Leading Better Teams: Psychological Safety in Practice with Communities and Organizations

Overview: Social work students could benefit from opportunities to learn how to build psychological safety in a team setting. This paper reviews initial findings related to students learning and practicing psychological safety during a team-based, community-engaged project embedded in two master’s level practices with communities and organizations courses.Proposal text: Psychological safety, or the degree to which team members feel safe to take interpersonal risks, has been touted as an important characteristic of successful organizations, particularly those where client safety is a primary concern (Edmonson, 1999; Newman, Donahue, & Eva, 2017; O’Donovan & Mcauliffe, 2020). In a systematic review of the psychological safety literature, Newman (2017) and colleagues found positive associations between psychological safety and individual and team performance improvements, such as greater communication levels and reporting of errors and more positive attitudes towards work. Indeed, Kruzich and colleagues (2014) found that psychological safety plays an important role in retaining child welfare workers. Social work students could benefit from opportunities to learn how to build psychological safety in a team setting. This paper reviews initial findings related to students learning and practicing psychological safety during a team-based, community-engaged project embedded in two master’s level practices with communities and organizations courses.
At the start of the semester, 36 master’s level students were introduced to their teams and psychological safety and design thinking concepts. Drawing on tools and activities developed by District C ©, students were given the opportunity to learn and practice ways to build psychological safety in their teams. Time was given in each class period throughout the semester for them to continue to practice the activities, including a mid-semester check-in to evaluate how their team was functioning and what they needed from each team member to improve the process. After the mid-semester check-in, teams engaged in a multi-week, intense design project with and for a community partner. Students completed beginning and ending reflections related to their expectations and experiences of working in a team and with a community partner. Students also reflected on the strengths of their team and the ways and degree to which they felt they developed and maintained psychological safety in their teams.
Initial analysis suggests that students were excited and apprehensive about working in a team of peers, with and for a community partner. Ending reflections indicated that students found it an overall positive and educational experience, with most describing their teams as psychologically safe. However, a few students reported that they did not feel heard or valued by their teammates at various points in the semester. Their discussions suggested a disconnect between themselves and the rest of the team. Overall, these results offer ideas on how social work educators can help students learn about and practice skills related to psychological safety. The findings also suggest areas or issues that social work educators should pay attention to in order to help students think critically about and take steps to maintain psychosocial safety for everyone on a team. Providing social worker students with the tools and skills to develop and sustain psychological safety can improve their small group work in other classes and their future careers.