The Impact of Psychological Safety
A quick Google search of “sport coach top priorities” leads to several different responses all centered around the same theme: promoting development and enhancing the athlete. These are noble and valid priorities. But they don’t happen – they can’t happen – without one crucial component: a safe practice environment.
PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY
A safe practice environment is predicated on the concept of psychological safety. Psychological safety is “the sense of being able to show and employ one’s self without fear of negative consequences to self-image, status or career.” (1)
Author Tim Clark in his book The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety posits that psychological safety stems from 2 dimensions: respect and permission. Respect is how valued and appreciated a player feels by coaches and teammates. Permission is the extent to which a player is allowed to participate, to influence the team.
Obviously, the ultimate goal is to create environments with balance between respect and permission. But that doesn’t always happen. Micromanaging is the result of high respect, low permission. A perfect example of this is putting an athlete “on a leash” for what they’re “allowed” (or not) to do. Exploitation is what happens when there’s low respect, high permission. The coach is trying to extract value – stats, outcome, etc. – without actually valuing the person making the contribution.
So why does psychological safety matter?
A psychologically safe environment is vital to overall team success as it “increases learning behavior, performance, communication, innovation, … attitudes, and individual well-being.” (2)
Every athlete, regardless of ability or age, really only wants 4 things: to be included, to learn, to contribute and to challenge the status quo to make things better (Tim Clark). Naturally, these 4 stages are fluid and based on a variety of factors. But, an environment that balances respect and permission provides the greatest chance of success.
For athletes of any level it’s the belief that they are safe to make mistakes, communicate openly and be their authentic self without coaches or teammates punishing, ostracizing, making fun of them, etc. Teams and athletes will never reach their full potential in psychologically unsafe environments. Nobody wants to push themselves outside their comfort zone or try something new if it carries with it the risk of mocking, embarrassment or punishment.
HOW TO DEVELOP IT(3)
Foster interpersonal relationships
Psychological safety can only be created through high-quality, authentic relationships. Players and coaches alike must take the time to develop strong interpersonal relationships. This does not mean that coaches need to be (or should be) best friends with their players. Appropriate boundaries are still quite necessary. Most coaches also have an easier time developing relationships with one player over another. That’s a normal aspect of interactions and building relationships. The important factor is that all players and coaches on the team know that they are valued and appreciated beyond simply their stats or abilities.
Two important components:
> Communication. Active listening and intentional communication play a big role in athletes feeling “seen”. This can start with something as simple as making sure you connect with athletes before each practice – a high five with a question about their day. Utilizing short one-on-one check-ins throughout the week can also be beneficial.
> Authenticity. Valuing athletes only for their abilities minimizes all the other ways they enhance the team off the court. Players know when coaches are being disingenuous or fake. This is the easiest way to quickly erode trust, a key ingredient to strong, healthy relationships. It’s a trap even the best coaches fall into at times – asking a player how they are and then being distracted as they answer. Authenticity cannot happen without intentionality.
Give athletes a voice (4)
This directly correlates with developing authentic relationships. Psychological safety is not created via hierarchy. When team structure exists as the coach is the true expert and players are little more than “pawns” in the coach’s game, two-way communication ceases. High-functioning teams are partnerships between the coach and athlete. Partnerships require open and clear communication yet many athletes find themselves afraid to speak up out of fear of it being perceived as complaining or disrespectful. In reality, our perspective as coaches is limited – we aren’t in the action during games. Thus it only makes sense that we should value open and clear communication – even constructive criticism! – from our players who are in the thick of the action.
Encourage (and celebrate!) mistakes
The heart of this is vulnerability. Players will learn to embrace mistakes if the coach embraces mistakes. One easy way is to acknowledge when you as the coach mess up. This could be poor word choice, losing your temper, mixing up a play call or mishandling substitutions. Admitting to and taking responsibility for mistakes makes it acceptable for players to act similarly.
The easiest way to encourage mistakes is to celebrate them. Not the mistake itself, but the effort that went into making the mistake. A phrase as simple as “great effort making a mistake” reminds the athlete that it’s about the process of learning, not doing it perfectly. “When coaches frame mistakes as an opportunity to learn and release the fear associated with making a mistake, athletes can focus on performing well, rather than self-protection and not making a mistake.” (3)
An important final note: psychological safety is not a “magic solution” to achieving success. Approaching it as “if I do this, we’ll be successful” or “then everyone will be happy” is negating the human element. Teams with the highest level of psychological safety still lose games, still make mistakes, still get into disagreements with each other … still have players unhappy with their roles. But, psychological safety must still be every coaches top priority because *not* having it ensures a horrible experience for everyone involved.
FURTHER READING:
The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety
The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety by Dr. Tim Clark
The Fearless Organization by Amy Edmondson
RESOURCES:
1 What is Psychological Safety
2 Psychological Safety in Athletic Team Environments
3 Cultivating Psychologically Safe Team Environments
