Osarten stresses the importance of ensuring psychological safety at meetings

• Encouraging equal participation in meetings is essential to creating a safe and productive work environment.
• Osarten offers strategies for leaders to promote psychological safety in their teams.

In today’s work environment, psychological safety has become a key factor in the well-being and success of teams. A psychologically safe team is one in which its members feel comfortable expressing their ideas, opinions and concerns without fear of reprisals.

According to professionals at Osarten, a member of the MONDRAGON Health alliance, meetings are an ideal setting for observing team dynamics and identifying possible imbalances in participation. It is common for a few people, usually those in leadership positions or with extroverted personalities, to dominate the conversation, while others remain silent. This situation can perpetuate a cycle in which diversity of ideas is limited and groupthink is encouraged, which can lead to ineffective decision-making and even occupational health and safety risks.

Imbalances in meeting participation can lead to ineffective decision making and even occupational health and safety risks.

To counteract this tendency, Osarten proposes a simple but powerful strategy: establishing speaking turns at meetings. The rule is simple: “no one speaks twice until everyone has spoken once”. This ensures that all voices are heard and that every team member has the opportunity to contribute his or her ideas.

Conscious and proactive leadership

Implementing this practice requires conscious and proactive leadership. The leader must clearly establish the rule at the beginning of the meeting, ensuring that everyone understands its importance and is committed to complying with it. In addition, it is essential to manage each person’s speaking time and avoid interruptions. As well as, allowing people to pass their turn if they are not ready to speak and assuring them that they will have the opportunity to do so later.

“Creating an environment where everyone feels safe to express their ideas is essential to the success of any team,” Osarten says. “Psychological safety fosters creativity, innovation and collaboration, which translates into better results and greater well-being for employees.”

Find out how we can help you create a safer and more productive work environment.