Nowadays, the term ‘psychological safety’ is associated with how people feel in their work environments and how this helps develop and enhance work teams. However, psychological safety is as old as that of human beings and families.
The definition of psychological safety within the organizational field originated in 1960, with Edgar Schein and Warren Bennis, who indicated that it facilitates people’s willingness to learn and change. In the 90s, another researcher, William Kahn, indicated “It is the ability to be able to show oneself, without fear of finding negative consequences for one’s image, status or career development”
Later, Amy Edmonson, an American researcher and academic specialized in the subject (she has several books and articles associated with psychological safety), mentions that this is the basis or foundation for innovation and continuous learning, among other things.
More recently, Timothy Clark, in his book The Four Stages of Psychological Safety, published in early 2023, indicates that this is a process where people in every organization must feel included and ready to learn, contribute, and challenge themselves.
After this brief and succinct review of the vision of organizational psychology and what is associated with the term psychological safety, I would like to extrapolate it to how we apply it naturally in our families, with a real example that I have experienced.
My wife, who works in an American company, has been transferred from one country to another again. Soon (in the next few months) we will leave Argentina and arrive in Colombia. This has brought questions, opinions, etc. to all members of our family, girls aged 21, 18 and 14, and ourselves. … from where the older girls will live, who will stay in Buenos Aires and study at universities that are literally located at opposite ends of the city, how they will get around, among other things, on the other hand, the youngest of the girls has shown us the greatest signs of adaptability to a new environment and the one who must learn from that attitude is me… what will we do with the two family pets… Pepi, the Labrador Retriever dog, that we have inherited during this time and who stays in Argentina with the girls, versus Brisa, the Golden Retriever who has been with us from Peru and who will also go to Colombia, etc.
Looking back on this event and how we have made several decisions associated with this, I share with you what the five members of our family have learned and will surely be useful for future events.
- Opening up, being willing to listen, without interruptions, to opinions that we do not necessarily share and were divergent among themselves.
- Trying to be empathetic with others, I must admit that it is difficult for me.
- Reaching consensus, understanding that communication is two-way.
- Being aware that we must all collaborate, so that this new way of living together at a distance flows in the best possible way.
- Understanding that this challenge will make us all more creative and decisive with the inconveniences we face.
- Keeping in mind that we will possibly make mistakes, but that it is part of this whole process.
- Understanding that our role (Jessica and I) as leaders of this two-headed organization is to make the girls feel that their opinions are heard, valued, that they add value and are even innovative.
As Charles Darwin said in the 19th century, “It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who survives, but the one who best adapts to change.”
Without a doubt, we all want to be, or have, more efficient, productive, and innovative collaborators, … let’s start in our closest environment, Our Families.
What do you say… you dare to row against the current… and contribute to having better companies-organizations and society as a whole?
