5 practical ways to build trust and psychological safety in teams

‘Creating a safe environment to enable dialogue between team members’ was my first ever presentation at a conference. This was back in 2010 at the 4th EMCC conference where I shared my findings from my team coaching research.

Since then team coaching has become more mainstream. In this article I share how you can foster a safe space by building trust and psychological safety to enable dialogue and deep work to take place. This is essential if you are working as a coach or as leader who is invested in developing a high performance team.

Dialogue

Dialogue, as conceptualised by physicist and philosopher David Bohm, isn’t just a conversation; it’s an exchange of ideas where team members explore each other’s perspectives openly and without judgment. This approach to communication aims to build shared understanding, allowing diverse viewpoints to coexist harmoniously.

Peter Senge, a pioneer in organisational learning and systems thinking, emphasises the importance of dialogue as a foundational practice, a way of being, a continuous exchange that nurtures a culture of learning and growth. When teams engage in meaningful dialogue, they create environments where learning becomes a shared journey, and innovation becomes a natural byproduct.

The prerequisite: psychological safety

Before dialogue can begin, there needs to be a fertile ground for it to flourish: psychological safety. Coined by Amy Edmondson, a behavioural scientist, psychological safety is the belief that one will not be reprised for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. This safety net allows team members to take interpersonal risks, fostering an environment where genuine dialogue can thrive.

In Google’s research on teams (Project Aristotle), psychological safety emerged as the cornerstone of effective teams. Teams, where members felt safe to take risks without fear of retribution demonstrated higher levels of creativity, innovation, and overall team performance.

Building trust and psychological safety at the start of any team development programme is crucial so the way can be paved for deep work to take place.

If you are a new leader, have a new team member join the team, make the time to connect with team members and for them to connect with each other on a human level.

5 practical ways to build trust and psychological safety

1.      Check-Ins:  Everyone has a voice

Utilise check-in where team members share their thoughts and emotions. This practice gives everyone a voice, promotes self-awareness, team awareness and creates a space where team members feel heard and valued.

• One of my favourites is using the weather: What’s the weather like for you today / this week? ( fog with clear spells later / dark and stormy/ cloudy with rain later…) This can give an insight into how members are feeling.
• What brought you joy at the weekend / this week?
• If you could spend one workday a week working on whatever you wanted, what would it be?
• What’s something that made you laugh while working?

2.      Gradual conversation unfolding: From individual to team

Start small, then expand. Initiate conversations at an individual level, then encourage team members to share their thoughts in pairs, in fours and then in larger groups. This gradual opening of dialogue ensures that everyone’s voice is heard, nurturing a sense of belonging within the team.

3. Personal histories: Building trust through stories

Personal histories is a low-risk trust building activity advocated by Patrick Lencioni in his book, The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team.

Encourage team members to share personal histories, allowing them to understand each other’s backgrounds, experiences, and values. This exercise fosters empathy and builds a sense of connection, enhancing psychological safety.

Here team members share their answers to a list of short questions about themselves, such as:

• Where did you grow up?
• How many siblings do you have and where do you fall in that order?
• Please describe a unique or interesting challenge or experience from your childhood

4.      The Lifeline activity: Mapping emotional journeys

Here team members plot their highlights and lowlights from birth to present day.  Team members are then asked to share the crucible moments that has shaped who they are today – their character, values, career journey, the ‘why’ of who they are ….this can be a transformative experience which fosters understanding, compassion, and trust.

5.      Triangles of tension

Team members are asked in advance to prepare a slide using only images, pictures, photos to the following 3 questions:

• Your individual identity – who are you really
• Your canned role: what do other people expect of you in a leadership role
• Your reality – the messy reality of what is actually happening

Each aspect of the triangle is crucial, so is the ability to see and manage all three at the same time.

In this activity, team members share their slide with the rest of the team.

Like activity 4, this is a powerful exercise revealing which aspect of the triangle they are struggling with, which one they are over emphasising, how balanced the three aspects are…

The depth of openness and vulnerability shared by each member is an indicator of the extent of trust and psychological safety that they have within the team.

How do you build trust, psychological safety in your team or when team coaching? What strategies have worked for you in fostering dialogue? Do share your experience, insights and tips

I’m an executive leadership and team coach with 14 years coaching expertise, a Masters’ Degree in Coaching, more than 20 years experience in developing senior leaders and their teams in multiple industries including Barclays, PwC, Santander, NHS to develop leadership and coaching capabilities, shift behaviours and mindsets, shape culture, build engagement and drive performance.