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Tag: Facilitation

PMTimes_Sep25_2024

Skillful Efforting to Achieve Leadership Success

Written by George Pitagorsky on . Posted in Articles.

Create a realistic work-life balance in the context of leadership and project management to achieve optimal performance and success. Apply it to your own life and influence those who work for and with you.

Leadership boils down to the ability to cultivate a positive mindset, relate well with others, and make effective decisions. To sustain a dynamic work-life balance requires all three.

What is the mindset that promotes optimal balance?

In a recent article, Jerry Seinfeld is quoted:

“It’s a very Zen Buddhist concept: Pursue mastery. That will fulfill your life. You will feel good.

The problem is, that developing a skill takes time and effort. Mastering a skill takes considerable time and effort, not all of it — or even most of it — enjoyable. ”

He recommends that you “Make ‘Did I get my work in?‘ your favorite question to ask yourself, and while you may not achieve every goal you set out to accomplish, you will definitely accomplish a lot more.” 1

The mindset here is 1) to expect to make an effort to get what you want and 2) that the way you make the effort makes a great difference in the way you and others feel and the outcome of your work.

 

Working Hard

In Working Hard but Not Too Hard  I wrote

“Working hard is applying a high level of effort, being consistently focused, productive, and effective, and applying emotional, physical, and intellectual energy. Working hard is rewarding, it leads to personal and organizational success.”2 https://www.projecttimes.com/articles/working-hard-but-not-too-hard/

As wise individuals in our roles as performers, leaders, and managers, we recognize that hard work is necessary to develop skills and accomplish goals. Of course, working smart is highly valued, but it is not a replacement for working hard.

 

Overdoing It

We also recognize that we can overdo it. We can become so obsessed with succeeding that we forget our personal wellness and the wellness of those who are affected by our behavior. We work too hard.

If we work too hard, we get tired, disengaged, and less effective. If we miss the signs that we or our team is working too hard, stress levels increase, quality suffers, and we enter a spiral that does not end well.

 

Self and Other Awareness

This is where self-awareness and awareness of others come into play.

“Self-awareness is the ability to “step back” and observe yourself objectively to know your behavior, motivations, feelings, values, and desires.  It is knowing your personality and the way you display it in your life.” 3 https://www.projecttimes.com/articles/self-awareness-a-critical-capability-for-project-managers-d23/

An effective leader is aware of how others –  for example, your team members, clients, boss, significant others, and peers – are doing. Are they excited, motivated, and in the best shape to get the mission accomplished? Are they slowing down, or getting tired? Or are they past that stage and exhibiting the symptoms of over-work?

 

The Symptoms

The symptoms of overwork are easy to spot – more arguments and emotionality, an increase in errors, absenteeism, and lower productivity are the most common.

The quicker you see the symptoms, in yourself and others, the better. Catching overwork early gives you the ability to apply the least amount of effort to remedy it. Avoiding it is best.

 

Skillful Effort

The way you make the effort makes a great difference in the way you and others feel and the outcome of your work.

Ideally, the effort is effortless. As in Flow where skills and experience come together to perform optimally as if there was no one doing it. When that is not the case, be aware of tendencies to over or under-effort. The Buddha compared skillful effort to tuning a stringed instrument. Too loose, poor sound quality. Too tight, a broken string.

 

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Avoiding Overwork

Avoiding and remedying overwork begins with recognizing and acknowledging it. It can be avoided by consciously addressing it as an issue when planning and scheduling.

The more people are aware of the issue of overwork, the better. Make work-life balance a topic in team building. Acknowledge the degree to which there is an expectation of 24-7 availability. Will there be tight deadlines that lead to overtime? What are expectations about weekend work, and vacations?

Also acknowledge the influences of poor planning, cultural norms, personality issues like workaholism and perfectionism, and fear to push back against unrealistic demands.

When expectations are explicitly stated people can be better prepared and more accepting of what happens. Expecting a 9 to 5 arrangement and having 24-7 demands come as a surprise is likely to result in disruption at home and work.

