Creating a workplace where your team feels safe enough to innovate and create is paramount to a well-functioning team. Make sure they know it’s ok to make mistakes, you value their contributions and encourage them to take risks. When you do this your team will work over and above for you.

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We’re going to look at three ways that you can create an environment where your team feels safe and feels encouraged to do their best. Three keys to create an environment where your team feels safe with you. 

What do i mean by safe ? I’m not talking about physical safety although that’s important. You need to have occupational health and safety as a priority in your organization. What i’m talking about is creating an environment where your team feels safe to make mistakes. They feel safe to innovate, try new things, ask questions and engage with their leader. 

I’ve seen too many environments where the team members are too scared to do anything outside the box. They’re too scared to innovate or try new ideas because they’re scared of the repercussions that they will get from their leader. They’re too scared to ask questions and ask for clarity from their leader. 

Maybe they’re working with someone who’s a bully or somebody who doesn’t engage with their team in a meaningful relationship. So what ends up happening when you don’t have an environment is team members will dial themselves back. They will stop themselves from innovating, from pushing the boundaries and working over and above for you as the leader.

If you want a team that is fully engaged, and willing to go over and above their call of duty, give their best, be innovative, think on their feet and push the boundaries, then you need to create an environment where they feel safe to do so. Here are three ways that you can do that.

1. Make Sure Your Team Understands Its Ok To Make Mistakes

The first thing is you need to make sure that your team understands it is ok to make mistakes. It is really important that when a team member makes a mistake you don’t immediately jump to chastising them. Don’t immediately jump to yelling at them, telling them off or punishing them because they made a mistake. You need to make sure that you handle mistakes in a way that makes your team feel like it’s ok to make a mistake, we’re going to talk it through and we’re going to fix the problem.

An easy way to do this is; if you see a mistake you can just go to your team and say “hey I notice you’ve finished this, tell me about why you might have done it this way? What it does is highlight the mistake but gives them an opportunity to explain why they’ve done it that way. Rather than saying “why did you do it this way” and getting angry take the time to hear from them first. They may have a very valid reason for doing it the way they did it. You might find that the problem wasn’t theirs, it was yours. 

When you take the time to listen to them and they feel safe, it gives you an opportunity to retrain or talk through the way you want it without them becoming defensive or closed off to your perspective or expectations.

Maybe they’ve failed to meet the expectation. By saying “hey tell me about what happened here”, it gives them an opportunity to talk positively into the situation. Now you understand what they’re saying. You understand why it was a mistake and can address the solution positively… “next time what I’d like you to do is focus on this…etc.” Your team member will hear “ok you made a mistake but I’m not angry, let’s do better next time”. As a result, there is a much higher likelihood of your correction sticking and being implemented.

When your team feels safe about making mistakes, it doesn’t mean they’re going to go out of their way to make more mistakes. It just means that they will be able to give themselves more fully to the job without having to walk on eggshells. They won’t be worried about failing and will be able to give themselves more fully to the task. Fear and anxiety can be paralyzing. IT will cause team members to hold themselves back from doing their best work, make them defensive, and impact not only production but also innovation.

2. Value Their Contributions

The second thing is to value their contributions. Very often your teams will bring ideas and innovations to you. While at times they can be a little off track or not quite in tune with the direction you’re trying to head, don’t be too quick to dismiss them. Take the time to listen to them. Take the time to appreciate them even if it’s an idea that you don’t want to use. You can say… “hey look I really appreciate you bringing that to me, I can see you thought about this a lot”. Or “thankyou for that idea, it is something that i have considered and we have got a solution we are going with but I appreciate you taking the time to think about these problems. KEep bringing your ideas to me.” 

Don’t be dismissive, don’t ridicule their ideas even if their ideas are not things that you will end up implementing. What this will do is foster a culture of innovation and creativity. When you have that kind of culture it will eventually lead to great ideas that help you and your organisation move forward. When that starts to happen, make sure you give them credit. If any of your team come up with a great idea or solution that you start running with, make sure you let everybody know whose idea it was.

Don’t take the credit for yourself. Value them and it will mean they will feel safe about bringing more ideas to the table. They will also buy into you as a leader and be more willing to help you achieve your ideas and dreams.

3. Encourage Risk Taking

The third thing is to encourage risk-taking. Give your team permission to think outside the box. You might set a task and say “ok this is the way i want you to do it, this is the mode that we usually do it but if you have a way of doing this better I want to hear about it”. Give them permission to think outside the box, to think beyond themselves. What you’ll find is that you get a better collection of ideas. 

If the only voice you ever listen to for ideas is your own then you’re selling both yourself and your team short. If you allow your team to push the boundaries of what is considered possible you will find that they come up with some great ideas. You’ll find that they innovate more often and more effectively. This in turn will help you get out of your own way and start scaling beyond what you are able to innovate only on your own.

If you can learn to create a safe environment where your team can innovate and feel safe to make mistakes and to be their very best around you they will give your their bet, give you permission to lead them, and help you achieve all that you aspire to. Fail to do this you will only serve to put a lid on your leadership and the potential of your teams and organization.

If you would like to learn more about effectively growing in your leadership, why not check out our FREE Goal setting guide. See below for details.

https://leadcommunicategrow.com/free-goal-setting-guide/

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