Regardless of their role, everyone wants to feel safe. Psychological safety forms the bedrock of high-performing scrum teams.
What happens in an environment where your team members feel safe to take risks, express their ideas, and admit mistakes without fear of ridicule or punishment?
No doubt. Innovation and productivity flourish in such an environment.
But how do you create such an environment for your scrum team as a scrum master?
Let’s see practical steps to build psychological safety in scrum teams, and how it impacts overall team performance.
What is psychological safety in scrum teams?
Psychological safety, a term popularized by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, refers to a shared belief that a team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.
For scrum teams, this concept is crucial. Team members must feel confident that they can speak up, ask questions, and share their thoughts without fear of negative consequences.
This atmosphere encourages open communication, leading to better problem-solving and innovation.
Two of the scrum values are courage and openness. Unfortunately, these values won’t exist in your scrum team if members are not psychologically safe.
The importance of psychological safety in scrum teams
According to Harvard Business Review, employees at organisations with high trust report 74% less stress, achieve 50% higher productivity, 76% more engagement, 40% less burnout, and have 106% more energy at work,
Nice stuff right? Well, trust only exists where there is psychological safety.
Scrum teams thrive on collaboration and continuous improvement. Without this, your scrum team cannot succeed.
When psychological safety is present, team members contribute freely and participate in discussions more effectively.
Psychological safety directly impacts:
- Collaboration: Teams work better together when they trust each other.
- Innovation: Safe environments encourage creative solutions and out-of-the-box thinking.
- Problem-solving: Teams are more likely to tackle problems head-on when they feel secure.
- Engagement: Team members who feel safe are more engaged and committed.
For your scrum team to thrive, you want to focus on collaboration, innovation, engagement, and problem-solving. These are key characteristics of a high-performing scrum team.
How do you build psychological safety in scrum or agile teams?
Creating a psychologically safe environment requires deliberate effort from Scrum Masters, Product Owners, and Development Team.
Here are practical steps to build and maintain psychological safety in your Scrum team:
1. Encourage open communication
It all always starts with open communication. You must promote an open dialogue where everyone’s voice is heard.
Regularly remind the team that all opinions are valuable. After all, they won’t be on the team if they’re not relevant.
Use tools like anonymous feedback or suggestion boxes to gather honest input from those who might be hesitant to speak up.
2. Model vulnerability
This is one of the many things I do intentionally as a Scrum Master. Of course, have got blood in my veins and am not immune to mistakes.
As a servant leader, ensure you demonstrate vulnerability by admitting your mistakes and acknowledging uncertainties.
When leaders show that it’s okay to be imperfect, team members are more likely to follow suit.
You can’t hide or overlook your mistakes and expect your team members to be open about theirs.
3. Create a safe environment for failure
This is where you let your scrum team understand they have permission to fail or be wrong about things.
Encourage experimentation and view failures as learning opportunities. Celebrate attempts and iterations, not just successes.
Create a culture where failure is seen as a step towards improvement rather than a setback.
After all, learning is winning!
4. Build trust among team members
Facilitate team-building activities that help team members get to know each other on a personal level.
Trust builds over time through shared experiences and mutual understanding. As a result, you want to continuously encourage pairing where possible.
In my experience, developers trust each other and build a good relationship faster when they work together on tasks.
If your development team is not already doing enough pairing, then it is time you encourage them to do more.
5. Facilitate effective retrospectives
Boring retrospectives are one of the reasons many developers hate scrum. No one likes to spend a fraction of their day in a boring meeting where people blame each other.
One of the ways to avoid this is to ensure retrospectives are constructive and focused on improvement, not blame.
Use formats that encourage positive feedback and collective problem-solving. Keep the atmosphere light and positive to foster open discussion.
6. Provide constructive feedback
Never make the mistake of focusing on personal attributes when providing feedback. Address actions, not the person.
To help your scrum team build psychology safety, offer feedback that is specific, actionable, and focused on behaviours rather than personal attributes.
Encourage team members to give and receive feedback in the same manner. Constructive feedback helps individuals grow and improves team dynamics.
7. Recognize and celebrate contributions
No matter how high someone’s self-esteem is, no one rejects a little pat on the back. We are all human, and we feel good when appreciated.
Acknowledging the efforts and successes of team members regularly helps in building psychological safety in scrum teams.
Recognition boosts morale and reinforces positive behaviours. Celebrate both small wins and major milestones to keep the team motivated.
Measuring psychological safety in scrum teams
Assessing the level of psychological safety within your scrum team helps identify areas for improvement.
Use surveys and anonymous feedback tools to gauge how safe team members feel.
Questions might include:
- Do you feel comfortable speaking up in meetings?
- Can you admit mistakes without fear of repercussions?
- Do you feel valued for your contributions?
Regularly review these insights and take action based on the feedback received.
Over time, these measurements can guide your efforts to enhance psychological safety further.
In addition, you can have ad-hoc 1–1 meetings with your member to hear their opinions about things and how you can improve things.
Impact of psychological safety on scrum teams’ performance
When psychological safety is prioritized, scrum teams see numerous benefits:
- Higher productivity: Teams work more efficiently when members feel safe to share ideas and concerns.
- Better quality of work: Open communication leads to more thorough reviews and higher-quality outputs.
- Lower turnover rates: Members are more likely to stay with a team where they feel respected and valued.
- Improved well-being: A psychologically safe environment reduces stress and improves overall job satisfaction.
By fostering psychological safety, scrum masters can create a thriving, innovative, and resilient team.
The journey towards psychological safety is ongoing, requiring continuous effort and commitment from everyone involved.
However, the reward is a cohesive, high-performing team capable of tackling any challenge. And in my opinion, this is well worth the investment.
How do you ensure psychological safety in a team?
Ensuring psychological safety in a team is essential for fostering a culture of trust, collaboration, and innovation.
For scrum teams, Scrum Masters play a pivotal role in creating and maintaining this environment.
By encouraging open communication, modelling vulnerability, building trust, creating a safe environment for failure, and providing constructive feedback, you can ensure psychological safety in your team.
Intentionally prioritize psychological safety, and watch your scrum team transform into a powerhouse of creativity and productivity.
Learn about the role of emotional intelligence in scrum and how you can leverage it to create a safe environment for your team.
I hope you found this post helpful.
