◆ Two practices from Amy’s research When Google discovered that psychological safety was the single most important factor in our best teams, her research landed on my desk. Amy did the research. My job was to translate it into practices that thousands of leaders and teams at Google could use to create an environment where they could innovate. Here are two practices that came out of it. I still use both. Practice 1 Fast track to psych safety I was once invited to facilitate a conversation with the most senior leaders from Maps, YouTube, Chrome and other divisions. They were brilliant people who were used to having the answers. Before any agenda, each of them finished one sentence out loud: If I could only eat one food for a year it would be… When I am new to a group I tend to… What you probably don't know about me… One of the ways that I underestimate myself is… What I'm appreciating most about all of you right now is… |
The room changed. First came laughter, then quiet, then a different kind of listening, and the conversation that followed was more honest than any I had seen in that group. Since then I have used a version of this with hundreds of teams, including 60 senior leaders from across Europe at a dinner in Berlin. Practice 2 Worst ideas first When I worked with teams like the self-driving car team and Google Glass, our brainstorms started with the worst ideas we could imagine. People laughed and competed to be ridiculous. Something shifts when nothing you say can be wrong: people relax, they say the unsayable, and somewhere inside a terrible idea there is often the seed of a truly original one. Psychological safety is the ground that learning grows from, and you can begin to build it in a few minutes. | 
