Editorial by Amanda Moxham, Chief HR Officer @ UVA Alumni Association
Image created with Copilot in Microsoft Edge. © 2024 Microsoft.
Greetings, visionary architects!
Architecture plays a critical role in contributing to a more just and inclusive society. By prioritizing inclusive design, equitable access, and community engagement, architects create progressive spaces that promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA). So, how are we taking these same principles and applying them to our most crucial resource – our people?
The architecture industry is evolving, and so should our approach to all things in the Human Resources (HR) realm. Over the past 20+ years, the HR profession has progressed from a transactional administrative function to a strategic business partner. A few areas of HR expertise include organizational culture, talent acquisition, talent development, organizational design, team effectiveness, performance management, succession planning, and much more.
Today, we will begin a six-part HR series to support you in building that strong foundation within your organization. I will offer both strategic and tactical guidance to support you on your journey of disrupting the status quo to develop thoughtful human-centered strategies to drive your firm to new heights.
Part 1: Building Resilient Teams: The Role of Psychological Safety in Architectural Firms
Imagine a workplace where every idea is heard, mistakes are seen as learning opportunities, and every team member feels safe to take risks. This is the essence of psychological safety, and it’s a game-changer for organizational culture. As many firms are focused on DEIA, the Inclusion aspect is a distinct outcome of establishing and sustaining psychological safety. Today, we’ll explore why it’s critical for innovation and resilience, and how to foster it within your firm.
Mind-blowing stats:
Teams with high psychological safety are 12 times more likely to be innovative.
(The Role of Psychological Safety in Radical and Incremental Innovation, Academy of Management Journal, 2019).
Companies with high empathy levels perform 20% better than their peers.
(The Empathy Business: The Empathy Effect, Harvard Business Review, 2016).
Teams that prioritize psychological safety see a 27% increase in employee retention.
(Building a Psychologically Safe Workplace, Gallup, 2018).
Psychological safety is about creating an environment where people feel comfortable being themselves without fear of negative consequences. Encouraging open dialogue and embracing mistakes as learning opportunities leads to team members being more likely to share ideas, concerns, and feedback. These elements lead to trust-building, better decision-making, innovation, experimentation, and continuous improvement.
Promoting Psychological Safety
Fostering psychological safety requires intentional, sustained effort. Here’s how to promote it in your firm:
Lead by Example: Whether you are in a formal leadership role or not, you play a key role in setting the tone for psychological safety. By being open, approachable, and supportive, you encourage others to do the same.
Encourage Vulnerability: Create an environment where vulnerability is seen as a strength. Encourage team members to share their uncertainties and ask for help.
Emphasize Empathy: Foster a culture of empathy where team members actively listen and support each other. This builds trust and strengthens team cohesion.
To make psychological safety a core part of your culture, integrate it into your daily practices. Consider how you start team meetings, internal project kick-offs, and how you facilitate retroactive assessments of projects mid-stream or at the conclusion. Here are three favorites of mine:
The Personal Histories Exercise from Patrick Lencioni’s book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, team members share their answers to a short list of questions. This exercise provides context on people’s lives and an opportunity to understand people outside of your day-to-day work. Typically, organic conversations grow out of this low-stakes activity. Some question examples include:
Where did you grow up?
What was your first job? Worst job?
How many siblings do you have?
What do you do in your free time?
The 4Ls Exercise used at Atlassian, is a different format of a review or “retro” when a project or work cycle finishes to reflect on how it went. With this format, team members highlight what they loved, loathed, learned, and longed for. And it’s not just about the work itself. Encourage your team to think about people, processes, office space/environment, technology usage, team behaviors, and other aspects of the project.
Personal Soundtrack Exercise is a fun way to get to know your fellow team members in a different way—through music. Music has a powerful way of transporting us to another time, place, or feeling. Working in pairs, each person “interviews” their partner to learn about 3 impactful songs in that person’s life. It could be a song from their childhood, their first concert, a cringe-worthy song that they just can’t help but love. The opportunities are endless! After the interviews are over, the team reunites to give everyone the opportunity to process what they learned, what surprised them, or any other realizations. The last step is to create a team playlist integrating everyone’s songs into Spotify or Apple Music. These playlists become the soundtrack for the team and never fail to bring a little joy!
By cultivating a culture of psychological safety, you’ll build resilient, innovative, and engaged teams that are prepared to tackle any challenge. Stay tuned for more insights and strategies in our upcoming newsletters. Let’s create a workplace where everyone feels safe to share, innovate, and grow together!