If your project is going to require working intensively, build in practices that enable that kind of work – stress management techniques, breaks, meals, comfortable working conditions, a sense of camaraderie and adventure, and recognition when it is time for a rest.

If one intense project is followed quickly by another, beware of burnout. Take a lesson from extreme sports teams, there is an off-season for R and R, and the players get massaged and conditioned during the season.

Schedule realistically. You can add optimism to your mindset but consider it an aspiration. Hope for the best, plan for the most likely, and be ready for the worst.

 

Remedying

If you have not avoided it, and you, your team, or other stakeholders are suffering the symptoms of overwork, acknowledge it and treat it as you would a physical injury or sickness. Acknowledge it, seek its causes, relieve the symptoms, and remove the causes. And most importantly, take good care of the patients.

As we have said, poor planning, cultural norms, personality issues like workaholism and perfectionism, and fear of pushing back against unrealistic demands may be the causes. Each situation is different. There may be no options to eliminate causes, so all you can do is minimize the impact of the symptoms. Sometimes the options are severe, like changing jobs.

What can you do to reduce the symptoms and maintain the kind of motivation that will fuel success? The minimum remedy to explicitly acknowledge what is going on. That alone will reduce stress and discord.

Then find ways to institute the same practices you might have planned for to avoid the situation.  Implement breaks, meals, comfortable working conditions, morale building, and recognition when it is time for a rest. Negotiate schedule changes, additional (or fewer) resources, and other means fir reducing pressure.

 

Action

If efforting – doing the work – is an issue that needs to be addressed, bring it to the surface. Correct imbalances among expectations and realities with self-reflection and candid communication.

Implement practices to avoid over-efforting and make hard work as effective as possible while sustaining wellness. Avoid the expectation that you can get what you want without hard work.

Recognize the real-world nature of your situation. If intensive effort is a fact of life, make it known so that people can make decisions to join the fun or opt for a less intense environment. Assess all the factors (family, physical and psychological health, career, finance, etc.) from multiple perspectives, considering short, medium, and long-term impacts.

Then decide what to do, when, and how to do it.

 

 

1.https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/jerry-seinfeld-says-achievement-success-comes-down-to-repeatedly-asking-yourself-this-6-word-question.html?utm_medium=flipdigest.ad.20240910&utm_source=email&utm_content=article&utm_campaign=campaign
PMTimes_Sep04_2024

Surfing through Change and Anxiety

Written by George Pitagorsky on . Posted in Articles.

Change often triggers fear of the unknown and a sense of helplessness, expressed as anxiety. Change disturbs the peace. In the realm of project management, change is a given. Projects both create change and are subject to changes that seem to make planning futile.

But project management – if done well and if you are self-aware enough to manage your emotions -reduces anxiety by dynamically making everyone aware of actions, outcomes, and the probability of success. Effective PM accepts and manages volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA).

 

Cognitive Readiness

Cognitive readiness is a critical quality to enable surfing through change. It is the capacity to operate skillfully in any situation, particularly when faced with VUCA.

Cognitive readiness is critical because everything is changing, sometimes more and sometimes less quickly, unless we can calmly and competently respond to each change without reacting to emotions like disappointment and anxiety it can bring.

For more on cognitive readiness see my PM Times article, “PM for the Change Makers” https://www.projecttimes.com/articles/pm-for-the-changemakers/.

 

Multiple Levels of Change

On a global scale culture wars are on and have been since the dawn of time. Imagine how the traditionalists reacted when some smart aleck insisted that you can start your own fire.

For example, take gender fluidity. There are multiple perspectives on what happens in society when a person’s gender preferences mean no more than the color of their eyes. Not knowing how it will turn out creates anxiety. Worst-case stories create fear and anger. Resisting the change reactively is counterproductive.

