Why Psychological Safety Matters for Software Teams - ACE 2024 - Ben Linders.pdf

Psychological safety in teams is important; team members must feel safe and able to communicate and collaborate effectively to deliver value. It’s also necessary to build long-lasting teams since things will happen and relationships will be strained.

But, how safe is a team? How can we determine if there are any factors that make the team unsafe or have an impact on the team’s culture?

In this mini-workshop, we’ll play games for psychological safety and team culture utilizing a deck of coaching cards, The Psychological Safety Cards. We will learn how to use gamification to gain a better understanding of what’s going on in teams. Individuals share what they have learned from working in teams, what has impacted the team’s safety and culture, and what has led to positive change.

Different game formats will be played in groups in parallel. Examples are an ice-breaker to get people talking about psychological safety, a constellation where people take positions about aspects of psychological safety in their team or organization, and collaborative card games where people work together to create an environment that fosters psychological safety.

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Ben Linders Consulting
Ben Linders
Why Psychological Safety
Matters for Software Teams
ACE! Conference, Krakow, June 13-14 2024

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Ben Linders Consulting
Trainer / Coach / Adviser / Author / Speaker
Agile, Lean, Quality & Continuous improvement
Freelance Editor for InfoQ.com
BenLinders.com
Books: Valuable Agile Retrospectives Problem? What Problem?
What Drives Quality Self-assessments Continuous Improvement
Games: Agile Self-assessment Game Retrospectives Bingo Impediments
Quality Coaching Agile Testing Psychological Safety Culture

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Ben Linders Consulting
Psychological Safety
a shared belief held by members of a team that the
team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking - Edmondson
Increases personal engagement and inclusion
Makes it easier for people to speak up at work
Fosters raising problems and learning from failure
How Psychological Safety at Work Creates Effective Software Tech Teams That Learn and Grow
InfoQ.com April 2022

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Ben Linders Consulting
Team Effectiveness
Google five keys to building effective team (2023 updated)
Psychological safety was by far the most important of the five dynamics
People can only feel safe challenging the status quo when they feel
included, safe to contribute, and safe to ask questions 
Leaders can actively nurture a culture of safety by being vulnerable,
reducing human debt, creating incentives and rewarding safe behavior,
and establishing inclusive environments
We cannot have high-performing teams without psychological safety 

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Ben Linders Consulting
Aspects of Psychological Safety
Individual
Team
Organization

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Ben Linders Consulting
Absence of Psychological Safety
Problems go “unnoticed”
People become disengaged
Difficult to turn the tide
Affect personal well-being and mental health
Increased absenteeism and turnover
Opportunities are no being used
Loss of competitive advantages
Not learning from problems
Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

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Ben Linders Consulting
Increasing Psychological Safety
Act vulnerable, empathic, be assessable
Drive out fear, blaming, and toxic behavior
Foster, diversity, inclusion, and equity
Establish transparency and trust
Ask and give feedback
Trust people by default
Provide space for ideas and experimentation
Use the prime directive in retrospectives
Explore psychological safety with Gamification
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

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Ben Linders Consulting
How gamification can help
People like to play games
Become their authentic selves
Engage and encourage people
Provide different perspectives
Foster collaboration
Build relationships
Visualize what’s happening
Experiment, safe to fail, take risks

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Ben Linders Consulting
Workshop Psychological Safety
Constellation
First things first
Sharing Challenges
June 14, 11:45 – 12:45 Room Daffodil

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Ben Linders Consulting
Thank You! Thank You!
Ben Linders
Trainer / Coach / Adviser / Author / Speaker
Agile, Lean, Quality & Continuous Improvement
[email protected]@BenLinders.com
@BenLinders
www.linkedin.com/in/benlinderswww.linkedin.com/in/benlinders
www.facebook.com/BenLindersConsultingwww.facebook.com/BenLindersConsulting
www.benlinders.comwww.benlinders.com

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Ben Linders Consulting
How to play games
Collaborative exercises
Related to the tech work
Safe place to play
Facilitate the interaction
Reflect and debrief

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Ben Linders Consulting
Psychological Safety Cards
Over 60 cards with phrases on psychological safety
Individual, team, and organizational perspectives
Facilitate discussions about the values, behavior,
opinions, and beliefs, that underlie psychological safety
Developed by Ben Linders and Fabio Armani and
reviewed by people from the worldwide agile community
Psychological Safety Cards