Recently, I was listening to an episode of Adam Grant's WorkLife podcast on psychological safety. Psychological safety is the ability to feel that it is acceptable to speak out at work without fear of retribution. Workplaces that create a feeling of fear for speaking up or letting known an unpopular opinion compromise their ability to put the best products or services forward. Lack of psychological safety also creates an ineffective work environment in which employees do not feel that their opinions matter. The podcast episode made me think about the impact and importance of creating psychological safety in working environments in the pharmaceutical industry.
The importance of psychological safety in the pharmaceutical work environment
A work environment that does not have psychological safety only values ideas from certain individuals. Therefore, the work environment does not value or hear contradicting ideas. Management may ignore concerns about a particular drug product, including safety, manufacturing, or regulatory risks, without the appropriate corresponding discourse. Employees may feel pressured to do something that they think or know to be inappropriate. In the worst case, lack of psychological safety may compromise drug product quality.
On the other hand, a work environment in the pharmaceutical industry that has psychological safety would lead to individuals feeling that their opinions matter. Such work environments encourage employees to report concerns about a particular drug product or project. Plus, management then gives these concerns due consideration. Psychological safety leads to more productive teams and a willingness to take smart risks and embrace diverse ideas.
How to create psychological safety
It is the responsibility of management to create a culture for psychological safety. However, individual contributors can positively contribute to the overall work environment.
Many of the suggestions below are geared toward managers or project managers. That is because they typically have the most impact on the psychological safety of a workplace. Once they understand how to create psychological safety, individual contributors can recognize gaps in their current work environment and advocate for changes.
Design a path to talk about concerns without fear of a negative reaction
Sometimes, a department may have a structured way to elevate concerns. However, these concerns may not be heard across functions. At cross-functional meetings, these concerns can be shared. When I started working at my current company, someone on the commercial team told me, “People are not defensive of their positions here. Good ideas come from every function.” This sentiment made me more comfortable sharing my ideas across functions because my colleagues told me that my input would be valued. I could also see how colleagues on the clinical, discovery, medical, and commercial teams worked together in sharing ideas and troubleshooting problems. When everyone feels empowered to speak up without concern that they may hurt someone’s feelings, conversations are more productive.
Another way to get employees to open up about concerns is to have informal conversations and events. Having one-on-one conversations allows for an easier way to chat when there are concerns. Developing relationships and knowing people on a more personal level makes it easier for employees to speak out when there is a concern.
Set aside time on agendas to talk about concerns
One of my global clinical trial managers always placed an elephant picture on the last slide of his presentation deck. This picture represented the “elephant in the room.” It was his cue to create a safe place for our team to discuss concerns about the operation of the clinical trial.
When running a team meeting, if you can get the employees to engage early, then they are more likely to engage later in the meeting. Ask specific, directed questions of employees during meetings. Another tactic is to ask a low-stress ice-breaker question early in the meeting. Recently, I used “Do you like mayonnaise?” to take attendance at the cross-functional meeting that I manage. (For the record, no it's gross!) Another time, I created a poll for my colleagues’ favorite conference city.
Acknowledge your employees’ concerns
Understanding the needs and concerns of employees is a first step. Larger companies do periodic surveys of their different groups. Another way to collect feedback is through skip-level meetings (meet with your manager’s manager) or anonymous comment boxes.
In general, even if you cannot change the problematic situation or issue, acknowledging feelings and concerns is an important step. If you want to create psychological safety, then let your employees know that it is okay to feel something that is against the grain. Plus, let them know that you hear their concerns and that their concerns are valid.
Transparency in decision making
Transparency is another tool in building workplace trust. When employees understand the thought process behind decision making, they will better understand how management took their concerns into consideration. This transparency is important even if the decision goes against their preferences. Transparency develops understanding and builds trust.
Equitable reward and recognition- don't tie promotions or getting ahead to certain outcomes
When rewards and recognitions are set to only a particular outcome, teams will be less likely to take risks. Instead, they may do everything they can to achieve the outcome instead of stepping back and acknowledging any concerns that may jeopardize a project. For example, if a discovery project team leader gets rewarded for getting a drug therapy into the clinical trial stage, then she may be less likely to question if it should move forward into the clinic.
Ideally, pharmaceutical companies should reward teams for deciding to stop a project just as they would reward the team for moving it forward. With strong rationale, stopping projects saves money and provides more resources for projects that have more likelihood of success. Ideally, in a pharmaceutical company, there needs to be a collective culture of what is best for patients rather than “my project vs. your project” or “my function vs. your function” mindsets.
Demonstrate vulnerability at the leadership level
When employees see a manager or leader admit a mistake, they will be more likely to be able to admit their own mistakes too. If managers take a risk that fails and they admit it, their direct reports will be more likely to take a risk. Near misses are another opportunity that if talked about at a higher level, then employees will also feel more comfortable talking about their near misses. Hopefully, these conversations will help to rectify problematic situations earlier. Overall, it is important to model the behaviors that we want our employees to display.
Nurture a diverse and inclusive workplace
A diverse and inclusive workplace helps to bring in new and different ways of approaching problems. Diversity can include people with different socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds. Diversity can also include people with different educational degrees. It is important to have different genders on teams. When people come to work, they bring themselves and their backgrounds- both personal and professional- in how they think and how they act. Bringing together diversity in multiple dimensions on our teams, we can scrutinize challenges and welcome new voices and thoughts. Inclusiveness in the workplace encourages all people to be able to speak and know that their voices are heard.
Final thoughts on psychological safety in the pharmaceutical workplace
Being in a work environment without psychological safety makes it very challenging to work effectively. Employees may not feel safe bringing up new ideas for fear of retribution. They may not feel safe being who they are at work because they fear being ridiculed or not taken seriously. Once managers create this type of culture, it can be very challenging to undo, especially by individual contributors. One can feel stuck or that they have to leave the company to experience a different type of work culture.
I share ideas in this article to help. You may consider finding others in your workplace that you trust to express your concerns or provide feedback to Human Resources anonymously. Managers and project leaders should utilize the ideas listed here on prioritizing psychological safety to build productive teams.
What does psychological safety mean to you in terms of your workplace? Were there times when you felt unsafe to speak up at work? What did you do? What ideas do you have to create a psychologically safe workplace?