Psychological safety, a term coined and defined by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, people feel psychologically safe at work when they believe that they can be themselves at work and they won't be punished or humiliated for sharing their identity, speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes.
In short, it is how comfortable individuals are with being themselves, taking risks and being vulnerable with their team. Having a diverse workforce most certainly does not guarantee that everyone in your organization feel comfortable or valued for who they are.
One of the quickest ways to erode psychological safety is microagressions, which are the indirect or unintentional expressions of racism, sexism, ageism, or ableism. Like asking to touch a Black colleagues hair, pushing a persons wheelchair without asking or telling women to smile. These are all forms of discrimination that come out in seemingly innocuous comments by people who might be completely unaware.
It is not the one off comment that has the greatest impact, rather it is the compounded effect day in and day out of working in an environment where you have to be on alert for where the next comment might be coming from. This has the greatest detrimental impact on a persons mental and emotional wellbeing because it sends the message that they do not belong.
Given the widespread nature of microagressions, on today's episode Heather Younger, international speaker, consultant, adjunct organizational leadership professor and author of The Art of Caring Leadership shares how we can manage microagressions when they happen and build a workplace where people can be themselves.
Claire Babineaux-Fontenot: How To Feed America
Eve Rodsky: Equality Begins At Home - How To Share The Load
Jennifer Nadel: Compassion in Politics, #stopthenastiness
Dr. Dnika Travis: Emotional Tax - A Problem Companies Can No Longer Afford to Ignore
Dr. Jen Gunter: The Health Gap
Mona Sue Weissmark, PhD: Why Diversity Training Doesn't Work
Gail Tiburzi Buck and Rebecca Oppenheim: Empowering Survivors of Domestic Violence
Megan Twohey: She Said
Shay Rowbottom: How to make LinkedIn work for you
The Macho Paradox: Dr. Jackson Katz
Jada Gomez: Celebrating #BlackJoy with Bustle
Liz Plank: Mindful Masculinity
Mika Brzezinski: Knowing Your Value
Heather Penney: Kamikaze Mission on 9/11
Dr. Charlotte Webb: The Feminist Internet
Kweighbaye Kotee: Pushing Diversity in Films
Valerie Jarrett: The Path Forward
Lesley Sackey: A Champion's Mindset
Busy Philipps: A Woman's Right to Choose
Michelle Cowan and Nicole O' Keefe: Women Working In Male Dominated Industries (Part 2)
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