In the previous article, we looked at how maintaining a good level of Vitamin A helps our body with vision. In the same way, “dogfooding” can help teams see what customers need.
This article will explore the parallel between B Vitamins and psychological safety. Vitamin B (there are actually multiple types of B Vitamins) is an essential nutrient that supports energy levels and keeps blood cells healthy. Metaphorically, Psychological Safety in a team is similar to B Vitamins, which are necessary to keep the team healthy, motivated, and energetic.
The B Complex of Team Health
Vitamin B is a complex of eight different vitamins (all water-soluble vitamins — which means are not stored by our body), each with a unique role in maintaining body health:
Vitamin B1 (Thiamin) helps break down and release energy from food. The best food sources are wheat germ and pork.
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) supports cellular energy production and protects cells from damage. The best food sources are spinach, tempeh, and yogurt.
Vitamin B3 (Niacin) keeps the nervous and digestive systems healthy and helps produce energy from food, similar to Vitamin B1. The best food sources are chicken, bluefin tuna, and salmon.
Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid) helps release energy from sugars and fats and helps to deal with stress. The best food sources are shitake mushrooms and avocado.
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) helps break down sugar and fat, influences mood, and reduces symptoms of depression. The best food sources are chicken, wheat germ, and spinach.
Vitamin B7 (Biotin) helps with carbohydrate and fat absorption. The best food sources are yeast, eggs, and salmon.
Vitamin B9 (Folate) helps with healthy red blood cells and cell growth. The best food sources are asparagus, chicken, and edamame.
Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin) releases energy from food, similarly to other Vitamin Bs. It also helps with the production of red blood cells and cell metabolism.
In a team, psychological safety—the belief that people can be themselves at work and are comfortable being vulnerable and making mistakes, asking questions, and proposing new ideas—acts like these vitamins, creating a healthy work environment that encourages growth and releases energy.
Psychological safety and effective teams
Psychological safety is a key sauce engineering leaders need to use to shape healthy engineering teams. According to the research done at Google in Project Aristotle, it is one of the five team dynamics to build effective teams. To use the definition used in the research article:
Psychological safety is about risk-taking and being comfortable with vulnerability. People who don’t feel psychologically safe worry that taking risks will mean they’re seen as ignorant, incompetent, negative, or disruptive. Psychological safety means feeling confident about admitting mistakes, asking questions, or offering new ideas.
The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety
In his book “The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety: Defining the Path to Inclusion and Innovation,” Timothy Clark defines psychological safety in four sequential stages, which can be thought of as a pyramid.
At the foundation of psychological safety, the first stage is “Inclusion Safety” which is associated with inclusiveness in teams.
How do engineering leaders enable inclusiveness in teams?
Engineering leaders should ensure everyone can express their opinions freely and with respect. For example, in a team meeting, it is important to facilitate the conversation organically, including introverts’ points of view, either from comments on documents or explicitly giving them space during a meeting. The audience must respect each opinion, so it’s also essential for a leader to call out or address if somebody is diminishing somebody else’s opinion.
After the team feels “inclusion safety”, the second stage is “Learner safety” which is associated with continuous learning.
How do engineering leaders enable continuous learning in teams?
Engineering leaders need to emphasize learning over mistakes. For example, during a post-mortem triggered by an incident, engineering leaders should focus on the lessons learned and what can be done to avoid the same issue in the future instead of pointing fingers at who made a mistake. Continuous learning is an evolving journey and one of the key concepts even Socrates talks about; you can read more in this previous article I wrote.
An environment where team members lack “learner safety” is typically a dysfunctional team with an “absence of trust,” referring to one of the five dysfunctions of teams mentioned in Patrick Lencioni's book “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”.
Going up the pyramid, the third stage is “Contributor safety” which is associated with autonomy and accountability.
How do engineering leaders enable autonomy and accountability in teams?
The key elements here are trust and setting clear expectations. When an engineering leader delegates an activity to a team member or manager, she needs to set the expectations, let the team members operate, and then evaluate the outcome of what was delegated. For example, a newly promoted engineering manager named John, reporting to Sally, is now managing a team. In this case, Sally should define the expectations about the new role and evaluate whether John is enabling people to be successful and unblocking them. Instead of attending all the ceremonies for that team and chiming in all discussions, Sally should observe and give time to John to learn and contribute to the team. She should trust John and gather whether her expectations were met, letting John contribute as John feels appropriate. At the same time, John needs to be accountable for the team and have a sense of ownership in how he behaves and operates.
An environment where team member don’t have “contributor safety” is typically a dysfunctional team with “avoidance of accountability” and/or “lack of commitment”, and/or “absence of trust”, again referring to the book “The Five Dysfuctions of a Team”.
The last stage in psychological safety is “Challenger safety” which is associated with candor.
How do engineering leaders enable candor in teams?
Engineering leaders need to set an example here. They should encourage, acknowledge disagreement, and thank people who express different opinions. In situations involving authority, it can be challenging for a subordinate to disagree, so it is crucial to thank the person who expresses a different opinion. For example, let’s say there is a retrospective and a discussion around a process improvement. Having a team member express a different point of view from the manager’s perspective can help find a better solution. The manager should be appreciative because this improves the overall outcome of the team.
An environment where team members don’t feel “challenger safety” is typically a dysfunctional team with a “fear of conflict,” again referring to one of the dysfunctions described by Patrick Lencioni.
Just as a deficiency in any B vitamin can lead to poor health, neglecting aspects of psychological safety can lead to a dysfunctional team environment. Ensuring your team is well-nourished with the B vitamins of team health will create a thriving, dynamic, and innovative workplace.