Triton 2025 - Magazine - Page 12
PANEL DISCUSSION
Psychological safety for effective teams
Peer support and leadership training
Shame, guilt and feeling weak need three things to thrive –
silence judgment and secrecy, Effective, clear, transparent
communication and empathy can instead set the stage
from the beginning, said Charles Watkins.
UK data shows an increase of workplace stress, depression
or anxiety across the board, said Professor Neil Greenberg–
reflecting an increase in mental health issues as well as the
fact that people are more willing to report them.
“Vulnerability is the greatest form of courage, rather than
a weakness. How many people thought Ann was weak for
talking about her problems? Nobody. But we think we can’t
talk about these things.”
There are four main reasons why an employer should be
interested: moral duty; legal duty; economic duty – people
who have good psychological health perform better; and
reputational duty – you want to have the best people, and
having a policy which looks after them is important. “The
best thing to do is promote mental health.”
Shame and guilt affect all our decisions, said Watkins.
“Nobody was ever 昀椀red for saying nothing – don’t shake
the boat. On board ship it is even harder, especially in a
hierarchy situation. But psychological safety means it’s OK
to speak up, get over the feeling I might be seen as weak.”
The contrast in attitudes towards physical and mental
health concerns is interesting. “If you see someone’s
bleeding, you say please clean your wounds, patch yourself
up. But if someone is behaving differently to usual, you ask
if they are OK, they say ‘I’m 昀椀ne’, and we leave it most of the
time. That shouldn’t happen.”
According to survey 昀椀ndings, it’s not educational
background or personality but psychological safety that
makes high-performing teams so effective, said Watkins.
“If you feel safe and have the courage to speak up, you are
also more creative and more likely to feel part of a group.
Leadership must be trained to understand how important
it is that we talk about our mistakes. In the end, it is not
about perfection, it is not making no mistakes. It is about
connection, feeling heard and understood and having the
courage to say things when they don’t look right.”
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It’s great to have psychological support services but most
people don’t go there – they will be far more likely to talk
to their colleagues about their wellbeing, said Greenberg.
“We should try to empower colleagues to support people
who are having a tough time. One way is through peer
