Boost Employee Engagement and Build Resilience in a VUCA World with Psychological Safety

A few weeks ago, the Gallup Employee Wellbeing Report was published, and the numbers make you think: $8.9 trillion lost in global GDP due to low engagement!

This staggering figure underscores the importance of understanding what drives disengagement and most importantly what actions can be taken to prevent such significant losses.

Employee engagement is more than just a buzzword; it reflects the involvement and enthusiasm of employees in their work and workplace. The complexity of this issue, however, lies in the multitude of factors that influence it, both external and internal.

External Influences on Engagement

Let’s start with the external influences—everything that happens outside work, such as our home situation or the global sentiment. The socio-economic outlook has been grim for a while now. If you follow the news, the picture is quite depressing, and it’s emotionally tough. The so-called VUCA world (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous) in which we get to operate creates a collective unease and high stress levels.

Gallup presented some harsh numbers to describe the state of mind of Europeans:

• 37% of employees report experiencing stress daily, alongside feelings of anger (15%) and sadness (17%).

• Only 47% of employees are thriving and satisfied with their lives, while 49% struggle and 4% suffer. That's half of the workforce.

With life satisfaction levels this low, achieving peaks of productivity is challenging. If you’ve ever tried to tackle a project while distracted by problems or a general low mood, you know it usually doesn’t result in your best work.

Internal Status

Internally, engagement is influenced by factors directly tied to the workplace, such as the quality of leadership, team dynamics, the feeling of being appreciated, company performance, and organisational changes like layoffs or mergers. These aspects are typically covered in company engagement surveys, and as a team leader or HR professional, you probably know where the biggest pain points are.

According to Gallup, only 13% of employees in Europe are engaged, with 72% not engaged and 16% actively disengaged. This also partially explains why 32% are actively seeking new job opportunities.

Creating Resilience

So, what can we do about it? The overwhelming VUCA reality affects both external and internal contexts and isn’t going away anytime soon. In addition, the acceleration of technological advancement is impacting and destabilising the phases of competitive advantage. To thrive as a team and organization in this chaos, we need a new approach.

My take on this comes down to creating a support system that enables teams to approach uncertainty with courage and groundedness. For that, you need to start with understanding the current levels of psychological safety and the underlying team dynamics. This powerful aspect of team functioning, when achieved, can do wonders in overcoming challenges and fostering growth, creativity, and ingenuity.

Building Psychological Safety

Below are specific strategies to consider for building psychological safety in your team:

Measure and Investigate

Psychological safety might be a complex concept, but thanks to researchers like Amy Edmondson and her groundbreaking work, you can measure its current level and identify the current team dynamics driving it. This powerful tool is called a Psychological Safety Index (PSI) scan and can be performed with the help of an accredited facilitator. The scan will give you a deep understanding of the most crucial external and internal aspects and what is needed to overcome them.

Establish Clear Norms

Implement regular "team norms" discussions where team members collectively agree on behaviours that foster a supportive environment, such as active listening and not interrupting others during meetings.

Model Vulnerability

Share personal stories of challenges and failures during all-hands meetings. This humanizes leadership and encourages employees to share their struggles without fear of judgement.

Provide Regular Feedback

Learn and prastice giving constructive feedback regularly, emphasizing strengths and areas for growth. This continuous feedback loop helps employees feel valued and motivated to improve.

Encourage Open Communication:

Introduce a prastice that embraces failure, such as a "failure wall," where employees can anonymously post their mistakes and what they learned from them. This encourages openness and demonstrates that making mistakes is a vital part of the learning process.

Facilitate Inclusive Decision-Making

Introduce a consensus-based decision-making process, ensuring that every team member's voice is heard and considered before finalizing major decisions. This increases engagement and ownership of outcomes.

Conclusion

The VUCA world is here to stay, so we need to learn how to embrace it together. By leveraging team insights, you can create a support system that allows your team to thrive while maintaining high ambitions and goals. This can counteract rising stress levels both at work and home, driving engagement and productivity.

Gallup has found that engaged business teams drive positive outcomes for organizations. By focusing on psychological safety and building strong relationships, we can create resilient teams that thrive in the face of change.

If you want to explore more, check out details on our "Prepare for Team Change" workshop.