Insights on Psychological Safety and Accountability from Two New Podcast Episodes

No doubt, you know about our fascination this year for discovering the secrets to healthy accountability. This month, The Good Leadership Podcast recorded two episodes that focus on psychological safety and healthy accountability – two important and related themes.

Psychological Safety Episode

This episode was inspired by an article from the NeuroLeadership Institute titled “Psychological Safety and Accountability: Insights from NLI’s Conversation with Amy Edmondson” that was passed along to Kevin and myself by one of the fellow Good Leadership coaches, Nancy Weidenfeller. The discussion explores the concept of “psychological safety” identified by Google as crucial for high-performing teams, and how this concept relates directly to the Accountability Research Project. You can listen to the episode here.

Key points include:

• Psychological safety is not about feeling good all the time.
• Accountability is about growth, not pain.
• High-performing teams need healthy tension: both growth and pain.

Psychological safety enforces the “seeks accountability” concept, where employees feel comfortable and confident taking accountability, because it makes them better and they’re working on exciting things. It’s also about balancing relational and structural elements of a team in order to have psychological safety. Safety enables bold actions and healthy tension, crucial for high performance. The key takeaway: Both psychological safety and healthy accountability are essential for a high-performing team.

The Learn-It-All Podcast Episode

I was recently interviewed on the Learn-It-All Podcast with hosts Damon Lembi and Darren Bridgett from LearnIt Training to discuss The Accountability Research Project. This episode dives into the conception of the Accountability Research Project, the changing nature of accountability post-COVID, and the importance of transforming accountability into an organizational competency, that supports a “seeks accountability” culture. You can listen to the episode here.

Key points include:

• Effective organizations have employees who seek accountability.
• Accountability should not be punitive but an organizational strength.
• The best work teams do is for the leaders they care about. 

So, healthy accountability and psychological safety really rely on each other in order to support a high-performing team. Listeners are encouraged to get involved with the Accountability Research Project by sharing insights, contributing to the research, and participating in the upcoming conference based on the results of the Accountability Research Project. For more details or to get involved, email info@goodleadership.com.