1267: Why Safety and Happiness at Work Go Hand-In-Hand by Dr. Jenny Brockis on Workplace Team Success

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[00:01:00] This is Optimal Work Daily, Episode 1267, Why Safety and Happiness at Work? Go hand in

[00:01:06] hand by Dr. Jenny Brockis of DrgennyBrockis.com.

[00:01:09] And I'm Dan, I'm your host here and I'm with you every single day reading from these great

[00:01:14] blogs on work, productivity and all those related issues. So we're going to jump right into

[00:01:19] our post now as we hear from Dr. Jenny and optimize your life.

[00:01:28] Why Safety and Happiness at Work? Go hand in hand by Dr. Jenny Brockis of DrgennyBrockis.com.

[00:01:35] As part of my general practitioner training a number of moons ago, I took a six month

[00:01:40] rotation in obstetrics at a small community-based hospital. There's nothing on Earth that can

[00:01:45] beat the feeling of assisting with the introduction of a new human being into the world.

[00:01:49] It's brilliant. But with obstetrics, while it's enormously rewarding work, when things

[00:01:54] go wrong and sometimes they do, things have a nasty tendency to crater very quickly unless

[00:01:59] appropriate action is taken fast. On one particularly busy night shift as the only

[00:02:05] medical staff member on duty in the labor ward, that was the normal arrangement, I had already

[00:02:10] delivered a number of babies. But for one young mother to be her labor was not progressing

[00:02:14] as expected. When the baby started showing signs of fetal distress, I knew I needed urgent

[00:02:20] advice from the senior registrar who was on call from home. There was just one problem.

[00:02:25] The SR had made it very plain he didn't expect to be called unless it was absolutely necessary.

[00:02:31] While technically brilliant and loved by his patients, we, the junior medical staff

[00:02:35] and nurses were all terrified of his caustic tongue and fierce temper. We feared his contempt

[00:02:40] of being made to feel foolish and incompetent. Which meant I hesitated before deciding I

[00:02:46] had to call. My concern for mother and baby being far greater than my fear of incurring

[00:02:50] my senior's wrath, I took a deep breath and dialed his number. Hearing a groggy, yes,

[00:02:57] when he answered, I bumbled out the history and my concerns into the empty chasm of dark

[00:03:01] stony silence on the other end of the line. Finally there was a long sigh followed

[00:03:06] by a curt on my way. To give him his due, he was there in five minutes having I suspect

[00:03:12] broken a few speed limits on his way to the hospital. Fortunately all went well and the

[00:03:16] baby was safely delivered shortly afterwards. Have you ever been in a situation where it

[00:03:21] didn't feel safe to speak up? Have you ever deferred pointing out an error or shared

[00:03:26] an idea because you lacked the confidence in your own judgment and knowledge? Psychological

[00:03:31] safety is a term coined by Amy C Edminton who defined it as, quote, a shared belief

[00:03:37] that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking. A sense of confidence that the team

[00:03:42] will not embarrass, reject or punish someone for speaking up. End quote. No matter who you

[00:03:48] are or your job description, chances are you work alongside others whether as part of

[00:03:53] a defined team, a department or other working group. Feeling safe at work is hard if

[00:03:58] you've always got one eye over your shoulder watching out for that potential knife in the

[00:04:02] back or find yourself worrying about how you're going to cope with that difficult colleague

[00:04:07] who seems bent on making your life miserable every day. Quote, safety is not a gadget. It's

[00:04:13] a state of mind. End quote. Eleanor Everett. The brain's primary objective is to keep

[00:04:20] us safe. This means it's essential to feel like you're in with the right tribe who you

[00:04:25] consider are like you, that you like and like you back. High performing teams have got

[00:04:31] this right and experience high levels of trust and mutual respect. Safety matters because

[00:04:37] to be your best self and do great work, you need the security that others will have

[00:04:41] your back that you feel cared for, respected and acknowledged for what you do. The brain's

[00:04:46] second objective is to help you find reward. Having a sense of belonging, being acknowledged

[00:04:52] and appreciated leads to more dopamine, the brain's reward neurotransmitter being released.

[00:04:58] This makes you feel good and motivates you to repeat the initial rewarding behavior. Creating

[00:05:03] a culture of psychological safety at work takes time but is well worth the effort. Google's

[00:05:09] project Aristotle, so named for his quote, The Hole is greater than the sum of its parts,

[00:05:14] found that psychological safety was the single most important success factor underpinning

[00:05:19] high performance teams across the organization. The ROI being it assists in reducing the

[00:05:24] human business costs of absenteeism, high staff turnover and stress-related illness while

[00:05:30] boosting productivity, performance and happiness at work. When work is psychologically safe,

[00:05:37] it's easy to have the confidence to speak up when you've noticed something isn't right.

[00:05:42] It feels good to be able to voice an opinion or share an idea even though others might

[00:05:46] not like it because it leads to more robust and honest conversations. You know you have

[00:05:51] permission to experiment and fail without being made to feel like a failure and be congratulated

[00:05:56] on your successes. How does your workplace or team stack up safety-wise?

[00:06:02] Ask yourself, is there an era of trust between colleagues? Is there a willingness to be open

[00:06:07] to change and new ideas, an adaptive and resilient approach? Do you and your colleagues enjoy

[00:06:13] a strong sense of purpose and meaning for the work you do? And how curious are you to

[00:06:18] ask questions to what could be done bigger and better?

[00:06:26] You just listen to the post titled Why Safety and Happiness at Work, Go Hand in Hand.

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[00:08:50] us with another great post today. As a keynote speaker, she is presented to and worked with

[00:08:55] thousands of people to empower them to cultivate their own thriving mind. What gets her out of bed

[00:09:00] in the morning is the opportunity to impact someone else's world, seeing that little spark of insight

[00:09:05] in their eyes when they see what they can do for themselves. As a voracious reader and prolific

[00:09:10] writer, she continues to indulge her curiosity and has just published her fourth book titled Thriving Mind

[00:09:16] How to Cultivate a Good Life. And as a board certified lifestyle medicine physician and best

[00:09:21] selling author, her vision is to enable everyone to be a happy thriving human. So her site is definitely

[00:09:27] worth your time to check out. She's got so much to offer there and you can simply come by Dr. Jenny

[00:09:32] Brockis.com for much more that's drj and nybrocks.com. But I think that's going to do it for today.

[00:09:42] I appreciate you being here with me as always and I'll see you again tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.