When it feels like the world is falling apart, I seek solace in television.\u00a0 Not live \u2018terrestrial\u2019 television of course, because THE NEWS can pop up at anytime on that and in times of high stress THE NEWS must be avoided at all costs to maintain some semblance of calm. In Lockdown One, when nobody really knew what we were up against and whether a deadly virus could blow in through the window at any time (or cling onto a box of Coco Pops), the 1995 BBC adaption of Pride and Prejudice was my guiding light. \u00a0At the very beginning, when I couldn\u2019t sleep at all, Pride and Predge kept me company night after night on Netflix, each perfectly crafted episode ably instilling a sense of content. It wasn\u2019t even about Mr Darcy swimming through his bacteria ridden pond, it was more that watching it contained no threat, no danger, just the comforting memories of Sundays with Mum on the sofa, snuggled up with a duvet. \u00a0A time when life was much, much simpler and far less scary.<\/p>\n
In the latest instalment of \u2018Global Catastrophe Get Me Out of Here\u2019 I have needed to remove myself from live television and again retreat into the box set.\u00a0 Luckily, I have discovered a wonderful series on BBC iplayer \u2013 \u201cCouples Therapy<\/a>\u201d.\u00a0 Psychology really interests me and has helped me loads in the past when my brain has been caught in loops of worries so when I saw this on my \u2018Recommended For You\u2019 list, I quickly pressed play. (I wanted to watch because I am interested in psychology you see, not because I am interested in seeing whether my husband and I would benefit from it. Ahem.)<\/p>\n To bring things back to the day job and BUSINESS, when watching, I started to think a lot about that very \u2018in vogue\u2019 concept of \u2018Psychological Safety\u2019.\u00a0 The phrase \u2018Psychological Safety\u2019 was first explored and popularised by Prof Amy Edmundson of Harvard Business School<\/a> in 1999<\/a> and can be defined as:<\/p>\n \u2018the\u00a0belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes\u2019<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Mentions of the term really seem to be everywhere at the moment, but given how difficult organisations find improving things, it\u2019s popularity makes sense because it\u2019s such a tremendously important foundation for innovation and success.<\/p>\n If people don\u2019t feel that they can point out problems in the current process for fear of humiliating superiors, or suggest new ways of working for fear of \u2018getting too big for your boots\u2019 or that they can \u2018fess up to failings for fear of the sack, progress is incredibly difficult.\u00a0 Honest, transparent and supportive cultures are the conditions required for improvement to thrive. This is the finding of Prof. Edmundson\u2019s research too, that the highest performing teams are the ones that are able to share errors that have occurred, openly, and are therefore most able to learn from them.<\/p>\n