Leo Bottary explains why peer groups need psychological safety, then gives three ways to actually use it: get to know each other deeply, raise tough topics without fear, and listen actively so people feel heard.
Hi, this is Leo Bertore with the What Anyone Can Do Minute. Today I want to talk about safe and confidential environment as one of the 5 factors, as you know, that is essential for high-performing peer groups. So when you think about safe and confidential environment, right, a lot of groups will claim they have it, right, that they can be open with one another, that they know that what happens in the room stays in the room, and that is great. The thing is, there's a difference between having that environment and really leveraging it. For many, many workshops that I've done, people will say they have a great environment, but they'll admit that they don't take advantage of it nearly as often as they should. I think there are 3 things that you can do to try to help get over the hump in that regard. One, just get to know one another a lot better as best you can, both inside and outside the meeting. Try to break down those barriers. Second, be that person who's brave enough to bring that tough topic and be open and show everyone that not only is there no penalty for doing that, but there's actually tremendous advantage. And third, be a great listener. Be engaged and show everyone that as they are sharing, the environment is completely safe for them. Thanks.