In the realm of project work:

  • Methods and cultures change. For example, as organizations turn from structured “waterfall” to Agile methodologies, or strengthen, weaken, or eliminate a PM Office.
  • During a project’s life, change takes the form of late deliverables, staff turnover, changes in requirements, and more.
  • Projects deliver products and services delivered to change organizations, the marketplace, the public arena, and individual experiences.

 

Breaking Norms

When a deep-seated norm is challenged by a change, there is anxiety and resistance. We see the same dynamic in organizations, families, teams, and personal relationships when security, long-held beliefs, and models are challenged.

Anxiety may be triggered by shifts from rigid procedures to agile and adaptive approaches and changes in management style. It may arise over behavioral issues, disruptions, changing attitudes about abortion, political beliefs, monogamy, gender identification, race, and more.

We feel anxiety if we are faced with life-changing choices that leave us feeling as if the ground has given way and we are in free fall, out of control.

 

The Impact

Feelings of anxiety may be subtle or acute. Self-awareness identifies feelings quickly before anxiety morphs into anger and despair, fueling physical symptoms and reactive behavior like aggression, withdrawal, and depression. Anxiety about being anxious makes it all worse. Managed well it becomes a wake-up signal.

 

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The Cause

Hypothesis: we resist change because we are threatened by anything that upsets our sense of reality or threatens our security. We seek assurance that things will be OK. We like the stability of solid ground under our feet, or at least having a reliable parachute. We like certainty and to be in control.

 

How to work with Anxiety

The best we can do when anxiety arises is to “be with” or accept what we are feeling and not let it drive behavior. Then we can do what we can to cut through to a calm presence.

Present and consciously aware, we can perform optimally in any conditions. We stop worrying about making deadlines and we figure out what best to do under the circumstances.

A method to change the way anxiety influences your ability to perform optimally uses feelings as triggers to:

  • Focus attention to be mindfully self-aware
  • Acknowledge what is happening – you may not want to keep it going but in the moment, it is what it is
  • Accept discomfort – don’t run away from painful or annoying feelings of anxiety, anger, or disappointment
  • Step back into a calm mindful presence being here, now.
  • Cultivate a positive mindset with confidence that you will be OK; stop the scary negative “stories” you create
  • Let go into Flow to allow your skills, intelligence, and experience to optimally work together to do what needs to be done, or not done.

The anxiety may not disappear, but it will become a short-term visitor rather than a persistent demonic ghost. While it is there, treat the symptoms using skillful methods like breathing techniques, bodywork, conceptual reminders like sayings or mantras, and/or, if appropriate, medication. As you work to address the symptoms, address the causes.

 

NOT for Everyone

Addressing the causes of anxiety is not for everyone. It is not easy. It requires confronting long-held habits and beliefs, including the strong need to avoid discomfort.

It is the path of a peaceful warrior, using an array of concepts, tools, and techniques to create a personal path. We learn acceptance to become comfortable with anything that comes our way and to let go into optimal action.

 

Next Steps

Address these questions:

    • What changes rock your world?
    • What do you cling to or push away when you are anxious about change? Why?
    • How self-aware are you? Do you recognize feelings as they arise or after you have reacted to them? Do you know why you are anxious?
    • How does anxiety (or any emotion) feel in the body? Can you be calm and accepting in the face of physical and psychological discomfort?
    • What frightening stories are you telling yourself?
    • How confident are you that you can handle anything that comes?
    • Are you ready to change your attitude?

 

Cultivate an attitude of confidence in your ability to handle anything, you can go beyond treating the symptoms of anxiety to cutting its roots. Weave a path that works for you using meditation, breath, and bodywork, with concepts like systems/process thinking and spirituality.

For a guidebook to developing the skills for managing anxiety and achieving optimal wellness, check out my recent book The Peaceful Warrior’s Path: Optimal Wellness through Self-Aware Living.

PMTimes_July10_2024

Critical Thinking is a Critical Success Factor

Written by George Pitagorsky on . Posted in Articles.

Critical thinking is a process for making judgments and decisions. It applies analysis and evaluation to decide if information makes sense.

