What Safety Has In Common With Innovation
Ah, innovation. It’s the watchword of every boardroom, startup incubator, and b-school seminar. And why? Because in our turbocharged, digitized age, to be innovative is to be alive. To stand still is to be the corporate equivalent of roadkill. But, here’s the kicker: innovation isn’t about the latest tech, nor is it about pouring millions into R&D. It’s about the human psyche. Let’s deconstruct.
Firstly, envision two landscapes. One, a battlefield: a hostile, tense environment, smoke wafting up from the ground. Soldiers are in silos, bunkered down, unable to see the full horizon. There’s limited visibility, stunted communication, and a pervasive fear of stepping out of line. Mistakes? They’re punishable by death.
Then, the second: an open field on a sunny day, speckled with people from different walks of life. They’re talking, exchanging ideas, playing, even laughing. Kites in the shape of outlandish ideas fly high, and nobody is afraid to let their kite crash and burn because they know they can just make another. This, my friends, is the field of innovation.
The stark difference? Psychological safety.
Innovation doesn’t thrive in environments where there’s fear. It’s akin to expecting flowers to bloom in a dark room. They need sunlight, and in the corporate world, that sunlight is the freedom to think, speak, and experiment without the weighty dread of punishment. And this isn’t some hippie, Kumbaya sentiment.
It’s backed by data.
Google’s Project Aristotle, a study into team dynamics, found that the most important factor that differentiated high-performing teams from the rest was, you guessed it, psychological safety. It wasn’t about the number of PhDs, nor was it about years of collective experience. It was about whether Jan from accounting felt as safe tossing out an idea as Jake, the charismatic team lead.
And let’s get something straight here. We’re living in an era where the lines between sectors are blurring. You’ve got Amazon, a tech firm, playing in the healthcare pond. Apple, the darling of consumer electronics, is taking a jab at financial services. The secret sauce? Cross-pollination of ideas. And guess what? You can’t have cross-pollination in silos of fear.
Now, let’s pivot to the behemoths, Apple and Tesla. Do you think the iPhone would’ve been birthed if engineers and designers at Apple feared Steve Jobs’ infamous wrath more than they loved ideation and creativity? And Tesla, the electric kingpin? Musk might be a maverick, but he knows the importance of a safe sandbox for his employees. His push for “First Principles Thinking” isn’t just about breaking down complex problems; it’s about creating a climate where such breakdowns are encouraged, lauded even.
To be clear, psychological safety isn’t about coddling or awarding participation trophies. It’s not a free pass for incompetence. It’s about creating an environment where everyone feels they can voice their opinions, challenge the status quo, and, yes, fail without retribution. It’s about recognizing that today’s ludicrous idea might just be tomorrow’s iPhone.
So, to the CEOs, founders, and managers reading this: Stop fixating on your profit margins for a second and look inward. Are you fostering a culture of psychological safety? Or are you the warden of a fear-driven silo? The answer could very well be the line between irrelevance and being the next big thing.
Innovation isn’t about shiny tools or grandiose strategies. It’s about the age-old, unsexy, yet pivotal element: the human spirit. Unleash it. Cultivate it. And watch as the magic unfurls.
Brian Fink is the author of Talk Tech To Me. He takes on the stress and strain of complex technology concepts and simplifies them for the modern recruiter. Fink’s impassioned wit and humor tackle the highs and lows of technical recruiting with a unique perspective — a perspective intended to help you find, engage, and partner with professionals.
