Does the look on your face create psychological safety with your employees?

Most leaders don’t learn how to create psychological safety until it’s too late.

The skillset necessary to strategize your business plan, create systems, and monitor metrics is not the same skillset necessary to retain employees to run your day-to-day operations.

That’s why having interpersonal skills that create psychological safety with your employees is so important.

When employees are constantly on edge waiting for the next angry outburst from their boss, afraid to speak up for fear of retaliation, and spoken to in a condescending tone, they don’t feel safe.

When employees don’t feel safe, they’re in a constant state of anxiety that plummets morale and productivity, mistakes are covered up, and good employees leave.

On the other hand, a psychologically safe work environment encourages and reinforces employees to speak up about potential problems. 

It motivates employees to go the extra mile to work collaboratively and finish projects.

Good employees stay because they feel a sense of purpose and their contribution matters to making a difference.

Your action step to create psychological safety for your employees

Employees often tell me they can immediately tell what kind of day they’re going to have based on the look on their boss’s face at the start of the day.

A practical and simple action step you can immediately implement to create psychological safety in your  work environment starts with self-awareness of how you show up as soon as you walk in the door.

Pay attention to your:

• Tone of voice
• Facial expressions
• Body language/posture

Don’t wait until you have employee complaints from Human Resources, low productivity, and high turnover rates to learn interpersonal skills.

It’s never too late to learn the effect of your mindset, body language, and behavior on others so your employees feel safe and show up as their best. Contact me to get started today.  

What do you want your face to say when you start your work day?

About the author 

Bonnie Artman Fox, MS, LMFT works with executive leaders who want to gain self-awareness about the impact of their words and actions and up-level their interpersonal skills. 

Drawing from decades as a psychiatric nurse and licensed family therapist, Bonnie brings a unique perspective to equip executive leaders with the roadmap to emotional intelligence that brings teams together. 

Bonnie’s leadership Turnaround coaching program has an 82% success rate in guiding leaders to replace abrasive behavior with tact, empathy, and consideration of others. The end result is a happy, healthy, and profitable workplace…sooner vs. later.