 

Scenario

Imagine a scenario in which a convincing speaker argues for prioritizing projects in a certain way. She is in a position to make a unilateral decision or to influence enough people to agree with her opinion. She cuts off anyone who brings up facts or alternative opinions to question her statements and decisions. Her priorities become the basis for capital planning for the next several years.

Were those priorities best for the organization? Without critical thinking, we’d never know.

How often are design, strategy, or other decisions made based on biases, beliefs, and unsupported opinions?

 

Controversy

Critical thinking is a foundation for sound decisions, whether in the realms of project management, organizational dynamics, or politics. Without critical thinking, there is the danger of allowing despots and self-proclaimed experts to drive poor decisions.

Strangely, critical thinking is controversial. There are people, some of whom are in powerful positions to influence decisions, who oppose applying analysis to evaluate opinions, biases, and beliefs.

Is the opposition because critical thinking takes time and effort, or is it that ego gets in the way? People want what they want and do not want logic and facts to get in their way. Objectivity and fact-based reality are annoying to those who want their way, even if their way is of questionable value.

 

Requirements

Critical thinking requires:

  • Active listening
  • Open-mindedness
  • Growth mindset
  • Self-discipline, and
  • Self-awareness.

 

Active Listening

Active listening means listening to understand, by paying attention, allowing others to have their say without interruptions, questioning, staying focused, considering non-verbal clues like the tone of voice and body language, turning off thoughts like “I know what he’s going to say”, and withholding judgment.

 

Open-mindedness

Open-mindedness includes curiosity, the ability to accept multiple perspectives, and the possibility that you may be wrong. It is a quality that enables active listening.

Being open-minded is having a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset. It implies being curious and courageous enough to surrender to vulnerability and uncertainty.

Brene Brown in her book Dare to Lead writes that over time “we turn to self-protecting – choosing certainty over curiosity, armor over vulnerability, and knowing over learning.”

When we avoid the uncertainty of not being perfect, in control, and believing that our way is the right and only way, we face the reality of unnecessary emotional conflict leading to bad decisions and unhealthy relationships.

Open-minded curiosity enables root-cause analysis. It avoids jumping to conclusions based on a need to eliminate a problem’s symptoms or to find someone or something to blame.

 

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Growth vs. Fixed Mindset

Your mindset is the sum of your attitudes, moods, perceptions, beliefs, and mental models. It determines your behavior and emotional responses.

A Growth Mindset thinks that failures and challenges are growth opportunities. Feedback is taken as constructive even when it is negative. A Growth Mindset is open to learning.

People with a Fixed Mindset do not like to be challenged. They define themselves in terms of success or failure and will often either give up or fight when faced with challenges. They tend to think that ignorance is a permanent quality rather than something that can be corrected by learning. They tend to be closed-minded.

A Growth Mindset is a foundation for critical thinking.

 

Self-Discipline

There is often a desire to “get to the point” as quickly as possible. We want to make the decision and get on with the action. We want to be right.

Critical thinking means not jumping to conclusions.

It takes time and effort to listen, analyze, and reflect on the short- and long-term implications of decisions. It takes self-discipline to slow down and avoid impulsively plunging ahead to make snap decisions without considering facts and alternative opinions.

We must take the time to use classical project management skills – estimating, risk management, communication, control techniques, procurement management, quality management, and working with people – to acquire the information needed to make informed decisions based on facts while considering emotions.

And when facts are not available, we must make sure that we are deciding with that in mind – understanding the risks involved. We must be clear and make it clear to others that estimates are estimates and not definitive predictions. Expectations are not always fulfilled.

Assess risks. Assumptions are fine if they are correctly identified as assumptions and there are alternative assumptions with an understanding of the probability of their being correct. We also need alternate pathways in case we run into problems.

