The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect nearly every individual on the planet in some form or another. This has required a different approach to leading people. In my interactions with leaders, I have uncovered a perceived tension between caring for team members and keeping those same team members accountable for business results.
The story goes something like this:
This year has been hard on everyone, including myself, and I need to give my team grace. They are being stretched in new and complex ways and to care for them I have given them more space to work through challenges. As I have done this, business deadlines and goals have slipped. It is the right thing for my people, but it feels like I cannot make the progress expected of me when I take care of my team.
This relationship of caring and business results can be better illustrated with a 2×2 matrix created by Amy Edmondson. In this matrix, psychological safety on the Y axis and accountability on the X axis.
Often leaders will mistake psychological safety with caring for people or taking care of their feelings. Amy Edmondson defines psychological safety as an environment where learning can happen. As leaders we need to have an awareness of people’s feelings but creating a safe environment for learning is different than giving our team members a free pass. Creating a space for learning takes arduous work and consistent effort.
Business results are those things to which we as leaders are accountable. Being held accountable is to be responsible for the outcome of a task or project. This typically requires clear expectations, measurement, and follow up to ensure progress is being made.
Consider the following things to improve psychological safety and accountability.
- Praise and recognize efforts being made to stretch and learn.
- Force yourself to ask questions.
- Define clearly the three types of failure: preventable, complex, and intelligent. Celebrate the intelligent failures.
The next time you meet with your team – share with them the matrix and drive a discussion on where the team feels they are on the four quadrants. Know that they will be optimistic in their assessment. Whatever the team agrees will overcompensate for what the reality is with your team.
We will be the best version of ourselves and see the best version of our team if we can spend much of our time in the “Learning Zone”.
