MARCH 25, 2012

Amy C. Edmondson | Novartis Professor of Leadership & Management | Harvard Business School

Teaming is a Verb

Teaming is teamwork on the fly–coordinating

and collaborating, across boundaries, without

the luxury of stable team structures

team • ing (v.)

Teaming is especially needed when work

is COMPLEX and UNPREDICTABLE

Execution facing Uncertainty

Leaders have the ANSWERS

STABLE work processes are put in place

IMPLEMENTING CHANGE

is a huge undertaking

Feedback is ONE-WAY

Employee judgment is DISCOURAGED

Fear (of the boss) is NORMAL

Leaders set DIRECTION (strategy)

EXECUTION-AS-LEARNINGEXECUTION-AS-EFFICIENCY

TENTATIVE work processes provide a starting point

CONSTANT SMALL CHANGES

are a way of life

Feedback is TWO-WAY

Employee judgment is ESSENTIAL

Fear inhibits EXPERIMENTATION,

ANALYSIS, and PROBLEM SOLVING

GOAL Be profitable today GOAL Create value over the long term

Interpersonal Risk

NONE OF US WANT TO LOOK:

IGNORANT

INCOMPETENT

INTRUSIVE

NEGATIVE

IT’S EASY TO MANAGE!

DON’T ASK QUESTIONS

DON’T ADMIT WEAKNESS OR MISTAKE

DON’T OFFER IDEAS

DON’T CRITIQUE THE STATUS QUO

You Learn What They Let You Learn

WORK UNIT

MEMORIAL 1

UNIVERSITY 1

UNIVERSITY 3

MEMORIAL 2

MEMORIAL 4

MEMORIAL 5

UNIVERSITY 2

MEMORIAL 3

ERROR RATE

23.68*

17.23

13.19

11.02

8.6

10.31

9.37

2.34* preventable and potential adverse drug events (ADEs) per 1000 patient-days

Sorted by Survey Ratings of Unit Psychological Safety

Psychological Safety

Psychological safety is a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes.

IT’S ESSENTIAL TO TEAMING.

What gets in the way?

Hierarchy and Psychological Safety

Nembhard, I. and Edmondson A.C. (2006). Making it safe: The effects of leader inclusiveness and professional status on psychological safety and improvement efforts in healthcare teams, Journal of Organizational Behavior.

N=1100 clinicians

Sacrificing Accountability

Is it a matter of finding the right point on a balance beam?

PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY

ACCOUNTABILITY

Psychological Safety & Accountability

high

lowlow high

ACCOUNTABILITY

PS

YC

HO

LOG

ICA

L S

AF

ET

Y

Apathy Zone

Comfort Zone

Anxiety Zone

Learning Zone

The Blame Game

POTENTIAL CAUSES OF FAILURE

•Experimentation

•Uncertainty

•Complexity

•Lack of Competence

•Inattention

•Procedural Violation

QUESTION Which of these antecedents

involve blameworthy acts?

QUESTION What percent of failures

in your organization are caused by

blameworthy acts?

QUESTION What percent of failures

does your organization treat as caused

by blameworthy acts?

Leading the Learning Organization

VISION

Set a clear direction that

engages hearts and minds

CULTURE

Model and reward beliefs that make it

safe for learning

TEAMING

Institute and support

team-basedprocesses