 

Self-awareness

“Self-awareness is knowing who or what we are, our goals and intentions, strengths, and weaknesses, and the way the mind works, our inner workings. It is realizing that the blend of these affects our behavior. Self-awareness is the foundation for emotional and social intelligence. It enables self-management, the ability to choose how to respond rather than to react.”[1]

Self-awareness tells us that we are jumping to conclusions. It enables self-discipline and the management of our emotions and habits. With self-awareness, we can tell when we are being humble enough to accept the need to validate our certainty about being right. We can sense when we are arrogantly insisting that we are right simply because we believe it.

Self-aware we can be ready for anything because we have confidence in our resilience and adaptability.

It means questioning mindsets and motivations.

When you are self-aware you can sense when you are succumbing to the fear of stepping out of your comfort zone to confront uncertainty and the possibility of being wrong. And you perceive your effect on others.

 

Critical Thinking – A Critical Success Factor

Critical Thinking is using analysis and evaluation to make effective decisions. It overcomes bias and belief to make highly effective decisions and helps to minimize unnecessary conflict.

To be a critical thinker and to have an organization that values critical thinking, it is necessary to overcome resistance to investing the required time and effort and to cultivate

  • Active listening
  • Open-mindedness
  • Growth mindset
  • Self-discipline, and
  • Self-awareness.

Decisions and the actions they drive will be more likely to be the “right” ones the more people apply objectivity and rational thinking, whether in business, at home, or in governance.

 

[1] Pitagorsky, George, The Peaceful Warrior’s Path, Self-aware Living, 2023, p. 224.

PMTimes_Apr09_2024

Team Building: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

Written by George Pitagorsky on . Posted in Articles.

These days many, if not all, of our projects are performed by cross-cultural teams. Not only do members come from different national and ethnic cultures, but they come from cultures based on mindset (for example progressive and conservative, woke and anti-woke), generational attributes, socio-political influences, corporate environments, and more.

Teams are vehicles for getting things done. When people come together to accomplish objectives – whether to win a game or perform a project – having an understanding among the team members regarding their objectives and the way they will work together is critical to success.

 

What Culture Is

“Culture is often described through Professor Geert Hofstede’s definition: The programming of the human mind by which one group of people distinguishes itself from another group – the set of shared beliefs, values, and norms that distinguish one group of people from another. As global organisations become increasingly diverse, understanding and managing cultural differences has become a critical competency for business leaders.”[1]

In human societies, culture is a concept that groups people based on shared knowledge, beliefs, values, and practices. A culture includes social norms, habits, customs, institutions, behaviors, beliefs, arts, laws, and more. We have many overlapping cultures – for example, corporate, regional, national, ethnic, generational, and religious. In teams, there are diverse cultural norms including those around cleanliness and neatness, how close people stand when talking, punctuality, and styles of dress.

Cultures are dynamic. They change as people’s needs change and as one culture is influenced by another. New cultures evolve out of this dynamic change process. Each team has a culture. Some are consciously created and understood, others, not so much.

 

Why Team Cultures are Important

Our culture influences our mindset with its beliefs, biases, and values as well as the way we work, play, dress, relate to one another, and communicate. The more that team members understand one another and agree upon values, goals, objectives, and communication and collaboration norms, the more team effectiveness increases.

What are the differences in behavior that get in the way of your team’s optimal performance? Are they caused by cultural differences?

 

“Anthropologists consider that world cultures vary along five consistent dimensions, which include collectivism versus individualism, and cultural preference for uncertainty avoidance. The extent to which cultures vary for these different dimensions can lead to very different expectations when it comes to interpersonal relationships and business communication.”[2]

 

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If some people have a cultural norm of rigidly adhering to punctuality and others are more accepting of a looser adherence, conflict is likely. For example, a U. S. employee visiting his Scandinavian company’s home office was shocked and insulted when he was not permitted to enter a meeting to which he was five minutes late. The cultural norm in that company’s home office was that if you were not on time, then don’t come at all. In the U. S. division coming in a few minutes late was acceptable. The American’s lateness influenced the local colleagues’ opinion of him and made integrating him into the team more difficult.

