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