intense listening
Set up Structures and Processes – forums for input, guidelines for discussions

Respond productively to orientate towards continuous learning
Express appreciation – listen, acknowledge and thank
Destigmatize failure – look forward, offer help, discuss, consider and brainstorm next steps
Sanction clear violations

Reframe the boss

	Default Frame	Reframe
The Boss	Has answers Gives orders Assesses others performance	Sets direction Invites input to clarify and improve Creates conditions for continued learning Learning achieved through success and failure The aim is to achieve excellence
Others	Subordinates who must do what they’re told	Contributors with crucial knowledge and insight

Reframe failure

	Traditional Frame	Destigmatised Reframe
Concept of Failure	Failure is not acceptable	Failure is a natural by-product of experimentation
Beliefs about effective performance	Effective performers don’t fail	Effective performers produce, learn from and share the lessons from intelligent failures
The goal	Prevent failure	Promote fast learning
The frame’s impact	People hide failure to protect themselves	Open discussions, fast learning and innovation

Responding to different types of failure

Preventable Failure	Complex Failure	Intelligent Failure
Training Retraining Process improvement Systems redesign Sanctions – if repeated or blameworthy	Failure analysis from diverse perspectives Identification of risk factors to address System improvements	Failure parties Failure awards Thoughtful analysis Brainstorming new hypotheses Design next experiments