In another example, there may be a clash between team members from a culture that values assertiveness and tolerates some abrasiveness and those from cultures that view conflict and abrasive language as undesirable. When an assertive team member puts forth an idea, she might expect others to bring up conflicting ideas or criticisms. When they don’t assert their opinions, thinking of doing so as being rude or disrespectful, the assertive person, not understanding the cultural norm in play, may take silence as agreement. The result would be adopting a less-than-effective idea, creating a design or plan deficiency.

 

A project manager from a culture that avoids uncertainty will tend to strictly adhere to detailed structured plans and take fewer risks out of fear of failure. This can frustrate team members who have a higher tolerance for ambiguity and seek to innovate, take a more agile approach, and change the plan to obtain more creative outcomes.

 

What We Can Do

Cultural consciousness and emotional/social intelligence can avoid the negative impact of cultural differences. Cultural consciousness means being mindfully aware of culture as a force in team performance, of the cultural attributes of team members, of the ability to transcend cultural conditioning, and of the tendency to think one’s culture is better than others. Emotional/social intelligence means having the capacity to be aware of one’s feelings, able to manage one’s behavior and be sensitive to the feelings and behaviors of others. As individuals, we can choose to be adaptive to our current situation rather than being limited by cultural norms that are no longer relevant or useful.

 

As project managers, we can build a team culture that respects the cultural backgrounds of team members while cultivating an understanding of how to behave in a way that leads to the team’s success. For example, when it comes to decision-making, adopting an approach like the Six Hats model makes it a norm to look at an idea critically and from multiple perspectives opens the door to a critical analysis of the idea. Combine that with the awareness that avoiding conflict robs the team of useful information, and that exhibiting abrasive speech patterns and behavior may be taken as a sign of weakness, a personal attack causing another to back off or fire back to escalate a conflict and redirect the process away from the idea content.

 

Creating and sustaining effective teams requires cross-cultural awareness training to promote mutual understanding and respect, effective communication processes, and team-building activities to speed up the movement from forming to norming without much storming, to promote optimal performing.

Make sure that team members can fully express their opinions and needs. Consciously agree upon common values and goals to achieve a team culture that integrates the multiple cultures of its members.

 

We build a team, and once it’s built, we sustain it throughout its life. Like any structure, if we build it well, sustaining it is easy. However, it takes ongoing mindful awareness and patient effort to overcome the obstacles presented by cultural differences and turn them into strengths.

[1] https://www.hofstede-insights.com/intercultural-management
[2] https://toppandigital.com/us/blog-us/saying-no-how-conflict-avoidance-varies-between-cultures/#:~:text=Cultures%20such%20as%20the%20USA,as%20Thailand%2C%20Japan%20and%20China.
PMTimes_Dec6_2023

Psychological Safety and Accountability for Performance Management

Written by George Pitagorsky on . Posted in Articles.

Reading an article, “The Downside of Psychological Safety in the Workplace“[1], I am reminded of the need for clear thinking when it comes to applying any philosophy, particularly in the area of psychology and performance at work.

Albert Einstein advised us to make everything “as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

 

It is easy to take a clever idea and ruin it by mindlessly applying it as if it was the miracle cure for every situation. Avoid seeking simple solutions to complex problems. We see it operating in the application of agile management, positivity, candid communications, as well as psychological safety. When we apply a belief or theory without considering and adapting to the situation at hand, we risk making things worse instead of better.

 

Psychological Safety

Psychological safety is a good idea. It focuses on freedom from shame and fear of punishment. Proponents of psychological safety believe that this safety correlates with high performance.

How bad could being psychologically safe and high performance be?

 

But, over simplifying can lead to a belief that any kind of discipline or negative criticism is psychologically harmful and degrades performance.

The article mentioned earlier was co-authored by Wharton’s Peter Cappelli.  It says that “Too much psychological safety at work can jeopardize performance in typical jobs, according to new research.”

The research implies that people in typical jobs, as opposed to creative or innovative jobs, need less psychological safety. Too much safety, and workers will slack off and their performance will suffer.

