Managers at all levels in an organization need to create a safe space and are essential in creating the culture of an organization. And, it is important to remember that the culture will impact employee engagement, retention, innovation, and results.

If you or your organization is challenged engaging and retaining your talent, let me know how the below data resonates.

In the 2019 Culture Survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) – which reached 1,014 adult professionals, 1 in 4 survey respondents stated they:

• Dread going to work.
• Don’t feel safe voicing their opinions about work-related issues.
• Don’t feel respected and valued at work.

After reading the above, it isn’t surprising to hear that only 38% of American workers reported they are “very satisfied” with their current job, and 58% of those who left a job due to culture, claim People Managers are the main reason they ultimately left.*

Through my over 20 years of leading teams, working as head of Human Resources, and coaching individuals and teams, I have witnessed, all too often, managers who do not create a safe space for their employees. They might judge them, publicly criticize them, create barriers to encourage risk taking and innovation, and more often than not, have no awareness of their behavior and the impact it has, not only on their direct reports, but on the organization as a whole. These behaviors I just shared are toxic to the workplace. If you want to engage, retain and drive results from your employees, you need to create a safe space, one where people feel safe voicing their opinions about work-related issues, feel respected and valued, and want to take risks to not only help themselves grow and develop, but to drive better results for the organization.

How To Create A Safe Space

There are many essential ingredients to creating a safe space in the workplace. A few that are very important to develop include:

1. Build trust
2. Commit to and maintain confidentiality
3. Actively listen
4. Be curious – start with a “beginners mind”
5. Model vulnerability

To help leaders at all levels develop and achieve better results, I offer full workshops on many of these topics. #2 through #5 above are helpful elements to building trust. This may seem obvious, and yet, these behaviors are often lacking in the workplace, and, for that matter, in all relationships. It takes focus, self-awareness, and work, and, when you and the rest of the leaders in your workplace create the safe space and model these healthy behaviors, you will see improved results in your organization.

I partner with organizations to help their leaders achieve results and help them to engage and retain their talent. If this is an area of opportunity for you or your organization, I want to help. Let’s connect.

“Fear of missing a deadline is motivating. Fear of each other is problematic.” – Amy Edmonson

*Source: https://pmq.shrm.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/SHRM-Culture-Report_2019-1.pdf