When we Get Together, Think Safety First!

When I was living in Italy with my family, around 2005, I remember how different the Italians handled safety. It seemed to me that safety gates, nets and warnings were few and far between. Coming from Canada where we are reminded and warned of what to do and not to do for our own safety it was so striking. I think we can agree that for physical safety, some barriers and warnings can really help us avoid injury.

I do appreciate it when people mention some obstacle or danger that I may not have seen. Like when we cycle in groups, we point out glass, rocks, cars with doors open and more. It is a collective or group effort as well as a courtesy to keep us all safe.

The reason I bring this up is I think a lot about psychological safety (the other safety which is becoming increasingly more important and understood) as it applies to humans spending time with other humans. It is certainly a collective. We all impact each other. We ourselves can be obstacles or inflict possible harm to others. Not that we want to (at least I hope not), but it can happen. So, figuring out cool ways to help with psychological safety for the people we are spending time with I think is important. Maybe rules of the road for human communication and interactions if you will.

The Broadmind team recently had a retreat to connect and discuss next steps. It was so good to spend some time in person. The team is a group of really good people (I love them), pic of us also attached. We spent some time discussing how we want to spend our time together in person and in the virtual world so we can ask questions, be our authentic selves and thrive.

OMG I love what we came up with. I included the list in the pic – please forgive my writing and spelling on those sheets of paper.

Highlights are:

Honest communication – create a place where we can say ‘I need help’.

Non-Judgemental – we agree this can be a hard one for the negative judgements that come quickly with biases, assumptions labels and more.

Saying ‘that’s not ok’ or doesn’t align with our values (that will be another blog post).

Swearing is optional but ok 😊

And more…(check out the pic and let me know what you think).

In the end, creating psych safety isn’t about ‘bubble wrapping’ people it’s about a conscious effort to provide the conditions to allow others to thrive and be their best selves. Finding whether you are in Canada or Italy in terms of how much and when is a constant awareness and practice. I hope that is interesting/helpful, just my thoughts.

Watch carefully the magic that occurs when you give a person just enough comfort to be themselves .(from a recent wine bottle I saw, author tbd, thank you to the author.)

Glad you were here,

Sherry

xo