> What is Psychological safety? It is a belief that people are allowed to make mistakes, and it's okay to make them, and they won't be punished for it.
To me, your article feels like the first half of a good opinion, but you're missing a crucial second part.
I totally agree it's a good thing to have a culture where capable people feel like they can ask questions and discuss stuff in an intelligent manner without being punished for it.
That said, imagine if there was a doctor that continuously said stuff like "the spleen is directly connected to the ear drum, right?" or an airline pilot that said something like "That round orange light keeps blinking, but I don't remember reading about it in the manual, and the plane's been flying just fine for hours, so it's probably ok to ignore it and let the ground crew figure it out later." Would it be against their psychological safety to question their competence at some point? Would consequences ever be warranted?
I think it’s about the approach. “Questioning someone’s competence” has an air of trying to be underhanded. Be direct, set clear expectations. And if you have to let them go do it promptly and professionally.
No one likes getting fired, but if you’re not right for the position it’s not psychologically safe to let you flounder.
Yeah, I agree; if it's a misfit, there is a feedback loop, but if it doesn't change and is problematic, then a difficult conversation must surely be had!
That's fair if that were the profession but this article states: "How can Engineering leaders create a culture of Psychological Safety". If someone is not competent then feedback needs to be delivered but that doesn't make it a psychologically unsafe environment if delivered in a constructive way.
Lastly, I think I'll update it to account for scenarios when someone is not competent in their job to show case how I would handle it!
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 16.0 ms ] threadTo me, your article feels like the first half of a good opinion, but you're missing a crucial second part.
I totally agree it's a good thing to have a culture where capable people feel like they can ask questions and discuss stuff in an intelligent manner without being punished for it.
That said, imagine if there was a doctor that continuously said stuff like "the spleen is directly connected to the ear drum, right?" or an airline pilot that said something like "That round orange light keeps blinking, but I don't remember reading about it in the manual, and the plane's been flying just fine for hours, so it's probably ok to ignore it and let the ground crew figure it out later." Would it be against their psychological safety to question their competence at some point? Would consequences ever be warranted?
No one likes getting fired, but if you’re not right for the position it’s not psychologically safe to let you flounder.
Lastly, I think I'll update it to account for scenarios when someone is not competent in their job to show case how I would handle it!