Susan Nakashima and Kevin Groves Author Article on Psychologically Safe Work Environments for HR.com

Human resources managers, especially in technology organizations, are often surprised to learn that teams, expected to deliver breakthrough results, are afraid. They are afraid to take risks, make mistakes, share opinions, or be candid. Their hearts and minds are just not in it, writes Susan Nakashima, an experienced manager working in the technology industry and pursuing her Executive Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School with collaborator Kevin Groves, PhD, Professor of Organizational Theory and Management at Pepperdine Graziadio. In an HR.com opinion, Susan and Dr. Groves write that the problem is usually a culture in which managers have not been trained to develop teams with the capability to solve complex problems in a “psychologically safe” environment (the team’s shared belief for interpersonal risk-taking). When individual contributors are selected to be team leaders based on their technical proficiency, they may not possess the interpersonal skills needed to foster an open dialogue and collaborative problem-solving. According to Susan and Dr. Groves, one of the ways to address the problem is to collaborate with consultants and expert HR managers who can lead the effort to develop supervisor training based on psychological safety. The end goal is to inspire leaders, technical and non-technical, who inspire teams and inspire growth.

The full article is available on HR.com.