Are people in “typical” jobs more likely to perform well if they are in fear of being punished or shamed? Are they lazier, less motivated, more deserving of psychological abuse than creative problem solvers, designers, and other creativity workers? Are creative workers immune to the downside of too much safety?

 

I do not think so.

 

What are Typical Jobs?

First, it is necessary to define “typical” when it comes to jobs. Among the most common jobs are nurse, service representative, cashier, and server. And of course, there are project manager, software developer, and all the other jobs found in projects.

Creativity and innovation are not limited to jobs in R&D or design, where there is a need to risk being wrong to get it right.

Jobs in other fields may be best done with repetitive application of accepted tools and techniques, but there is always some need for creativity. Even AI based robots must be taught to assess the situation before applying a solution. It is a think out of the box, when necessary, attitude.

In Toyota’s quality management system, assembly line workers were expected to stop the line if they saw a problem. Fear of making a mistake would inhibit workers from taking the initiative to stop the line. Fear would stop workers from creatively adapting instead of following the rules.

 

Goals Drive Performance

High quality performance is critical to success. Performance is optimized by focusing on both short-term goals like getting the task done right, and long-term goals like continuously improving process and wellness.

Optimal performance can be achieved without shame or fear of making errors by working to “perfect” process and outcome using a quality management mindset.

Some errors or defects are expected. That is why Six Sigma is not Infinite Sigma. When they appear, errors are seen as learning opportunities to discover the cause and avoid it next time. Systemic causes are explored before blaming performers.

But that does not mean there is no accountability for poor performance. If a performer continually makes errors and fails to take responsibility for their performance, discipline is required. Without it, morale and team performance suffer.

 

Too Much of a Good Thing

So, it makes sense to include psychological safety and accountability in performance management. Psychological safety is meant to relieve any kind of worker of the unnecessary and damaging effects of negative motivation. Accountability is making sure that causes of performance deficiency are discovered and acknowledged.

Psychological safety, like any psychological-behavioral-management-leadership approach, should not be taken as standalone truth. It must be applied based on each situation, integrated into a broader program that values personal, organizational, environmental wellness and optimal performance.

 

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Accountability is Needed

Accountability is often misunderstood. It would be ideal if everyone understood the need for it, had a great work ethic, wasn’t afraid of criticism, and everyone’s performance, the organization was accepted and accepting.

 

Accountability is not Blaming

But the ideal is not the norm and even if it was there is still a need for accountability.

Accountability is not blame. It is bringing performance to the surface to identify the causes of performance quality – whether it is good or bad. It is great to be held accountable for stellar behavior and not so great to be held accountable for errors and failures.

Whenever there is accountability, some individuals will be afraid and view consequences as punishment. They may perceive management as a bunch of mean overseers ready to criticize and punish.

There is an internal psychological dynamic at work. Some fear being fired. Some have an internal judge criticizing any imperfection with an unrealistic sense of perfection. Some in leadership positions lack empathy and misread resistance to accountability as laziness. Some blame when they find someone accountable.

Fear is generated from the inside, even when there is no external threat. Recognizing the psychological dynamic enables individuals to be self- reflective and put their inner critique in its right place. Their recognition gives management and leadership the ability to be empathetic and more effective in managing performance.

 

How to Go Forward

When it comes to managing performance, consider both psychological safety and sustained effective performance and continuous improvement.

Safety and accountability are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they go together to promote wellness, process quality, and sustainable high performance.

Psychological safety is promoted by a program of training and sustained reinforcement for managers and staff on what makes for the best way to handle accountability.

That kind of program confronts the causes of blaming and resistance to accountability, psychological dynamics around fear of criticism, methods for objective accountability, and the need for a quality management process that seeks sustained optimal performance.

 

[1] https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/the-downside-of-psychological-safety-in-the-workplace/?utm_campaign=KatW2023&utm_medium=email&utm_source=kw_campaign_monitor&utm_term=11-22-2023&utm_content=The_Downside_of_Psychological_Safety_in_the_Workplace